After Rafael Nadal’s victory at the US Open, his fellow players have taken to Twitter to send their well wishes to the Spaniard, who captured his 16th Grand Slam championship.

Felicitaciones @RafaelNadal! Merecido campeón. ?

— Juan M. del Potro (@delpotrojuan) September 10, 2017

@RafaelNadal you are the best Spanish athlete in History!! #16thGrandSlam ????

— Fernando Verdasco (@FerVerdasco) September 10, 2017

Grande Rafa

— Mardy Fish (@MardyFish) September 11, 2017

Congratulations to @RafaelNadal on winning @usopen. Incredible athlete for all of us to keep getting inspired from. #VamosRafa

— Rohan Bopanna (@rohanbopanna) September 11, 2017

When the laws of physics don’t apply, your name must be Rafa.

— Noah Rubin (@Noahrubin33) September 10, 2017

Congrats @rafaelnadal on your 3rd @usopen title and thanks for spending a little time w/… https://t.co/ozz2nJvlJk

— Justin Gimelstob (@justingimelstob) September 10, 2017

Focus on your goals, never give up, always keep fighting… Some of the values @RafaelNadal has shown with his example. CONGRATS #VamosRafa pic.twitter.com/EyNzqtqvmu

— Rafa Nadal Academy (@rnadalacademy) September 10, 2017

Congrats Rafa ?

Roger 19
Rafa 16

and counting …#legends

— Christopher Kas (@KasiTennis) September 10, 2017

It has been a fairytale season for Rafael Nadal, winning his 10th Roland Garros crown, returning to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and now, on Sunday night in New York, capturing his 16th Grand Slam championship at the US Open. In the eyes of his uncle and coach, Toni Nadal, it is an incredible feat.

“When he was 12, 13 or 14, you never think he will get to this level,” said Nadal. “I am very happy to see my nephew lift so many trophies, knowing that he has achieved another piece of history. He has won a hard-court tournament for the first time since 2014. We are very happy that he has won another Grand Slam, his 16th, and is in a position to fight for No. 1.”

The US Open champion of 2010, 2013 and 2017 hadn’t triumphed on hard courts since 2014 Doha (d. Monfils). Since then, he had contested 34 hard-court tournaments without success. This year, he was beaten in the finals of the Australian Open, Acapulco and Miami.

Nadal’s victory at Flushing Meadows gives him a healthy lead over Roger Federer in the year-to-date standings as the two prepare to battle it out for the year-end No. 1 spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Nadal has 9,365 points to Federer’s 7,505. “He has a lead of almost 2,000 points,” said Toni Nadal. “We will see what happens at the end of the year, though, with tournaments that usually favour Federer.

“At indoor hard-court tournaments, like Basel, Paris or the Nitto ATP Finals, Federer has the advantage. But I think that Rafael’s level is high enough to do well in those events,” said Toni Nadal.

Nadal’s victory at the US Open rounded out the dominance that he and Federer have enjoyed once again in 2017, splitting the four Grand Slams between them in a season where both were coming back from injuries and loss of form. “It was unimaginable that would happen, of course,” said Toni Nadal. “But I had faith that Rafael would win one more Grand Slam, I tell you truthfully.”

When Carlos Moya joined Rafael Nadal’s team ahead of the 2017 season, he did so with total optimism. “When I joined the team I knew that there was much more to come for Rafa, that if he stayed injury free and continued training with the same motivation, desire and confidence, that the tennis would come,” said Moya.

“And in any case, we are talking about a legend, so the victories always come sooner or later,” added Nadal’s coach, himself a former World No. 1. He wasn’t mistaken. Three Grand Slam finals later, and with the US Open trophy now in his player’s hands, Moya couldn’t be more satisfied.

Their relationship and friendship is well documented, with Moya mentoring Nadal since he was a teenager. But has anything ever surprised him about Nadal during his career? “Many things have surprised me,” he responds without hesitation. “When I saw his progress, how quickly he went through every stage of development, when he won Wimbledon, when he achieved things that were unthinkable at that time in Spanish tennis… Now, nothing will surprise me anymore. He always gives the best of himself. We are talking about one of the greatest players in history and, as such, my faith in him is rock solid.”

