The Greatest Comebacks in the U.S. Open History, Part Two

This is the second part of The Greates Comebacks in the U.S. Open History.

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario – Steffi Graf: 1994, US Open final

It only took 22 minutes for Steffi Graf to snatch the first set from Vicario, 1-6. But how wrong would she have been if she thought it was going to be an easy game.

Vicario fought back in the second set and at the result 4-3, having executed a half-volley saw Steffi Graf suffer some kind of injury while attempting to reach the ball. Nevertheless, Steffi continued to battle on with a slight pain in her lower back. Later, she claimed that the injury only bothered her for a couple of games.

Arantxa took the second set 7-6.

In the final third set, Graf’s main weapon started to fail. She netted a few forehands and made some unprovoked errors. Eventually, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario fought to snatch the win, took the final set 6-4, defeating Graf. It was her first US Open title. She said after the game, “It was the happiest day of my life and the biggest win,”

About the injury that Stefi seemed to suffer from during the match she said, “Well, I know she had a back problem. When I won the second set, I knew everything was different, but I thought she was still playing a good match.”

Steffi Graf, nonetheless, had no excuses for her defeat, “I just couldn’t stay with this level. That’s all”


Steffi Graf – Monica Seles: 1995, US Open final

The 1995 US Open witnessed one of the most memorable women’s singles tennis match in the history of the tournament. Two years after she was stabbed on court, Monica Seles was back in top form and was battling it out with Steffi Graf for the US Open title.

In a very dramatic, full of tension and jam-packed with great tennis match, Graf was able to turn the odds around in her favour winning 7-6, 0-6, 6-3.

In the first set, Monica Seles failed to capitalise on a set point and lost the tiebreak 6-8. In second though, it only took her 27 minutes to neutralize Graf’s tennis and tie the score.

However, Graf had a different opinion. At 1-1 games in the final set, Monica failed to take a break point leaving Graf to take full advantage of that, winning 6-3. The great comeback secured Graf’s fourth US Open title.

Andre Agassi – James Blake: 2005, US Open quarter-final

35-year-old Andre Agassi had a younger opponent, much stronger than him. James Blake’s hard-hitting shots and serves were enough to show the aging Agassi that he meant business, taking the first two sets 6-3, 6-3.

He couldn’t have imagined what would happen next.

In the third set, Agassi broke to tie the games, 3-3. He kept serve for 4-3 and then in the eighth game was when the turning point of the match developed.

Agassi fought to reach a break point, but failed to push further and deuce had to be played. Blake managed to take three advantages, but failed to capitalise on all of them. His nerves betrayed him and with three double faults from his serve, he surrendered the game and eventually the set, 6-3 to Andre Agassi.

The aging American made the turnaround complete and secured his progression to the semi-final, beating 25-year-old Blake 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6. Great comeback by Andre Agassi.

Justine Henin-Hardene – Jennifer Capriati: 2003, US Open semi-final

John McEnroe described the match as the greatest ever to have been played in the history of the US Open. And it is easy to see why.

The match proceeded more than three hours and stretched to midnight. It finished at 12:27am.

The first set went to Capriati, 6-4.

In the second set, Henin-Hardene trailed by 3-5 games but recovered, winning the set in the tiebreak 7-5.

In the third set, she trailed once again by 2-5, but miraculously fought back to reach the tiebreak and eventually win one of the most exciting matches ever to be played in tennis. Throughout the match, Jennifer Capriate had 11 opportunities to finish the match off, but a resolute Justine Henin-Hardene refused to give up.

Later that evening, the Belgian tennis player was treated for muscle cramps and dehydration in order to play in the final the next day.

She defeated her country-woman Kim Clijisters in straight sets and was crowned US Open champion. But nobody would have a slightest degree of doubt which match was the real final in the 2003 US Open championship.

Andre Agassi – Marcos Baghdatis: 2003, US Open second round

“You are not guaranteed these moments,” Agassi said after the game, “and to feel it out there is something I can keep in me forever.”

It was one of the last games of the tennis all-time great Andre Agassi. The 36-year-old once again stunned the millions of tennis fans around the world.

