Murray ends Djokovic jinx
ANDY TAKES ROME GLORY:
AFEW weeks ago, Novak Djokovic would have seen a resurgent Rafael Nadal as the biggest threat to his dream of a first French Open title. Not any more.
Andy Murray now represents his most clear and present danger.
On what proved the perfect 29th birthday yesterday, the Scot completed a rare trinity of three different winners from the three Masters level clay-court tournaments. This was an outstanding performance to win his first Italian Open, beating the sometimes testy world No1 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and 35 minutes.
Murray, who began the week by revealing his split from coach Amelie Mauresmo, was a picture of Zen-like calm as he handled wet and slippy conditions much better than his nemesis, even when clinching a remarkable match point as he hit a backhand from the side wall of the Foro Italico’s stadium court.
It was only Murray’s second win over his old rival in 14 tries since the 2013 Wimbledon final and he will be restored as world No 2 today. It was also his first over Djokovic as a father — and the last thing he did before walking on court was glance at a picture of daughter Sophia.
‘I think being a parent is just going to have a positive effect on my tennis and the rest of my career,’ he said after becoming the first British man to win here since Pat Hughes in 1931. ‘It gives me a bit of extra motivation, something more to play for.
‘I knew that I was going to be fresh because I’d had quick matches and that for Novak it’s been a tough few days.
‘Some of the best players of all time have won this event. There’s very few years where there’s been a surprise winner.
‘So I’m very proud to have my name on the trophy. Today against Novak is nice. He didn’t play his best today but there were still some tough moments for me in the second set. I saved the break points well and held strong.
‘Overall, it was a great week for me. I didn’t lose a set.
‘Winning a clay-court Masters Series, last year I certainly didn’t think I’d be doing that multiple times over and giving myself a lot of opportunities to do that.
‘My coaches always said to me that clay should be my best surface, but it took me a long time probably to gain a little bit of confidence. But I did make huge improvements in my movement.
‘That has sort of changed my mentality when I go on court. I don’t feel like I’m off-balance any more and I feel I can chase most balls down. And my back feels way better than it did a few years ago.’
Djokovic was contrastingly tetchy throughout, unhappy about the heavy state of the court in rainy conditions.
The Serb, who was given a code violation for racket abuse, had a rant at umpire Damian Steiner at 3-4 down in the second set, although by then it had actually started to clear up.
Of course, one factor that will be different in Paris is that there will not be daily or nightly back-toback matches, something that clearly stressed Djokovic’s mind and body here.
Djokovic had been detained for three hours until past 11pm on Saturday night by Kei Nishikori, although he has proved the master of rebounding many times in the past.
Afterwards he called for ‘fair scheduling’ of semi-finals around the tour. He was also critical of the heavy surface, although instanced it was very much the same for both players.
‘It was very muddy behind the baseline. In three games I literally, you know, could have twisted my ankle two or three times,’ complained Djokovic.
‘I asked him is it necessary that somebody gets injured? To me it’s ridiculous that the chair umpire doesn’t wear tennis shoes and wears the casual shoes, comes out and slides on the line and says: “OK, the court is good”.
‘I had a long couple of weeks, especially the last couple of days. I knew it was going to be very hard for me, an uphill ride against Andy today, who was playing throughout the week on a very high level.
‘I’m not taking anything away from Andy’s win. I think he deserved to win and deserved to win the entire tournament.’
Murray said of the conditions: ‘I didn’t find it much of a problem behind the baseline. It was the lines that were the issue. The lines were extremely wet and you could see sometimes when the ball hit the line, it just takes off.
‘It pretty much rained for a large portion of the match. It is a difficult one because if something was to happen to one of the players, either of us would be gutted and unhappy with the French just a few days away.’
Having taken advantage of another slow start from the Serb and gone 4-1 up with rifling forehands and impeccable serving that barely gave his opponent a look-in during the first set, Murray saw his opponent predictably revive in the second.
Critically, Murray held off three early break points, one with an exquisite surprise serve and volley. It was his backhand that did the damage for the break at 2-2 and he was helped by a double fault in the last game. In truth, it was not even close, startlingly straightforward.
The Scot will be seeded second at Roland Garros when the draw is made on Friday — and nobody will want to have their names close to his.
SERENA WIllIAMS warmed up perfectly for Roland Garros when she took the women’s title with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory over compatriot Madison Keys.