Wordplay: Murray's Relief, Djokovic's Praise, Serena's Aspirations

Before we crumple up drawsheets and start looking ahead to Davis Cup, a look back at some of the final Grand Slam of 2012.

By Chris Oddo

(September 11, 2012)—Another exhilarating, emotional Grand Slam has come and gone. But before we crumple up drawsheets and start looking ahead to Davis Cup, here is a look back at some of the final Grand Slam in 2012, in the words of the players that made the magic happen.

“I went to the toilet after the fourth set and just, you know, had a think and, you know, said, It's just one more set. Give everything. You don't want to come off this court with any regrets. Don't get too down on yourself. Just try and fight. I got a bit fortunate to get the break at the beginning of the set, and that helped. I got a net cord on the slice backhand. Then I settled down a bit after that.” – Andy Murray, now an official, card-carrying member of the big four.

“Take four years' holidays.” – Ana Ivanovic, when asked what she would have done in 2008 if she had known it would take her so long to get back to another Grand Slam quarterfinal. Ivanovic reached her first quarterfinal since the 2008 French Open in New York, losing to Serena Williams in straight sets.

“I'm disappointed, you know. I really expected myself to play better tonight. Especially at night I have had such a great record. I don't know. I felt good, you know. Such an amazing summer I had. I really thought I was going to come out and play a solid match. I didn't do that tonight.” – Roger Federer, after being upset by Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals. It was the first time that Federer had ever lost a U.S. Open night match.

“If my body will hold up, I want to keep going, play Metz, play a couple more tournaments, see if I can get enough points to get into Australia next year. I missed it last year. That's one of my favorite tournaments. I'd like to get back there and start the year right there and see what happens if I play a full year.” – James Blake on his plans for the remainder of 2012. Blake lost in the third round to Milos Raonic.

"When somebody asks me if I miss the U.S. Open, I don't hesitate. I miss your sound. I miss your silence. I miss giving you everything I had and a little bit more." -- Andre Agassi, while making his speech after being inducted into the U.S. Open’s Court of Champions

“There were 20 different options, he picked the 21st.” – Mike Bryan, discussing Bob Bryan’s tweener at 5-5 in the second-set tiebreaker of their third round match. As far as tweeners go, this one might go down as the most important of all-time, as it helped the Bryans out of a sticky situation and propelled their run to a record-tying 12th Grand Slam title.

"You know I shuffle too." – Victoria Azarenka, while sharing the same couch with pop star/ tennis fan Redfoo during interview with Bill Macatee and Tracy Austin on the Tennis Channel set.

“I saw my friend, Kirsten Flipkens. She came in with a drink. I was like, Give me a sip. But then I realized I still had to do press. I couldn't sit up here drunk.” Kim Clijsters, commenting on the rambunctious crowd that watched her final mixed doubles match on Court 17. Clijsters and Bob Bryan lost to eventual champions Bruno Soares and Ekaterina in a thrilling match tiebreak.

"Why do you keep calling it a boycott? A hundred guys can be, literally, ill. They can be injured, all of them. Why not?" -- Sergiy Stakhovsky, member of the ATP’s player council, on a possible Australian Open player boycott.

“I’m sure I looked like a goose. I’m waiting for someone to tell me if it was all right or not.”—Sam Stosur, on her Redfoo-inspired shuffle that was an instant smash in week one.

“He's been so close; lost four finals. Now he has won it, so I would like to congratulate him. Definitely, you know, happy that he won it.” – Novak Djokovic, on Andy Murray’s long-awaited maiden Grand Slam title.

“Relief is probably the best word I would use to describe how I'm feeling just now. Yeah, very, very happy that I managed to come through because if I had lost this one from two sets up, that would have been a tough one to take.” – Andy Murray, denying exaltation but still relishing in relief, after winning his first Grand Slam title over Novak Djokovic.

“You have to be confident. You have to trust yourself. I did. I really did. It just felt like a few shots were just, you know, really close or at the top of the net. But I have to be positive, you know, because I feel like these kind of matches every time I play Serena, it really pushes to be better, to improve, to move forward. I have to be thankful to her for that, you know, as well.” – Victoria Azarenka, trying to take the positives from a crushing defeat at the hands of Serena Williams in the women’s final. Azarenka was two points from the match at 5-3, then served for the match at 5-4, only to come up empty.

“I haven't thought about them until recently. I never thought I would even come close to breaking those records. But, you know, if I can play consistently and play some more matches at Wimbledon, then it will be awesome. We'll see. If I could win two a year it would be great. We'll see.” – Serena Williams, responding to a reporter’s questions about how much she’ll want to continue chasing records.

“That's how I play. Do you have a problem with that?” – A very unhappy Bernard Tomic, responding to a grilling from the press after his uninspiring loss to Andy Roddick in the second round.

“Was I pacing myself? Man, I don't have time to pace myself.” – A recently retired Andy Roddick, joking with the press after his third-round win over Fabio Fognini of Italy.

“Yeah, it's great that he watched, even though he got my name wrong. – 18-year-old Laura Robson was one of the stars of the first week of the U.S. Open, but it didn’t stop footballer Wayne Rooney from misspelling her name as “Robinson” in a Tweet.

“Not difficult. We are professional players. We stopped three times and we come back again to the court, no? Yesterday we stopped only one day. That's okay, no? Wasn't a problem.” – David Ferrer, not willing to complain about the fact that he was pulled off the court while leading Novak Djokovic 5-2 on Saturday afternoon. Ferrer eventually lost the match on Sunday in four sets.

“I mean, we are here in States where they really love show. Actually, this is not about show. This is just about somehow to try to deal with the conditions and then trying to put ball over the net. Sometimes was even impossible, but that's how it is.” – Tomas Berdych, lamenting the fact that he had to play a semifinal against Andy Murray in 30 mph winds.

“The one point which I felt I was unlucky was at 1-4, Love-30, second serve, challenge serve, which was by two millimeters touching the line. I could see that he was feeling the pressure. I remember his ball toss was horrible for that second serve, and it was just the ball slid into my body. I felt like maybe if I won that point maybe the match would really go in my favor.” – A disappointed Janko Tipsarevic, after losing his quarterfinal match in a fifth-set tiebreaker. Tipsarevic led 4-1 in the fifth.

“I remember going to Australia early and not really sure I was going to play that warmup tournament. My ankle was still not feeling great. So if anyone had told me when I had that uncertainty going into the Australian Open that I would have this type of season and it's still not over; we still have a few more events to play I would have been pretty happy.” – Maria Sharapova, disappointed to lose another tough match on hard courts against Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals, but happy to have played tough in all four Grand Slams this year.

(Photo Credit: AFP/Patrick Kovarik)