Moya, who as a coach has guided Nadal to three Grand Slam finals this year as well as taking Milos Raonic to the Wimbledon final in 2016, sees Nadal competing for everything in the future. “If he can stay as healthy as he is now, without injury, motivated, looking after himself the way he is, we will be talking about Rafa for years to come,” said the Mallorcan.

“He is a player who broke records as a teenager and who is now breaking them as a veteran as well. This is something we haven’t see much in the history of tennis. People talk about how physical tennis is, but here he is at 31 winning two Grand Slams, right behind Federer. We mustn’t underestimate his talent, his ability to improve, to analyse things. For me, there is no reason to think he can’t spend many more years on Tour,” said Moya.

Can a World No. 1 and winner of 16 Grand Slams stay motivated? “Someone who has achieved so much will always find a new challenge,” said Moya. “There aren’t many challenges left, but there are some. He is a very competitive person, a very demanding person and that helps a lot. He will keep finding motivation and his biggest motivation will be to keep improving, keep evolving, stay competitive and he knows that if he can do that, the options to win tournaments and fight at the top will be there.”

Two of the standout performers at the US Open have put themselves firmly in contention to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in London.

With just eight weeks of the regular ATP World Tour season remaining, Pablo Carreno Busta and Kevin Anderson have surged forwards in the Emirates ATP Race To London as they bid to qualify for the first time.

View Emirates ATP Race To London

Carreno Busta, who reached his first Grand Slam semi-final in New York, losing to Anderson, is up to eighth in the year-to-date standings, although Stan Wawrinka at fifth has already ruled himself out for the remainder of the season. Carreno Busta was also a quarter-finalist at Roland Garros earlier in the year and won his third ATP World Tour title in Estoril (d. Muller).

Anderson, who finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal at Flushing Meadows, is up to 11^th, although he is still behind Novak Djokovic, who is also sidelined for the rest of 2017. The South African has risen 17 places in the standings after a remarkable run in New York, made all the more significant by the injury woes that plagued him in the first half of the season.

Nadal and Roger Federer have already secured their spots at the elite eight-player tournament, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November.

Alexander Zverev is next in line to qualify, at third in the standings. The 20-year-old German has won two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in his standout season, but failed to make a further push for London as he suffered a surprise second-round exit at the US Open (l. to Coric).

Dominic Thiem reached the fourth round at the US Open as he cemented his place among the Top 4 in the year-to-date standings. The Austrian is looking to qualify for the year-end championships for the second year in a row.

As the race starts to countdown, Grigor Dimitrov, Marin Cilic and Sam Querrey will all look to add crucial points to their tallies in the coming weeks.

It is a bolt out of the blue to some, but just reward for years of gradual improvements in Kevin Anderson’s eyes. Now the big-serving South African is backing himself like never before. 

A maiden Grand Slam final may not have fallen his way on the scorecard after a straight-sets dismissal at the hands of Rafael Nadal, but it is a two-week stretch that has laid the foundations for the 31 year old to finish the year with a bang. The long road back from an injury-riddled 2016 and first half of 2017 only makes his run sweeter. 

While defeat was still fresh, Anderson said once the dust had settled he would look back on his US Open run with only great memories. He came up against one of the game’s greats on the day and was forthcoming in his praise of what gave Nadal his edge.

“Definitely the first one, as I said quite a few times, is his competitiveness, consistency at that level. He never goes away,” Anderson said. “He brings that high energy every single point. I think that’s probably one of the biggest ones.

“It goes without saying his groundstrokes, his movements, defensive skills, it all comes together. I think he blended that very well tonight against me.”

A projected return to No. 15 in the Emirates ATP Rankings puts Anderson within striking range of a career-high No. 10, achieved on the back of a quarter-final run at Flushing Meadows two years ago. Having started his season at World No. 80 it warrants a welcome rethink of goals for the remainder of 2017.

“The target of getting back to 10 is something I set myself a little while ago. I got off to a bit of a tough start at the beginning of the year, but this summer I have really put myself in a good position.

“I feel like when I’m taking care of the stuff I need to, the ranking will take care of itself. It’s great to sit back at the end of the week and see the jump that I have made and the spots I have been able to climb, something I can be very proud of.

