Djokovic sends loud and clear message
Grand Slam entirely possible after winning Down Under
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA— The Grand Slam was there for the taking in September in New York, and although Serena Williams faltered there and also faltered in the final in Melbourne on Saturday, the Grand Slam is still very much on the table.
To watch Novak Djokovic sweep aside Roger Federer and Andy Murray — the two men closest to him in the rankings — in the closing rounds of the Australian Open was to watch a champion still very much in command.
Federer had to scramble just to avoid humiliation in the semifinal before losing in four sets that featured plenty of sensational shotmaking but a dearth of true suspense. And though Murray — stubble faced and full of howling desire — made Djokovic grind for his recordtying sixth Australian Open singles title Sunday night, Murray still could not manage to win a set even if the second set alone lasted an hour and 20 minutes.
Final score: 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (3) in favour of Djokovic.
He is now tied with Roy Emerson for the career lead among men’s champions at this Grand Slam tournament.
Emerson won his six titles from 1961 to 1967 in the amateur era. Djokovic has won his six in 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016 in a fully professional era characterized by big exposure and big rewards (he is fast approaching $100 million (U.S.) in career prize money).
Sunday’s victory also gave Djokovic 11 major singles titles, tying him for fourth on the career list with Bjorn Borg, who was not in attendance at Melbourne Park, and Rod Laver, who was in the front row.
“I can’t lie and say I didn’t think about it,” Djokovic said. “Coming into the court I knew that I have a chance to make the history.”
Djokovic’s latest clutch performance in a major final also led to Murray making some less luminous tennis history of his own by becoming the first man to go 0-5 in singles finals at a major tournament.
“I feel like I’ve been here before,” Murray said as he accepted the runner-up trophy for the fifth time.
Other men have lost five finals in the same Grand Slam event: Ivan Lendl lost five at the U.S. Open, but he also won it three times. Bill Johnston lost six finals in the amateur era at the U.S. Championships, but he also won it twice. John Bromwich lost five at the Australian Championships but won it twice, too.
Murray, a great player stuck in a historically top-heavy era, is unfortunately all on his own, although he has — as Bruce McAvaney, the master of ceremonies of Sunday’s awards ceremony, graciously reminded the audience — won Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Davis Cup.
“To us, he’s a champion in Australia,” McAvaney said.
Murray forced a thin smile at that, but the reality is Djokovic, once his good friend and tennis equal, is ever more his nemesis.
They have similar styles and tennis gifts, but increasingly disparate curriculum vitae. Djokovic has beaten him 11 times in their last 12 matches and in four Australian Open finals. (Murray lost his first to Federer in 2010.)
This loss was poignant in that Murray had continued on in the tourna- ment despite his wife, Kim, being late in pregnancy back in Britain preparing to deliver their first child. Kim’s father, Nigel Sears, who coaches women’s star Ana Ivanovic, collapsed during the tournament and had to be hospitalized before returning to Britain.
Murray, the second seed, started slowly Sunday and lacked the requisite freshness and precision to stay with Djokovic. He took more risks as the match progressed and the rallies ramped up in quality.
“I don’t know how far off I was,” Murray said. “The first set, you know, I wasn’t there, but the second and third sets I do think were very close. I do think I could have played a bit better. I didn’t think I hit my forehand as well as I could have done. When I did in the third set, that helped me out a lot. I was able to get myself into the net more. I was able to play more offensive tennis then.”
But the level of offensive tennis required to knock off Djokovic at this stage of his career in a best-of-fivesets match is a very great deal to ask of anyone.
Djokovic is a true all-surface threat, as his record now makes clear.
While many European players start on clay, Djokovic took his first cuts at the ball on the hard courts across the street from his parents’ ski shop and restaurant in the Serbian resort of Kopaonik.
The true bounce helps him with his take-the-ball-early timing, and it also suits his movement: allowing him firm footing to push off and make abrupt shifts in direction, particularly when extended wide in the court. That is, if he’s not in the middle of a hard-court slide.
It is quite a sight, quite a package, and eight of Djokovic’s 11 Grand Slam singles titles have now come on hard courts: six at the Australian Open and two at the U.S. Open.
The next Grand Slam question for Djokovic is whether he can finally win the big one on clay. The only Grand Slam singles title he lacks remains the French Open. And with Rafael Nadal, the nine-time French Open champion, struggling to recover his mojo, Djokovic should be the man to beat in Paris this time.