Novak Djokovic left no room to question his dominance on Sunday night.
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“Djoker Slam. Not bad, I like that one”, the 11-time Major champion, who defeated Britain’s Andy Murray in straight sets for his sixth Australian Open title on Sunday, said in reference to his nickname. The victory allowed Djokovic to nab his third-consecutive major title, tying Aussie Roy Emerson in the career lead of the tournament.
It is a feat that is so hard that it has not been achieved by a man since Australian Rod Laver won the second of his calendar Grand Slams in 1969.
By the time he got to the final, he had run out of ideas and was powerless to stop Stan Wawrinka from running away with the spoils.
Ivan Lendl, Murray s former coach, lost five finals at the US Open in 1982-1984 and 1988-1989, before winning at Flushing Meadows in 1985-1987. The two-time Grand Slam champion and Olympic gold medalist told the media Friday that he knew he had a huge task ahead of him, but anything could happen in any given match.
“It’s the one I never won”, Djokovic said early Monday, after winning his record sixth Australian Open, but already casting an eye toward Paris.
“I started the last couple of matches quite slowly, I think, understandably in some respects”.
“It feels like I’ve been here before”, he joked.
There was little he could have done. After losing the first five games in only 19 minutes the Scot was facing annihilation and humiliation.
Fighting Murray broke back in the following game with his backhand clipping the baseline, which was confirmed by Djokovic’s challenge. The crushing blow came at 5-5, when Murray let a 40-Love advantage slip away. Djokovic, who said beforehand he expected a long battle in the final, was relieved it was over in three sets, although there were plenty of long rallies in between some that were curtailed by a string of unforced errors.
Murray fought off two break points in a fiercely-contested ninth game in a war of the attrition between the two long-time rivals.
Djokovic tightened the noose with another service break in the first game of the final set, with Murray s task looking herculean to take the final to five sets.
Any chance Murray had of getting back in the match with some command disappeared when he lost it 7-5. The set when to a tiebreak.
He also joined Rod Laver – present in the stadium named after him – and Bjorn Borg on 11 Grand Slam singles trophies. It was his 11th major, putting him three short of Rafael Nadal and six behind Roger Federer, whom he thrashed in the semi-finals.
“I didn’t hit my forehand particularly well at the beginning of the match”. He said throughout that he would leave if she went into labor. Murray said he was proud of the way he handled himself in Melbourne and revealed he was close to leaving when Sears fell ill. You have been a legend for the last two weeks and thank you for all your support. “I’ll be on the next flight home”.
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“First, I’d like to congratulate Novak”. Murray continued his unwanted streak, too, slumping to 0-5 in championship deciders Down Under.
