Four of the five sets failed to go to a tie break and the one that went to a breaker did so in the fashion outlined above to down my “no tie breaks” wager, and I wonder what pain Murray has in store for me in the final?
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In 2011, reached the Australian Open final for the second straight year, but lost to Djokovic, also in straight sets. It was a painful lesson for Murray to learn. No matter that it was 1:10a.m. on the morning of his own Australian Open final, in which he’ll face No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Raonic and his opponent Murray covered nearly identical distances throughout the match, both averaging 9.1 metres per point. Their games are nearly identical: they are attacking baseliners, they are the two best returners in the game, they defend as if their lives depended upon it and they can turn defence into attack with the flick of a wrist.
After winning his semifinal, Murray said in a lighthearted on-court interview that he hoped he was ready to be a father. “Obviously, Novak doesn’t have loads of weaknesses in his game, not numerous top guys do, so it’s tough”.
“But on the other hand, I’m also working on things to improve, and I’m sure that we will try to explore each other’s weaknesses tomorrow and see what happens”. Murray is putting 75 percent of returns in play, Djokovic 77 percent.
It is the first time two brothers have reached separate finals at the same grand slam since Lawrence and Reginald Doherty at Wimbledon in 1906, and the first time ever at the Australian Open. Serena Williams was looking for another Grand Slam title, but she was dropped dead in her tracks by Angelique Kerber of Germany, stunning tennis fans around the globe. “I will have a little look at them tonight”. But Murray’s brother Jamie won the doubles final on Saturday, perhaps giving the Brit momentum into his match with Djokovic. But I’ve played him a lot of times in slams and all of the matches have been pretty competitive – there’s no reason for me to think that Sunday will be any different. “It showed that he was still capable of beating him”.
(AP Photo/Aaron Favila). Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Roger Federer of Switzerland in their semifinal match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016. With potentially five sets and many hours to go before the title is decided, all-out attack may not be the best battle plan.
Murray, though, believes there’s no reason why he can’t produce a boilover at Rod Laver Arena.
“We will play this season”. He needed a medical timeout, and in the fourth set had a massage from the trainer. He could not close it out, but he did give Djokovic an almighty scare.
What he does know is that he can beat Djokovic in big matches – Murray beat him to win both Wimbledon and the US Open.
“He loves playing on this court, we’ve played a bunch of times here”, Murray said.
“You can’t take away that sort of hurt from the way the story played out today”.
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A talented all-round sportsman, turned down a promising career as a soccer player to focus on tennis, leaving his homeland at 15 to train in Barcelona. Obviously when you get to the final you’re disappointed if you don’t win.
