But he is expecting Murray to again push him to the limit, just as the second seed did previous year when Djokovic complained of enduring a “physical crisis” during his four-set final triumph at Melbourne Park.
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Murray had lost in the final at both Wimbledon and the US Open past year but he and Soares came from behind in Melbourne to beat Canada’s Daniel Nestor and Czech Radek Stepanek 2-6 6-4 7-5.
Federer, now no. 3 in the rankings, was responsible for the Serb’s two last defeats in the 2015 season: in the qualifying round of the World Tour Finals in London, 7-5, 6-2, on 17 November, and in the final match of the ATP 1000 in Cincinnati, 7-6 (6-1), 6-3, on 23 August.
“This will come down to his coach Amelie Mauresmo”, said Lloyd. “They’ve been knocking on the door for several Grand Slam finals”. Since then, in the last couple of days, we’ve continued winning. Now that he’s made three in a row, he’s playing great tennis and is moving right up to the top of the rankings.
“Yeah, a lot about tactics and a lot about how of course you handle your emotions of the greatness of that occasion of playing for the grand slam title”.
Murray added that he has to believe in himself and excecute his plans well.
The pair teamed up at the start of the year – and they’re now 12-1 after also capturing the title at the warm-up tournament in Sydney and reaching the semifinals in Doha.
Djokovic has already beaten Murray in three Australian finals and the world number one will get the advantage of an extra day’s rest after he knocked out Roger Federer in four sets in Thursday’s semi-final.
“That’s what happened last night”.
Raonic called for the trainer and took an off-court medical time out early in the fourth set.
“(I’ve) been in the situation before where (I) haven’t won specific tournaments, like Roland Garros, for example, against players like (Rafael) Nadal who were dominating there”, Djokovic said.
A hint of doubt from Raonic at the end of the second set allowed Murray to grab the break of serve and, with it, the set. The only time the world No 2 lost his serve was in a loose opening game, when he was broken to love.
“I was starting to hit the ball better in the third set”, he said. “I didn’t know that”, Jamie later told media. “I will just check the score online”.
“Eventually I was able to engage in more baseline rallies and dictate more of those points, which made him do more of the running”. You go throughout the match, and even before the match, through different thought processes. “I wanted to be the one dictating”. She added: “Milos has definitely improved a lot”. As the match was going on he was reading it better and better, so that was really a big satisfaction.
“I’m expecting a battle with Andy, as it always is, a very physically demanding match”.
Andy said: “For it to be the first time to happen, it is incredible really. But it was a tough one”.
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Milos Raonic, left, who was hampered by leg problems, congratulates Andy Murray, who advanced to meet Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final after a five-set semifinal victory.
