Have Nishikori, Cilic ushered in an era of unpredictability?

2014 has been an interesting year for men’s Tennis. Stan Wawrinka won the first grand slam of the year and Marin Cilic won the last. With Nadal and Djokovic wining the other two, 2014 saw four different Grand slam winners in one year. The last time this happened was 2 years back in 2012 but the 4 men were - Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Roger Federer. The past decade has been characterized by the prolonged dominance of initially the top 3 – Federer, Nadal & Djokovic and then subsequently Murray entering the club to turn it into the “Big four.” And that is why what happened on Saturday, 6 September shocked the tennis world. [caption id=“attachment_1705587” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Marin Cilic (R) shakes hands with Kei Nishikori after defeating him in the men’s singles final match at the 2014 U.S. Open. Reuters[/caption] For most tennis fans around the world as the 6th progressed it turned from a “Super Saturday” into a “Shocking Saturday.” It was the day when David overpowered Goliath. If Nishikori beating Djokovic came as a surprise then Cilic straight set win over Federer shook the entire Tennis world. This could not be brushed aside as just another “upset” where the underdog got lucky. The script was altered twice in the same night. Could it be a signal of an emerging pattern? This US Open 2014 final was the first grand slam since 2005 to not feature any of the top 4. That has been the kind of impact the top 4 have had on the game. They created a glass ceiling of sorts. It was like they were playing at a different level. Even before a grand slam began it was safe to put your money on these four. And it is for these reasons that this US Open final between Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic has in the words of Simon Briggs of The telegraph “inflicted the heaviest blow yet on the hegemony of the Big Four.” They ensured that they constantly kept pushing themselves to become better. They elevated the status of the game and turned a lot of causal watchers to passionate fans. They created fandoms almost on the lines of the kind of support that exists for football clubs. For the most part, the Big Four generally had a positive impact on the sport but they also made tennis extremely predictable. And nothing kills a sport like predictability does. Whenever the Big four where playing outside “this club” I kind of already knew the result even before the game started. In the Grand Slams, matches before the semi finals became totally inconsequential. Which brings me back to what happened this Saturday. Like most tennis lovers, I thought that the two semi finals would be a walk in the park for our two superstars. But Nishikori and Cilic had other plans. What I saw unfold in front of me was probably the biggest upheaval of the established order. So do these two wins usher in a dawn of a new order in men’s tennis? Have the tennis worlds tectonic plates shifted enough to reshape this world going forward? I cannot say because one event is not enough to take that call. We will have to wait till next year this time to decide whether a permanent change has emerged. All I know right now is that on 6th September two of my favorite athletes lost but my favorite sport won. After all, doesn’t watching a game become a lot more fun when there are no favorites?