Cheered by a crowd of 23,700, Agassi strolled on to take the first two sets from his 21-year-old opponent. Contradictory to the expectations that Agassi would crumble physically first, it was Baghdatis’s feet that locked up. He had to receive help from his trainer. Falling on his wrist in the first set did not make things easier for him. But did he quit?

Through amazing will-power Marcos Baghdatis fought through a deficit of 0-4 games in the fourth set, and tied the sets at 2-2. Agassi’s wife Steffi Gras now looked worried on the stands.

But it was the old school’s calm and calculated tennis that was in favour tonight. Eventually, Andre Agassi won the final set 7-5 to record one of the most exciting games of the US Open men’s singles history.

He was later greeted by a crowd of fans in his locker room. In the next round he was to meat Benjamin Becker, which would later be looked backed on as his last game in tennis.

The Greates Comebacks of the U.S. Open History, Part One

The time has come again, folks. One of the biggest four tournaments in modern tennis is about to resume on August 31st.

Once again, we will cheer for our favourite tennis heroes. Once again, we will watch some out-of-this-planet tennis. Once again, we will witness the great potential of the human mind and body.

Throughout the years, the US Open has been a stage on which legendary tennis players like Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Bjorn Borg, Andre Agassi, Stefan Edberg and many more have attempted to eradicate to the word impossible from the dictionary.

They have been a great threat to that word, but nevertheless it still remains in the dictionary (but it has begun its transformation to its opposite—possible).

Tennis is not only an ordinary game of two players, two rackets, a net, and a ball. Tennis is much more than that; it is a reflection of the human strength and the unending potential of the human body and mind— the two reasons for which we have seen countless of comebacks in tennis.

The US Open has also had its fair share of great comebacks. But which ones were the greatest? Well, let’s look into it.

Here are the greatest comebacks in the US Open since the day the tournament was created from its predecessor, the US National Championship, in 1968.

Ilie Nastase – Arthur Ashe: 1972, US Open Final

It was one of the first comebacks since the tournament was created and it was one of the most dramatic ones ever. In front of a record number of attendance, 14,696, Romanian Ilie Nastase and American Arthur Ashe faced each other to decide which path the fourth US Open trophy will embark on.

The first set went to Ashe 6-3, but then Nastase tied the game, taking the second set with 6-3. The third was taken, once again, by the American.

In the fourth, Ilie Nastase trailed by two to one sets and 1-3 games at serving game. Eventually, he managed to turn it around and won it by six games to four.

The fifth and final set once again went to the Romanian, but not before he trailed again due to a break by Ashe. Ilie Nastase completed his first US Open triumph in one of the most dramatic comebacks up to date.

Manuel Orantes – Guilermo Villas: 1975, US Open Semi-final

In the year when night tennis was introduced, the battle between the two was the one to make the perfect advertisement of it.

It was probably the greatest comeback ever to occur in the world of tennis. The Spaniard Manuel Orantes quickly lost the first two sets by 4-6, 1-6, but he managed to recover for the third and won it 6-2.

But it was in the fourth set when it was meant for people to suffer heart attacks. Orantes trailed by 0-5 games but, unbelievably, made a terrific comeback to win it 7-5: striking performance by Manuel Orantes. In the finals set he was able to finish off Villas, winning 6-4.

He later continued on his quest and beat defending champion Jimmy Connors in the final.

Pamela Shriver - Martina Navratilova: 1982, US Open Quarter-final

Pam Shriver caused the big upset by beating reigning Wimbledon and French Open champion, and her partner in the women’s doubles, Martina Navratilova. She managed to come back from 1-6 to take the remaining two sets 7-6, 6-2.

Unfortunately for Pam Shrivers, beating the top-seeded challenger could not help her win the US Open. Still, the match is considered to be one of the greatest in the US Open women’s singles.

Stefan Edberg – Michael Chang: 1992, US Open Semi-final

The match between Stefan Edberg and Michael Chang is believed to be the longest match in the history of the US Open. It lasted for over five hours— five hours and 26 minutes to be exact. And what a test of endurance it was.

