Seth Wenig/Associated Press The final Grand Slam match of the 2018 tennis season is on tap for Sunday afternoon when Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro battle for the U.S. Open men's title in New York. Both men have previously been crowned champion at Arthur Ashe Stadium, with third-seeded Del Potro winning the 2009 U.S. Open title and No. 6 seed Djokovic winning in Flushing Meadows in 2011 and 2015. That was Del Potro's only previous Grand Slam final appearance compared to 23 for Djokovic, who with a win Sunday would tie Pete Sampras for third on the Gram Slam championship list at 14. US Open Men's Final Schedule Sunday, September 9 Men's final (4 p.m. ET, ESPN) Video Play Button Videos you might like The match can be live-streamed on Watch ESPN or via the ESPN app. The Tennis Channel will replay the men's final at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on Sunday and throughout the day on Monday, Sept. 10. Seth Wenig/Associated Press Preview Fresh off his Wimbledon title in July, Djokovic enters the final on a major heater. He has won his last 13 sets dating back to a Round-of-64 victory over Tennys Sandgren. That was also the last time he played more than 11 games in a match. Djokovic is looking to win multiple Grand Slam events in the same year for the fourth time in his career, and for the first time since 2015 when he was victorious at the Australian and U.S. Opens. Those tourneys are where the Serb has claimed eight of his 13 Grand Slam titles. Del Potro finds himself in the final after a slightly more arduous path, going to tiebreakers on five occasions (winning four), including three in the past two matches. That includes Friday's semifinal win over No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal, a match that ended with defending U.S. Open champ Nadal retiring down two sets because of a knee injury. The Argentinian has faced Djokovic 18 times in his career, winning just four. His last victory was in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil and his last win on the ATP Tour came at Indian Wells in 2013. Statistics obtained from ATPWorldTour.com. Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.<doc-sep>Steeped in heat, stewed in humidity, spiced by an array of upsets and shaken by a chaotic women’s final that produced a new and deserving champion, an eventful U.S. Open ended on Sunday with a heartening display of gritty tennis and good sportsmanship. Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro were friends long before each suffered significant injuries. Djokovic experienced two years of pain before he missed six months’ competition and underwent elbow surgery early this year; del Potro required four procedures to repair his wrists and, as recently as 2015, was depressed and fearful about his tennis future. Their misfortunes bonded them and provided a touching backdrop to their embrace at the net Sunday. Djokovic, patient and strong through two punishing weeks, became a three-time U.S. Open winner and 14-time Grand Slam champion with his 6-3, 7-6 (4) 6-3 victory over del Potro under the roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Djokovic is tied for third with Pete Sampras for the most career Grand Slam singles titles, behind Roger Federer (20) and Rafael Nadal (17). “I feel like I’m on a whole new level. That’s kind of my approach and my thinking,” said Djokovic, who missed last year’s U.S Open because of his elbow. “I just want to create from this moment onwards the most I can create for myself, to get the best out of myself in every possible moment.” After he had won his 16th straight set and 21st of 23 here, Djokovic dropped to the court on his back, his arms and legs outstretched as he soaked in the applause and the moment. When he rose and met del Potro at the net they embraced for several seconds as their joy and disappointment mingled. “I’m very sad for being a loser today. But Novak deserved to take the trophy. He played a great match, very smart game,” said del Potro, who was again supported by the chants and cheers of the childhood friends who followed him here from his hometown of Tandil, Argentina. Advertisement “I had my opportunities during second and third set,” said del Potro, who played in his first Grand Slam final since he won here in 2009, “but I was playing almost at the limit all the time, looking for winners with my forehands, backhands, and I couldn’t make it because Novak was there every time. He’s a great champion. So I’m glad for him.” The pivotal moment that propelled Djokovic closer to the title and the $3.8 million winner’s check was the eighth game of the second set. They battled for more than 20 minutes and went to deuce eight times. Del Potro had three break points to go up 5-3 but fell short when he produced a couple of stray forehands and Djokovic pulled even at 4-4. After each held serve and sent it to the tiebreaker, Djokovic won the set on another errant forehand by del Potro. The forehand is usually his strongest weapon but it was erratic on Sunday. “I take the risk with my forehands. I’ve been doing that all the match,” said del Potro, who earned $1.85 million as the runnerup. “Sometimes it go in and sometimes I miss it. But it’s the only way to beat these kind of players. You have to be a perfect game during more than three hours. Sometimes you couldn’t make it. But my mistakes was because the level of Novak. He plays really well.” Novak Djokovic