Maria Bueno watching the men’s final in the President’s Box at the US Open
It’s Djokovic’s US Open and Maria Bueno was on hand for the men’s final in New York on Sunday. She had this to say:
“We had a lovely lunch with the international guests in the President’s Suite after the ladies doubles, and had just settled down to watch the flag ceremony just before the men’s final when it started raining!
“Everyone left the stadium – all 27,000 of us – and had to wait for three hours or so before play began.
“If ever there was a testimony for building that roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium, this was it!”
The steel structure of the retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium is already in place
“Fortunately, next year, the roof, the structure of which is already there and looks fantastic, will be operational so there will be no rain delays like this again.
“The US Open had a run of several years, five or six, I think, when the men’s final had to be held over to an extra day, and that caused lots of difficulties for all concerned, not to mention that massive television audience, so to finally be building a roof makes sense.
“It is always hard to wait through a rain delay because you don’t know when it is going to stop.
“The players today have their own routines to warm up ahead of the match, to eat and so on, plus it can be very draining if you are a little nervous going on, to have to wait.
“What was supposed to be a day match turned into a night match and both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer seemed a bit tense in the opening set. They weren’t hitting as freely as they usually do and made errors you wouldn’t expect.
Roger Federer holds up the runners-up trophy at the US Open
“Roger wasn’t playing nearly as well as he had done against [Kevin] Anderson and [Stan] Wawrinka and Djokovic took the first set with just one break of serve.
“He got back into the match and managed to take the second set after converting one of nine break points while never facing one on his own serve.
“He had something like twenty-three break points in the match and only converted four of them against Djokovic, who only had thirteen and made six.
“That was the real difference and although Roger looked the better player in the third set, he lost it and then was broken immediately in the fourth.
“Djokovic’s defence was amazing, the balls he ran down and somehow got back into play put Roger under a lot of pressure and although it was close, it never looked like it would go any other way than to Djokovic.”
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- A disappointed Roger Federer with newly-crowned US Open Champion Novak Djokovic
Novak’s 10th Grand Slam title
Djokovic broke to begin the fourth set and again at 4-2, setting up a chance to serve for the match up two breaks, but Federer kept his hopes alive, closing a 5-2 lead to 5-4 and forcing the world No 1 to again serve for the championship.
Federer rallied, earning double break point at 15-40 and another after Djokovic closed the game to deuce, and on the Serbian’s first match point, sent his return long.
Djokovic took his 10th Grand Slam title, 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-4.
“I had too many break chances,” said Federer, who was playing in his first US Open final since 2009.
“Of course some of them I could have done better, should have done better, all these things. Surely, he didn’t give me much, that’s for sure, but still, I should have done better.”
“It was disappointing for Roger,” said Maria. “He had played so well leading into the final and didn’t perform as well in it. Let’s hope he gets another chance.”
The US Open was also a time for Maria to catch up with friends from overseas.
“We have a good time talking about all sort of things,” she added.
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- Maria Bueno and Phillip Brook, Chairman of the All England Lawn Tennis Club
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- Maria Bueno with Thomas Koch, a quarter-finalist at the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. National Championships and founder of Koch Taveres
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- Chris Combe, Maria Bueno and Courtney Combe
Legends Gala Dinner in aid of the ITHOF
On Saturday evening, Maria joined other tennis legends, Industry leaders and supporters at the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s Legends Ball held Cipriani’s in Manhattan.
The Legends Ball paid tribute to the Hall of Fame Class of 2015 and honoured several people and organisations who have contributed greatly to tennis by presentation of special awards.
Mark Miles and Larry Scott were honoured with the Eugene L Scott Award and Tennis Magazine received the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Award.
“It was a good dinner with around 500 people there,” said Maria. “I was there with my hosts, which made it more special for me.
“It was also fun to see Aranxa [Sánchez Vicario], who doesn’t come over that much.
“This year there was a good number of inductees present, which is good for the occasion.”
Proceeds of The Legends Ball, which has been held annually since 1980, benefit the International Tennis Hall of Fame and support the mission of preserving the history of the game, honouring the legends and inspiring future generations.