Edberg’s perfect execution of serve-volley and Chang’s perfect returns and passing contributed to one of the closest games ever in tennis.

In the first set, Chang took the lead with five games to two, but Edberg did not give up and fought back to earn a tiebreak. Eventually, he lost the tiebreak and the first set went to Michael Chang.

In second set, strangely enough, the script was the opposite of the one in the first set. Edberg took the lead with 4-0 only to see Chang come back to lock the game into a tiebreak again. Nevertheless, it was still Edberg that won the tiebreak.

The third set went to Stefan Edberg, 7-5. In the fourth, the Swede missed the chance to end the match and allowed Chang to push the game into a final fifth set.

It is when the battle for endurance became most obvious. Both were physically tired, the battle was led in the minds of the players.

Stefan Edberg emerged victorious, defeating the mentally exhausted Michael Chang with 6-7, 7-5, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.

Lady Luck Smiles At Arsenal in the Champions League Group Stage Draw

Arsenal got lucky in the Champions League Group Stages draw on Thursday. They managed to avoid dangerous teams from the second seed such as Real Madrid, Lyon, Internazionale Milano, Juventus and Porto.

Incredible luck was with the Gunners and it saw them get relatively easy opponents in their group. They were drawn in group H and received as opponents Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, Greeks Olympiacos, and Belgian club Standard Liege.

Group H
1. Arsenal
2. AZ
3. Olympiacos
4. Standard Liege

Arsenal will resume their quest for European silverware on September 16, when they will travel to meet Belgian team Standard Liege.

Here is how the other groups turned out:

Goup A
1. Bayern
2. Juventus
3. Bordeaux
4. Maccabi Haifa

Group B
1. Manchester United
2. CSKA Moskva
3. Besiktas
4. Wolfsburg

Group C
1. Milan
2. Real Madrid
3. Marseille
4. Zurich

Group D
1.Chelsea
2. Porto
3. Atletico
4. APOEL

Group E
1. Liverpool
2. Lyon
3. Fiorentina
4. Debrecen

Group F
1. Barcelona
2. Internazionale
3. Dynamo Kyiv
4. Rubin

Group G
1. Sevilla
2. Rangers
3. Stuttgart
4. Unirea Urziceni

Sun Tzu's Six Must-Know Rules for Every Football Manager

Sun Tzu was Chinese military commander who lived in the years before the Common Era (it is argued exactly when). He has been considered to have profoundly influenced the development of military strategy. His book The Art of War was a source of inspiration for many military commanders, and in nowadays is a must-know for any military strategist.

But what’s that got to do with football?

Football has been used, throughout the ages (as yearly as 4000 BC) as a game to serve different pagan believes and also it has been used by the Romans and Chinese as a kind of military training. It was considered to be a game that keeps the body and mind fit for the time they would be put to use—war time.

If we look into many of the tactics used by the managers around the world in nowadays football, we would probably notice a lot of striking similarities with Sun Tzu’s strategies for war.

Let’s not keep you waiting. I’ll let Mr. Tzu do the talking with his book The Art of War:

“You have to believe in yourself.”

It is probably the most obvious thing of all. No win would come to a team without a solid amount of self-confidence and belief in their own abilities. There are plenty of teams out there that have all that is needed to be a great team, but they are found wanting when it concerns those vital attributes.

That exact thought of Sun Tzu could easily replace the “You will never walk alone” slogan Liverpool’s crest. They are the team that have proved that this phrase of Sun Tzu is right recipe for victory more than once.

“Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack.”

I doubt if there is a football manager in the world that does not know this rule.

If your team has a good defence, they will concede fewer goals; if your team has a good attack, more goals will be scored by it. But it is the balance that most work to achieve. Being a good defensive team will not bring glory in modern football.

Ask the many Italian football clubs that concentrate their efforts toward defensive style of play. Ask technically-inclined teams that have plenty of attacking power, but also have failed to meet the necessary defensive requirements.

“Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy’s strategy.”

