The Serb who won the prize a year ago too, now has 11 Grand Slam titles and joins Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg on the all-time list.
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The third set did in fact reach a breaker as Murray responded positively to being broken in the very first game.
epa05137543 Novak Djokovic (C) of Serbia celebrates his win against Andy Murray of the United Kingdom during the Men’s final at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 31 January 2016.
It brings an end to a turbulent fortnight for Murray, who has had his bags packed and was ready to leave if his wife Kim went into labour early at home. “She’s been a legend over the last two weeks”, Murray said.
Laver was the last man to achieve the calendar year grand slam in 1969 but one veteran commentator thinks Djokovic can do it this season.
Murray, however, became only the second man to have lost five finals at one major Grand Slam.
Father-to-be Murray has now lost five Melbourne finals – four of them to Djokovic.
“Andy, you are a great champion, a great person and a great friend and I’m sure you are going to have more opportunities to fight for this trophy”, Djokovic said at the trophy presentation.
“First of all I need to pay the respect to Andy and his team”.
In a very short press conference after the match – Murray was serious about getting to the airport as soon as possible – Murray said he’s had a seat booked on almost every flight leaving Melbourne for days just in case.
Murray won barely a third of the points on his second serve, and was always in chase mode, for this final started as last year’s had finished: with Djokovic dominating.
“I started to hit it better in the third set”. At one point, he apparently told his coach, “this is the worst match I’ve ever played”.
Murray, who stayed in the tournament despite his wife Kim due to give birth to their first child, was in familiar territory on the podium but looking for the exit.
“I never experienced this much crowd and this much love”, Djokovic said.
“It’s been hard. Regardless of today’s result, it’s been hard. I mean, I got two in the same day, so…it’s special”.
For now, Murray is planning on playing.
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Djokovic, meanwhile, matched the amateur record of six Australian Open titles won by Roy Emerson in the 1960s, and his haul at majors shows no sign of subsiding. Murray got stronger as the match progressed but he couldn’t even take a set off Djokovic. After being pushed to five sets by Gilles Simon in the fourth round, Djokovic ramped up his level in the second week, ending Federer’s run with a stunning attack in the opening two sets.
