TNI Bureau: Andy Murray made entire Great Britain proud by winning the Grand Slam men’s singles title in the US Open Tennis championship final. Britain bagged the title after 76 years. Murray defeated Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in five tough sets of 7-6, 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday.
The two exchanged 54 strokes on one point in the sixth game of the 87-minute set while the tie-breaker lasted 24 minutes.
Murray took the first two sets while the following two sets were won by his opponent, but the final one came to Murray’s pocket and he won. Murray earned $1.9 million with his victory. Djokovic lost a heavy amount through his defeat because if he would have won, he would have collected $2.9 million payout instead of the $1.45 million runner-up cheque as he would have pocketed $1 million bonus for leading the US Open series.
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Last year in 2011, Murray was defeated from Djokovic, this year’s runners up in the final. After losing four finals in last four years, now Murray won the title in his 28th Grand Slam event. He was beaten by Federer in the three previous finals.
The victory also broke another record. Previous 29 finals at the US open had been won by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic while the only exception in one year was Juan Martin Del Potro’s who won the 2009 US Open.
Murray, who had taken the gold medal at the London Games in July, also became the first man to win both a gold medal and the US Open title with the win, since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988.
The last British male champion to win a Grand Slam title was Fred Perry, who claimed the US Open in 1936.