celebrates with the championship trophy after defeating Juan Martin del Potro in the men’s final of the US Open on Sunday in New York. (John G. Mabanglo / European Pressphoto Agency) Del Potro pushed back in the second set and broke Djokovic’s serve to cut Djokovic’s lead to 3-2, but del Potro’s energy level began to sink. Djokovic, quick and fanatically fit, outlasted him. Del Potro committed 47 unforced errors, 30 on his forehand. “I enjoyed everything,” de Potro said of the tournament. “The worst part to me is the chances that I couldn’t make it of the game. But then when you see a friend holding the trophy, it’s good, too. I’m glad that Novak is the champion. He deserve to be.” Djokovic wasn’t sure he would be in this position so soon. After a slow start in his return to the tour he felt he was gaining strength only to lose to Marco Cecchinato in the quarterfinals at the French Open. Deciding to disconnect from tennis, he went hiking with his wife in France. As it turned out, reaching the top of Mont Sainte-Victoire gave him the inspiration and motivation to again reach the top of the tennis world. “We just isolated ourselves and took things from a different perspective,” he said. “Ever since then, the tennis is completely different for me.” After that, he beat Kevin Anderson to win Wimbledon for the fourth time and defeated Roger Federer in straight sets in the final of a pre-U.S. Open tournament in Cincinnati. “Winning a Slam, any Slam, gives you huge confidence that you carry with you for a certain period of time,” he said. Although the 20-year-old Naomi Osaka broke through to win the women’s title, one of the “Big Four” of Federer, Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal — now really the Big Three because of Murray’s injury-related decline — held off their next-generation challengers. One of the four has won 12 of the last 15 US. Open titles and 50 of the last 55 Grand Slam titles. Djokovic, 31, is likely to add to those totals. Advertisement “I love this sport,” he said. “As long as there is that flair in me I really will keep going. I still feel it.” That’s reason to feel good. helene.elliott@latimes.com Follow Helene Elliott on Twitter @helenenothelen<doc-sep>There is nothing quite as grating as the sound of a tipster smugly explaining how brilliantly predictive they were whilst simultaneously trying to sound modest and self-effacing. So, I'll bin the modesty and self-effacement. Wasn't I clever? Previewing this tournament, I wrote that the Big Three of Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal weren't as dominant as some were suggesting; that if one of them won, it would most likely be Djokovic; but that Del Potro, resurgent of late, was the value bet at 19.0018/1. The rationale was the declining Elo ratings of those big three, and the relative closeness to them of Del Potro, especially on hard courts. Del Potro, I argued, should be around a 2.3211/8-shot against any of them in a head-to-head. Going into the final against Djokovic, though, Del Potro's status as a player-on-the-rise has solidified and my re-calculated Elo ratings suggest he might even deserve to be shorter than that 2.3211/8. That the match odds market is more lukewarm about Del Potro's chances then - he is around 3.2011/5 to win his second US Open, nearly a decade after his first - creates a dilemma: is it time to trade out of that pre-tournament bet for an all-green book, or is it time to go in again? Well, there is some reason to be cautious. Djokovic has a 14-4 head-to-head advantage over Del Potro, and when you consider that one of Del Potro's victories was the result of an injury walkover, and two of them came in the outlying tennis world of the Olympic Games, there is a sense that Djokovic holds a psychological advantage over his US Open final opponent. And then there's Djokovic's grand-slam final track-record. Dealing with the pressure and expectation of a US Open final is not easy, and Del Potro does not have much in the way of recent experience to draw on in this regard. Perhaps that won't be a factor, but the market reticence is understandable. I'm going to leave such psychological guesswork to others, however, and stick with the numbers. That may mean a losing bet in the short-term, but in the long-term the profit will out. I'll keep my bet as is and won't be trading out. I'll be trusting the numbers in the side markets, too, which are telling me that this will be closely contested and could go the distance. Tie Break Played? In a total of 49 sets played, Del Potro and Djokovic have contested seven tie-breaks, or one every seven sets. If they play four sets or more in Sunday's final that translates to odds of 1.758/11 that we'll see a tie-break, and 2.305/4 that we won't; with three sets seeing those odds flip to 2.305/4 and 1.758/11 the other way. It looks, then, that given the uncertainty over how long this match will last, that it's an even-money shot either way on there being a tie break. In the early movements the market looks to be settling at around 1.501/2 on there being a tie break. Lay "Yes" at those odds. Number of Sets and Total Games Of the 61 sets they've had available to play in their matches, they've used 49 of them, or 80%, making them one of the more likely pairings in the men's game to go the distance. A danger for Del Potro, though, is that his serve does not bring him many free points - unusually for Djokovic, he faces a grand-slam