The essence of football is to outplay the other team tactically. It is the path to victory in football. We have seen many times how less talented teams have taken it all and have beaten stronger teams by using the right tactics and strategy.

A football team is much like an army. The correct executions of the general’s strategy, the manager in this case, would lead to victory. The best teams know how to adapt their game to that of the opposition.

“Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.”

Rule number one when it comes to life, not only football. The surest way to defeat is by not knowing the opposition or yourself. The football team must know their own weaknesses, weak spots, thus where to attack and what to protect themselves from; they must know their strengths and apply them in the most appropriate way.

If a football team is weak in the air, then it is better for them not to cross the ball and keep it on the ground or to attempt to close in the opposition’s wingers.

If a football team lacks technical players then they should attempt to neutralise the oppositional technical players and be more physical. We have also seen this rule work to the advantage of weaker teams many times.


“To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting”

Only a selected few even attempt to try their hands at this. Even though a “fight” cannot be avoided in modern football due to its strict schedules, the resistance of the opposition can be broken even before the start of the particular match.

Sir Alex Ferguson may be considered to be the typical example of the application of this rule works. Not once we have seen him play mind games with other managers. His attempts to disrupt the opposition’s flow have worked on many occasions.

“All war is deception”

This rule is embedded into most of the tactics that the football managers use on the field. The constant swapping of positions of the players, the tricks of the players, the deceptive passes are all an inseparable part of modern football.


Six quotes from Sun Tzu; six rules; and the similarities do not end here.

Football is just a reflection of life, or of what it has been before. People like Sun Tzu and others who have found ways to improve the different aspects of life have also improved exactly that—more than one, different, aspect of life. Football has not been left behind.

Sun Tzu, with his book The Art of War, have given the world not only the basic strategies for successful warfare, but he has also given the modern football managers the formula for success. Sun Tzu would have been a great football manager.

Man of the Week

Thomas Vermaelen made a great debut in the English Premier League, scoring his first goal for Arsenal against Everton. A follow-up solid performance on Parkhead against Celtic in the Champions League play-off round are enough to secure him the Man of the Week label.

Decide Already; Is Arsenal Capable of Winning the League or Not?

The Premier League has started. There were some surprising results as well as there were some expected results. Interestingly enough, there was one match that contained both of those things.

It was as surprising for some; expected for others. Arsenal won by 6-1 as guests to Everton. Now, the result might have been unexpected by some due to summer problems that Arsenal supposedly had.

The pundits talked and wrote millions of words; they gave thousands of opinions, explained, discussed and argued how Arsenal is about to fall apart or how they are still found wanting. The club was labelled as the fourth-place-to-give-away team this season. They have been considered as title rivals by very few.

In contrast to another team from the Premier League—Manchester City, which was also hugely debated throughout the summer, spent mind-blowing sums of money to buy players; Arsenal sold two of theirs and brought only one.

For some, that signalled the capitulation of the London club; it signalled the transformation of the club from a top European football club to a mediocre one, annually fighting for a place for the European tournaments; it signalled its inability to contest with the big teams.

They were dismissed as title contenders even before the season started. But let me ask why?

If the answer of this question is because they will get a lot of injured players sometime along this season, then I will ask you how you know that.

A lot of people have learnt that history does not lie. Arsenal has not won anything for four years now. Wouldn’t a statement saying that they will fail for another year be considered as a safe bet?

The truth is that it is exactly that.

It is a safe bet; it is safe because it has already happened in the not-so-distant past; it is still fresh in our minds; nothing has been changed, and failure for Arsenal expected to happen again.

But let me try to disrupt that up-to-date notion.

During the previous couple of years, Arsenal has been labelled as a young team without the needed experience to adequately compete in the tournaments. Well, four years of drought have passed. Aren’t the players who were considered green two years ago more experienced now? Have footballers like Denilson, Alexandre Song, Gael Clichy, and Abou Diaby matured since then?

Logically, the answer must be yes.

So, why are then Arsenal being dismissed from the title chase when the same team, only more inexperienced, finished with 84 points two years ago (82 points is usually enough to win the title in most of the cases)?

