Mother Nature postpones US Open men’s finale

Associated Press

NEW YORK

A Monday men’s final is becoming a U.S. Open tradition.

The championship match between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic was postponed a day because of persistent rain Sunday, the third consecutive year that the season’s last major tournament won’t finish on schedule.

The No. 1-seeded Nadal, bidding to complete a career Grand Slam, and No. 3 Djokovic were supposed to begin playing Sunday at 4:30 p.m., but showers began more than 1 1/2 hours earlier and hadn’t stopped by 6:15 p.m., when tournament officials decided to call it a night.

The final was rescheduled for today at 4 p.m. when the forecast calls for a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms.

Before 2008, the U.S. Open men’s final hadn’t been pushed to Monday since 1987. But Roger Federer beat Andy Murray on a Monday two years ago, then lost to Juan Martin del Potro on a Monday last year. This marks the first three-year string of delayed finishes at the tournament since the men’s and women’s singles competitions were combined and played at the same site in 1935.

“It was a very uncertain forecast, and had been shifting over the course of the day. We are in a band of showers that potentially could stretch until 1 [a.m.],” U.S. Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier said. “There may be breaks in there, but it was such an uncertain forecast that we felt the right thing to do for the players — and certainly for the fans — was to postpone the remaining matches until tomorrow.”

Nadal and Djokovic were told a little before 6:30 p.m. that they wouldn’t be playing Sunday, Widmaier said.

At 3 p.m., Djokovic was warming up on a practice court right outside Arthur Ashe Stadium as scattered drops fell. A few dozen fans — some holding aloft umbrellas — gathered outside the fence, catching a glimpse of the 2008 Australian Open champion.

He probably doesn’t mind having to wait until Monday to play for real. That’s because he reached the final with a grueling, five-set victory over Federer that lasted about 1 1/2 hours more than Nadal’s straightforward, three-set win against Mikhail Youzhny in Saturday’s first semifinal.

The U.S. Open is the only Grand Slam tournament that schedules its men’s singles semifinals and finals on back-to-back day.