final opponent here who he betters in the ace count - so, if the occasion is getting to Del Potro, a rapid collapse could follow; however, four of their last five hard-court encounters have gone to a deciding set, with the other needing two tie breaks to close both sets. There's also that five-set semi-final match at Wimbledon in 2013 to consider: Del Potro doesn't seem to get awed by Djokovic, or by the big stage. For this reason, I'm a layer of "Three Sets" in the Number of Sets market: it's unlikely that either player will capitulate so easily. For similar reasons I'll be backing "Over 40" at 1.814/5 in the Total Games market. Across their career head-to-head, the duo has averaged 9.85 games per set played, but (ignoring an anomalous clay-court meeting in 2017) that figure has crept north of 10 recently. Should they reach a fourth set, we should collect. Set Betting Given that I've already sided heavily with Del Potro pre-tournament, I won't be looking to increase my exposure here, but I wouldn't discourage anyone from supporting him to win 3-2 at around 9.008/1: he's already beaten Nadal and Federer on the hard courts this year and can complete his triumvirate scalping here.<doc-sep>
Grand Slam tennis matches can be duds. Players suffer injuries, or can’t control their nerves. Sometimes it even happens in the semifinals, despite the importance and intensity. On Friday at the U.S. Open, the men’s semifinals ended abruptly and easily. But at least there is one benefit: The final between two well-rested stars, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro, could be a beauty. The semifinals began with promise. Del Potro’s contest against Rafael Nadal was intense at first, with two comebacks from Nadal, who twice lost his serve but broke back for a first-set tiebreak. The first set lasted an hour and 9 minutes before del Potro won it. Then everything went wrong for Nadal. He had tape under his right knee and, during every game, looked worse. He spent less time than usual before serving, and went for wild winners, rather than long rallies. After del Potro won the second set 6-2, Nadal retired from the match. This was his second Grand Slam retirement of the season, with the first coming at the Australian Open. “I waited as much as I can,” Nadal said. “You could imagine very difficult for me to say goodbye before the match finish. But at some point you have to take a decision. It was so difficult for me to keep playing at the same time that way, having too much pain.” Nadal, 32 years old, played nearly 16 hours of tennis before this match began, including the best five-set match of the tournament, against Dominic Thiem (that one lasted four hours and 49 minutes, and ended at 2:03 a.m. Wednesday morning). In the match that followed between Djokovic and Kei Nishikori, there were a few long games—mostly because Nishikori struggled to hold his serve. Once Djokovic, 31, took the lead he never looked back, winning 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. The final point was the only electric one of the match, when Djokovic hit a two-handed backhand winner while sliding past the doubles alley. This now sets up a Sunday final between Djokovic and del Potro, friends who have played each other 18 times, with Djokovic winning 14 of them. But del Potro, 29, has won on a few big stages, including the Davis Cup and twice in the Olympics. And he hasn’t played this well since he recovered from his wrist injuries, which required several surgeries and nearly caused him to retire. Juan Martin del Potro returns ball against Rafael Nadal. Photo: Lev Radin/Zuma Press Del Potro won the U.S. Open in 2009, against Roger Federer (the match lasted five sets). He has not played in a major final since then. Last year, he lost to Nadal in the semifinals here. Del Potro has won 10 matches against No. 1 men, the most for players who have not been ranked No. 1 themselves. He can’t wait until he gets on the court on Sunday. “I cannot believe that I will have a chance to play another Grand Slam final in here, which is my favorite tournament,” del Potro said. “And in the finals, anything can happen.” As for Djokovic, after a rough few years, he is healthy and looks as impenetrable as ever. He continues to serve well and hit the ball deep, and hardly ever misses. With no heat or humidity expected, Djokovic will be the favorite. But he knows that del Potro has the firepower to make the match difficult. “He always relies, of course, on the first big serve and big forehand, one of the biggest forehands ever in the history of this game,” Djokovic said. “Down the line, hit across, any angle. That’s the big weapon.” Novak Djokovic, right, greets Juan Martin Del Potro after winning a match at the Italian Open in 2017. Photo: Gregorio Borgia/Associated Press The U.S. Open has not had a full five-set men’s match in the final since 2012, when Andy Murray beat Djokovic. Perhaps the finest men’s final came in 1988, when Mats Wilander beat Ivan Lendl in five sets. The match lasted four hours and 54 minutes. But no matter how entertaining the match, something extraordinary will happen. By the end of the month, when del Potro and Marin Cilic turn 30, there will not be a single man under age 30 who has won a Grand Slam title. In tennis, that’s unheard of, and shows how dominant the generation of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic has been. Tennis might never see anything like that again.