Nadal completes grand slam with victory in Flushing Meadows
Published:Rafael Nadal completed the career Grand Slam by beating Novak Djokovic in the US Open final.
Nadal won a thrilling contest 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2 at Flushing Meadows to become only the seventh man in history to win all four major titles.
The Spaniard joins Fred Perry, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer on the elite list of players who have won the Australian, French and US Opens, plus Wimbledon.
He said: “(Winning the US Open) is more than I dreamt, just to arrive to the final was amazing and to have the trophy in my hands in a few seconds with my heart beating is going to be unbelievable.”
To achieve his success, Nadal was made to fight all the way by Djokovic with both men’s level of play reaching outstanding heights at times.
With nine Grand Slam titles – five French, two Wimbledons, one Australian and one US – he will now be regarded by some as the greatest player of all time.
Federer may hold the all-time record of 16 Slams, but Nadal has a winning record against his modern-day rival and at only 24 could well go on to surpass that tally.
Djokovic praised Nadal’s efforts, saying: “Right now he’s the best player in the world and he absolutely deserves this title.”
Nadal’s win in Flushing Meadows has seen him trimmed into 1/1 to win Wimbeldon 2011, and after Djokovic’s showing, you could argue the 12/1 available for him to emerge victorious in London is very generous.
Roger Federer will be out to prove the doubters wrong and he is 3/1 to win Wimbledon. See the full Wimbledon tennis betting market here.
