Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares are hitting their stride at the perfect time, streaking to the US Open doubles crown on Saturday at Flushing Meadows. The fourth seeds downed Spaniards Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-3 in 78 minutes, firing 27 winners, while converting four of five break chances.

The duo are now nipping at the heels of Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut for No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, moving to withing 300 points of the top spot with the title. Earlier in the tournament, Murray and Soares qualified for their first Barclays ATP World Tour Finals as a team.

Murray and Soares claimed their own slices of history on Saturday, with the Brit becoming the first from his country to win the US Open doubles title since Roger Taylor in 1972 and the Brazilian becoming the first ever from the South American nation to lift the trophy.

Carreno Busta and Garcia-Lopez surged out of the gates, breaking in the first game. But the Spaniards’ lead would not hold. Two straight breaks for Murray and Soares would swing momentum for good. After capturing the opener 6-2, a Murray volley winner gave them a decisive 2-0 lead in the second set, as the 30 year old lunged to cut off a Carreno Busta forehand at the net. Seven games later, they emerged with the trophy, as Soares sealed the title with a volley winner of his own.

The Australian Open champions earned their second Grand Slam title and third of the year at the tour-level, having opened their partnership with a victory on the hard courts of Sydney in January. Runner-up in New York last year with John Peers, Murray improved to 2-2 in major finals, while Soares moved to 2-1. They became the first team to win multiple Grand Slam titles in a season since Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan won three in 2013.

Carreno Busta and Garcia-Lopez, meanwhile, were the first unseeded team to reach the US Open doubles final since Lleyton Hewitt and Max Mirnyi lifted the trophy in 2000. Carreno Busta was appearing in his fourth tour-level doubles final, seeking a second title, while Garcia-Lopez was appearing in his ninth final. He won his third ATP World Tour doubles title two weeks ago at the Winston-Salem Open, with Henri Kontinen.

Lopez/Lopez Punch Tickets To London
Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez have qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 13-20 November. Lopez/Lopez, who reached the semi-finals at the US Open, join Murray and Soares, as well as Herbert/Mahut and Bryan/Bryan at the season finale. The Roland Garros champions qualified when Murray and Soares won the title in New York on Saturday, per the Grand Slam Champions rule.

Lopez/Lopez are currently No. 5 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London. In addition to their title run on the clay of Roland Garros, they lifted the trophy in Doha at the start of the season. The Spanish tandem also reached the final at the ATP World Tour 500 event in Dubai in February.

In the sixth and final part of a special series of interviews with Roger Federer in Switzerland, the 35 year old discusses his burgeoning love for the game.

Federer reveals that it is this passion that makes him more determined and hungry to return to the ATP World Tour, as he looks forward to resuming his career at the start of the 2017 season.

There are competitive tennis players, and then there’s Novak Djokovic.

During his semi-final match on Friday at the US Open, Djokovic was leading Gael Monfils two sets to love. But the top seed had just lost three consecutive break points. So upset was Djokovic that he ripped his shirt.

“These things happen,” he said. “Sometimes you’ll see a thrown racquet here and there, a ripped shirt. It’s all in the heat of the battle.”

Djokovic would go on to beat Monfils 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to advance to his seventh US Open final. But when he ripped his shirt, the match didn’t look so promising.

Monfils was serving at 5-3 in the third set and had momentum. The Frenchman had fallen behind 0/40 but climbed back to deuce. After he won the deuce point to gain the advantage, Djokovic, furious about the missed chances, ripped away.

“I can’t blame Uniqlo for that shirt,” he said of his clothing sponsor. “The quality is very good, by the way.”

The Serbian ripped his shirt a little and then tore away at the Uniqlo polo, exposing his chest to the humid air in Arthur Ashe Stadium. “I did rip it once, and then the second time just got out of hand,” he said. “But, you know, it felt nice, because my body could breathe a little bit more.”

Djokovic, a two-time US Open champion (2011, 2015), will face Stan Wawrinka in Sunday’s final. It will mark the third time the two have met in Flushing Meadows. Djokovic won both prior meetings in New York and leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 19-4. But the third-seeded Wawrinka won their only previous meeting in a Grand Slam tournament final, 2015 Roland Garros.

So whatever happened to Djokovic’s shirt? Did it land in the garbage?

“I guess so,” he said. “I haven’t seen it ever since.”

A new team will be crowned US Open champion on Saturday when fourth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares square off against unseeded Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

For the British-Brazilian pairing, it will be an attempt at a second Grand Slam doubles title of the season after winning the Australian Open. Murray/Soares saw off defending champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the semi-finals and should they triumph in the final, they would become the first team to win multiple Grand Slam titles in a season since Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan won three in 2013.

The Brit/Brazilian duo, who started playing together this season, won the first Grand Slam tournament they played, the 2016 Australian Open. But they lost in the third round  at Roland Garros and fell in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

Both have contested finals in New York before, however. Murray finished runner-up at Flushing Meadows last year (w/Peers) while Soares fell in the 2013 final (w/Peya). The Brazilian had previously tasted US Open success with mixed doubles titles in 2012 and 2014.

Their opponents, Spaniards Carreno Busta and Garcia-Lopez, have never progressed past the third round in a Grand Slam tournament. Coming into the US Open, they were 0-2 as a team this season (10-10 lifetime), although both had carried form over from the US hard-court swing. 

Carreno Busta won his first ATP World Tour singles title and Garcia-Lopez won the doubles trophy at Winston-Salem. It would cap a strong turnaround for Garcia-Lopez, who started the season 0-11 in doubles before reaching the semi-finals in Atlanta last month.

Carreno Busta/Garcia Lopez become the first unseeded duo to reach the US Open final since 2000 when Lleyton Hewitt and Max Mirnyi captured the title (d. E. Ferreira/R. Leach).

Novak Djokovic is getting real.

The World No. 1 will star in a new documentary series about himself, set to air exclusively on Amazon Prime, it was announced Friday. The reality series, which will follow the Serbian on and off court, will be available in the United States, United Kingdom, Austria and Japan in 2017.

“My fans have been suffering and celebrating with me from the very beginning of my career on the tennis courts,” Djokovic said in a statement. “Now I want to share with them all my daily life and what’s important to me – my values, my beliefs, and my habits – and also introduce to them all the amazing people that are always next to me.”

“Novak” (working title), to be co-executive produced by former tennis player Boris Kodjoe, will reveal a behind-the-scenes look at Djokovic’s life. Based on a concept by Alberto Scarpetta and Djokovic, the series will explore his mental and fitness routines and meticulous dietary habits. It will also cover his personal life, including trips to his hometown of Belgrade, Serbia, and his work with the Novak Djokovic Foundation for early-childhood education and with charities such as UNICEF.