“Regardless of what happened these two weeks, I can take confidence. But I’m really going to have to reset and would love to have obviously a very strong finish to the year. I think maybe missing the beginning of the year has set me up well in terms of freshness.”

Two years ago, the South African finished a few spots shy of a maiden Nitto ATP Finals appearance. A strong finish to the year will put him well within the mix again.

“It would be great. That definitely wasn’t on my radar sort of in March/April this year after missing the beginning,” Anderson said. “I felt it was right there. My body was healthy, I spent a lot of time on my physical conditioning and I was hitting the ball great. 

“I just needed to find that form on the match court. I feel like I have really done that. Looking back at the summer, I have had some really good results. I’ve put myself in contention.” 

Sweet 16. Rafael Nadal won a perfect 16 of 16 points at the net in claiming his 16th Grand Slam singles title at the US Open on Sunday. Everywhere you looked, there was a storyline, but his superiority in finishing points at the front of the court shone bright on the big stage. Nadal defeated Kevin Anderson 6-3 6-3, 6-4 in the final, putting a stamp on his recent resurgence back to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

There were six focal points for the Spaniard that highlighted his dominance in the past fortnight in the Big Apple.

1. Tournament Net Points Won 80% (96/120)
Nadal finished tied for fourth-best in points won at the net during the tournament and was tops among those coming forward at least 30 times. He turned in a dominant performance when coming forward on Sunday (16/16 won). 

By contrast, Anderson only won 66 per cent (111/168) of points at the net for the tournament, including just 47 per cent (16/34) in the final. They actually won the exact same amount of points at net (16), but Anderson went there more than twice as much to accrue the same total.

2. Final Nadal Break Points Faced: 0
Nadal didn’t face a single break point in the final and was broken just seven times in seven matches throughout the tournament. It wasn’t until the last game of the match, with Nadal serving at 5-4 in the third set, that Anderson was finally able to extend a Nadal service game to deuce. 

At deuce, Anderson jumped to his left to cover a first serve to the backhand, but Nadal was a step ahead with a serve out wide to the forehand. Anderson barely touched the ball. On his second match point, Nadal served-and-volleyed behind a curling slider out wide, and easily knocked off a backhand volley winner into the open court to win the match.

3. Final Baseline Points Won: 57% (54/95)
Once the point evolved past the serve and return in the final, Nadal completely dominated from the back of the court. Nadal won 57 per cent of his baseline points, while Anderson battled mightily, but only managed to win 32 per cent (25/77) of his baseline points. Anderson’s forehand yielded 27 errors, while the backhand was slightly higher at 35. 

The baseline was the Spaniard’s domain from start to finish in New York, winning a tournament high 58 per cent (456/784). He was one of only nine players that had a winning record from the baseline in New York over the past two weeks. 

4. Gateway Points Won: 100% (4/4)
Nadal was only pressured to 30/30 and deuce four times in the final and won all four of those points. In direct contrast, Anderson was pushed to 30/30 and deuce 21 times over three sets, winning just 14 (67 per cent) of those points.

Anderson’s first service game of the match went to deuce and he won it. It was a victory for Anderson, but also a victory for Nadal to immediately go deep in the South African’s opening service game. He had to endure seven deuces in his second service game before finally winning it. His third service game had five deuces, and he won that as well. 

At 3-3, Anderson was stretched to deuce yet again. He double faulted, putting a 107 mph second serve into the net, and lost the ad point when he cooked a forehand just wide.

5. Tournament: Nadal Serve & Volley 100% (10/10)
Nadal had not served-and-volleyed until the semi-finals, where he won 5/5 against Juan Martin Del Potro. Nadal doubled up with the tactic, winning 5/5 against Anderson, following a wide slider immediately to the net in the Ad court on match point.

The overall win percentage serving and volleying for all players in New York was 66 per cent (375/572), which was higher than the average for general net points (65 per cent) and baseline points (47 per cent). 

6. Final: 1st Serve Points Won Deuce Court: 91% (20/22)
Nadal peppered the Anderson backhand with his first serve in the deuce court, hitting 13 down the middle, three at the body, and just six out wide to the forehand. Nadal also went after Anderson’s backhand return in the Ad court, hitting 16 wide, two at the body, and only five down the T to the forehand. Nadal won 18/23 first serves in the Ad court.