Some will say because Mathieu Flamini was in that team then, and Aliaksandr Hleb. But Song and Denilson have matured, and Andrey Arshavin cannot be disputed as an adequate replacement for Hleb.

If you remember, it was the year when just before the season Arsenal lost their captain and legendary player Thierry Henry. What were the pundits saying then? Did they expect such a performance by the Gunners? No, they didn’t.

Pundits have argued that Arsenal do not have the needed depth to challenge for the title. While this may be true, there was another team that lacked depth, and still was able to win the title—Manchester United.

Many will remember the period of the last season when Sir Alex Ferguson had to use youngsters like Jonny Evans, Rafael Da Silva and versatile players like John O’Shea, when his first-team starters Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville and Nemanja Vidic were either injured or suspended. But still Manchester United won the title in the end.

So why is Arsenal being dismissed? That’s a team who has the same manager who took them to three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and all that happened not so long ago.

One thing should be remembered. This is football. Sometimes it defies logic, whatever that logic it might be.

The “invincibles” were not the “invincibles” before they became such.

Who could have known that Arsenal would complete a season undefeated.

Surely, the football pundits had not expected that. But it happened.

A new season of the Premier League has started. Twenty teams will battle for one title. No-one should be dismissed, especially a club that has won it in the not-so-distant past.

An Open Letter to Arsenal's Critics from Arsenal's Players

Dear critics of Arsenal,

We are writing to you to apologize for our inappropriate behaviour in our march against Everton on Goodison Park. You must know that we respect you opinions very much, and we hold your rash criticism close to our heart, just in case we need it.

Our team captain Cesc Fabregas conducted a meeting in order to reflect on our terrible performance; we asked ourselves the question you are probably asking yourselves now: Why, oh, why did we win with a five-goal margin, away from home, against a side that finished fifth last season?

After a long discussion, we were able to come up with a few explanations of our own that we would like to supply to you. We hope that by doing so you will forgive us and understand that we have nothing against you; we love you, and we need you criticism.

Firstly, that little Samba-dancing Brazilian kid, Denilson, has never really listened to us. He is a kind of a quite rebel. We never would have thought that he would act against your most respected opinions dear critics. By the time we saw him preparing to shoot,we understood he would rebel. Before we attempted to stop him, the ball was already in.

It was Van Persie’s mistake really. He should have known better than to assist that rebel.

Secondly, we forgot that we had signed that Belgian ex-captain of Ajax, Thomas Vermaelen thus we also forgot to tell him that you wanted us to submit to your most-respected opinions. We should have lost, we know that, but unfortunately Vermaelen did not.

Theo Walcott was burdened with the task to tell that to the new guy, but he got injured and could not make it to the game. In Van Persie’s words, “I did not know he was there; I wanted the ball to go out, but the new guy jumped out of nowhere and scored.”

We felt so bad to have a two goal lead away from home. We were shocked and we would have never consciously thought that our ex-captain William Gallas would nod the ball in behind Howard. He later explained that he was still dazed by the second goal that we had scored earlier and because of that was playing on automatic mode.

We are so sorry.

At half time, we reminded ourselves that we were to start the season badly because that would make you, dear critics of Arsenal, feel good and all-powerful for identifying the quality that we possess. We love you so much.

We are very young, and we are still learning. Give us a chance to explain how it all happened and you will see that it was not really our fault.

It was that manager of ours.

He told us to constantly swap positions to confuse the opposition, and that the new formation, 4-3-3, or something, would work if we did that. Most of us are young, and we were confused, so did what we were told to do.

Leading 3-0 in the second half, we realised we had made an irreversible mistake. With great regret, we decided to see the rest of the game through, as the result was irreparable already.

We finished the match off with two goals by our captain, who by the way is leaving for Barcelona soon, and one by that injury-prone guy—Eduardo.

Once again, we are very sorry that we won by 6-1.

We did not mean to disappoint your expectations of us. We will try to make it up to you, dear critics.

Please proceed with your criticism; we will keep in touch with you.

Sincerely,
The Arsenal’s players