US Open | Rafael Nadal defeats Kevin Anderson to lift men’s title

Things are finally looking up for the Spanish ace after enduring terrible seasons in 2014 and 2015 where he had to go trophy less. Rafael Nadal had entered 2017 on a two and half year trophy drought with many doubting if he would return to the same level at all.

In all honesty, with Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka withdrawing from the tournament and Roger Federer not crossing paths with him, Juan Martin Del Potro had remained his only threat. Overcoming the Argentine in the semi-final meant Nadal would just need to keep his composure and the title was his.

At 6ft and 8 inches, Anderson was the tallest player to ever feature in a Grand Slam final and was overly relying on serves having hit an incredible 114 aces in the build up to the final. But, the 2012 and 2013 champion remained unmoved by it as he stood a good five meters behind the baseline to get a better read of his powerful serve. And when Anderson got a mid-court ball to attack, Nadal rarely failed to miss it.

Anderson won 10 aces throughout the match compared to Rafael Nadal’s one, but that was it. The Spanish ace excelled in every other department and his tremendous work rate with precision hardly gave time to Anderson to recuperate. Nadal got the battle of first serves right on target, winning 63% of them compared to Anderson’s 59%, where the South African could have really made a difference.