Djoker does the hat-trick as Murray misses out yet again

Those who had no belief in fate and destiny earlier would have just changed their minds had they noticed what led to the downfall of Andy Murray in his Australian Open final today against Novak Djokovic. The British No.1 was already one set up over his Serbian opponent, as the match went for the second set tie breaker. It was then that something dramatic happened. As the Scot was about to deliver his second serve, having got the first one wrong, a small piece of a bird’s feather flew out of nowhere dropping in front of him, enough to distract him from completing the activity. Momentarily he stopped delivering the serve to clear the dirt and by the time the wiping process was completed, he seemed to have done enough to lose his own focus out of the game. As a result, he ended up gifting a mini-break to his adversary, double faulting his serve over the line.

Since then, not only the second set tie break, but also the entire match, went in favour of the defending champion, as Murray could not cope with the aggression that his opponent was able to put on display at the Rod Laver Arena. In the end, it was Novak Djokovic who claimed his habitual fourth Australian Open title, dismissing the World No.3 with the scoreline 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-2.

As expected, when the match resumed, both players started trading enough exchanges operating from the baseline. On an average, as many as nine shots were hit every rally in the early going. Like what has been happening in most of his matches, Djokovic began his stint shakily, by adding numbers at a brisk rate against the unforced errors column, whereas his arch rival was exercising a great control on his ground strokes. However, by consistently delivering his serves right down the middle, he was able to bail himself out of the perilous situation most of the time. Andy, in his first three service games, offered very few points to the Serb and kept on holding his serves rather easily. During one of the games when the Scot was on serve, Novak gifted four straight points to the former, all resulting due to unforced errors, guided by some reckless hitting from the baseline.

Though Murray was clearly the better man, as it looked, throughout the first set, where his forehand was way ahead of his opponent’s, it was Nole who came up with some incredible winners. That running backhand pass which he delivered past his opponent from the net was one of those shots, the beauty of which is very hard to describe in words. With no break of serves from either of the players, the set went to the tie-breaker eventually. Djokovic looked totally out of sorts during the tie-break, as he kept on messing it up with his serves and forehands. Finally, Murray took the first set after one hour and eight minutes, helped by some ordinary hitting by the Serb.

The World No.3 began the second set with an easy hold, serving ahead. The second game of the set had disaster written all over it for the defending champion as he went down 0-40 on his serve. It was then that the comeback spirit in Nole seemed to wake up. He was able to win a couple of exchanges, primarily due to the errors which came off the racquet of Murray, forced by his relentless forehand. He fought off three break points quite successfully and also earned the advantage of serving out the game by striking a mesmerizing running forehand down the line from the back of the court, which clearly announced his arrival. Novak managed to hold that service game, escaping only by a whisker.

There was nothing to choose between the two in the next ten games to follow, leaving the set to be decided by the tie-breaker again. As pointed out at the beginning of the article, a small distraction dug the grave for the British No.1, as the resilient Serb did not miss the chance to capitalise on it. With a set apiece, as we were prepared for another epic to unfold, quite similar to that of last year’s final, things began to change drastically. As much as Murray was able to win points easily with his first serves, he looked pretty ordinary with his second serves, and Novak ever since became the aggressor. The World No.1 did not let go of the opportunity to break Andy’s serve which came his way this time, after too many failed attempts. He took control of the third set and forced the errors out of Murray’s racquet by some supreme defense, which he is known for. He was able to capture the third set 6-3, which saw him unleashing some unforgiving forehands, which proved too much for the Scot.

By the time the fourth set resumed, Murray’s game began to fade away very quickly. Novak kept on dictating rallies from the baseline, edging out the current US Open champion on most occasions. In addition, we saw some amazing consistency in his net game and he completely outscored the Brit in this department. Twice he had a chance to break Andy’s serve, and on both occasions he successfully dealt with it. Murray’s forehand, which was working so well in the first three sets, did not come to his aid this time. On more than one occasion, he had Nole down 0-30 in the set, but was just not able to deliver the knock-out punch. Nole’s confidence reached another level, as he did some unbelievable fetching from the baseline which left the World No.3 totally bamboozled. The poor Scot was found wanting at crucial stages of the match, and was finally left eating humble pie, as he stood completely annihilated in the fourth set. Djoker, in the end, had a much easier victory than what was expected before the beginning of the Championship match.

The much anticipated hat-trick was finally completed by the Serb, and he has proved once again that he is the best hard court player in the world today. Murray tried well to outdo his opponent, but Nole was too good, with all the shots in his arsenal. In the end it has to be said that the better player won. Nole really deserves to be World No.1, and looks like having every chance of becoming one of the all time greats in the world of tennis.