Novak Djokovic, the curse-breaker

It was a curse. No man had won the Australian Open three consecutive times in the Open era. Mats Wilander had tried to do it, Ivan Lendl had tried to do it, Andre Agassi had tried to do it, even Roger Federer had tried to do it. But there has always been something about the Australian Open – maybe its place in the calendar, its medium-speed surface that is conducive to all styles of play, or its extreme heat – that has prevented any player from dominating it for long. In hindsight, if any player had to buck the trend, it had to be someone with a base level of play so high that reproducing championship-winning tennis over and over again, no matter what the conditions, the time of the year or the amount of preparation he had undergone, was child’s play for him. In other words, if any player should have been expected to break the curse, it should always have been Novak Djokovic.

We’ve heard this a few too many times in the recent past, but Djokovic really has taken tennis to new heights with his consistency and athleticism. Even when he’s playing badly (by his standards, of course), he can still stay with any player on the tour, and perhaps any player in the history of tennis. In the first two sets today, his game was distinctly sub-par; he pressed in the rallies, sent more than a few nervy groundstrokes into the net or long, and couldn’t make any sort of impression on Andy Murray‘s serve. He was still dictating play, but like Roger Federer two days ago, he couldn’t break the Scot’s defense, and consequently either pulled the trigger too early or went for too much on his attempted winners. Two days ago I thought Murray was really unlucky to find himself at one-set all despite playing spectacularly superior tennis over the first two sets. Today, I thought Djokovic was really lucky to find himself at one-set all despite playing thoroughly mediocre tennis (again, by his standards).

But was it really about luck? Or was it about those intangibles that have become synonymous with Djokovic over the last couple of years – resilience, self-belief, heart? Consider this: Djokovic was being outplayed by his opponent for the better part of an hour, and found himself three break points down immediately after having limply given up a one-sided first set tie-breaker. And he chose that moment to remind us why he is who is. A service winner was followed by a patient rally (which ended with a Murray error) and finally, a volley winner; just like that, he had averted disaster like he was swatting away a fly. Two more big serves later, he had held serve, but in the larger scheme of things, he had done a lot more than that. He had announced that his self-belief remained unshaken, despite the score or the level of his play, and ultimately, that was all that he needed.

For a match between the two best returners in the men’s game, the fact that it only featured three breaks of serve, and none before we were nearly three hours into the contest, was perhaps the most significant statistic. A big reason for that early on was the effectiveness of Murray’s first serve; Djokovic simply couldn’t find a way to do anything with it, and the Scot deserves serious props for shoring up such an important area of his game so dramatically. If Murray won the battle of the first serve, though, Djokovic trampled all over him in the tussle for second serve supremacy. By constantly picking his spots and placing the ball deep on his second serve, the Serb never gave Murray the chance to hit big on the return. Murray’s second serve, on the other hand, was decidedly the worst shot on display in the match. He never got in serious trouble on his serve in the first two sets because Djokovic either refrained from attacking his second serve, or missed while attacking it. And when Djokovic stopped missing – he was teeing off on them by the middle of the 3rd set – we got to see three breaks of serve in the space of ten games.

Murray was perhaps a tad unlucky that he wasn’t at his best in the 3rd and 4th sets. His 4-hour semifinal against Federer took a bit more out of him than he’d have liked, and by the end of today’s match he looked clearly hampered by the blisters on his feet. But a Grand Slam final loss is nothing if not instructive, and Murray must – as cruel as this may sound – work on his fitness even more. Despite having one of the toughest training regimens around, Murray still came up short in the sweltering conditions of Melbourne, and still couldn’t match Djokovic physically in the final stretch. That’s just how far Djokovic has raised the bar – no matter how hard you work, it still isn’t enough.

If we’re talking about things that Murray can take away from this loss, he might also consider adopting the template that he uses against Federer and Nadal, in his matches against Djokovic. Maybe it is because Murray looks at Djokovic as a  generational peer and not a superior veteran, but it always seems that Murray doesn’t give Djokovic enough respect when playing against him. When he plays against Federer or Nadal, he knows he has to play above his normal level to win, so you see him taking the attack to the opponent and being relentless in his forward-moving intensity. Against Djokovic, he seems content to sit back, play passively and rely on his speed to win the rallies. It worked in the US Open final, but as Djokovic gets more and more self-belief with each milestone in his career, it is not going to work every time.

Djokovic, meanwhile, leaves Melbourne as the Australian Open champion and World No. 1 for the second year running, exactly like his female counterpart Victoria Azarenka. But unlike Azarenka, Djokovic leaves Melbourne with his reputation enhanced rather than diminished, and with every aspect of his tennis career in fine working order. His campaign had a bit of everything – dazzling brilliance against Ryan Harrison and David Ferrer, gutsy determination against Stanislas Wawrinka, and finally, winning with his B-game against Andy Murray. This was Djokovic in all his elements, and it is only fitting that at the end of it all, not only has he come away as indisputably the best player on the planet, but he has also achieved a feat that has never been done in the Open era.

Around three years ago, Djokovic was said to have been under the unbreakable curse of playing in the same era as Federer and Nadal. With 6 Major trophies in his bag by the age of 25, however, he has clearly turned that curse inside-out. Along the way, he has broken the curse of the Australian Open too. What curse is he going to go after next?