FIRST BLOOD TO DJOKOVIC
Qatar defeat rocks World No 1 Sir Andy Murray
BORIS BECKER, no longer Novak Djokovic’s coach but watching on TV, accurately summed up his former player’s first match against Andy Murray in 2017.
‘Bad news for the rest,’ declared the German via his Twitter account, and there could be little arguing with that after a dramatic Qatar Open final.
Djokovic won a match that crackled with quality and tension 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in a familiarly energy-sapping two hours and 54 minutes in which neither player gave any quarter. In the case of the Serb, he earned himself a point penalty when he angrily slammed his racket into the court when things turned against him late in the second set.
With both players heading straight for the Australian Open, which gets under way a week tomorrow, the spoils from this match will be largely psychological, with Djokovic more the beneficiary than Murray a damaged loser.
The actual impact on their battle for the world No1 position will be limited as Qatar is only a ‘250’ level tournament with relatively few ranking points on offer.
Murray is still 780 ranking points ahead at the summit, but he could lose his lofty status — probably temporarily — if he failed to make the semi-finals in Melbourne and Djokovic was able to take the title there yet again.
What looks clear, though, is that this will be the rivalry that continues to define the game in the new season.
Djokovic, playing way better than during his defeat to Murray in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at London’s 02 Arena 48 days previously, not to mention Friday’s semifinal which he should have lost to Fernando Verdasco, deservedly edged it through a late shift in momentum.
‘This was a tough one to lose but it’s been a great start to the year, it was high level tennis,’ said Murray. ‘Some of the points were physically tough but it’s good to start the season playing like this.’
Djokovic was somewhat relieved afterwards: ‘He turned it round in the second set, I thought “I hope this is not payback time”.
‘In the last three months of last year I didn’t play so consistently, so to win against the world No1 is a dream start.’
Murray did not play badly, far from it, and managed to save his sequence of breaking serve at least once in his last 112 matches when he saved three match points to get level at 5-5 in the second.
However, he will be disappointed by the loose passages of play late in the first set and in the middle of the decider which turned the match against him.
Losing his 28-match winning streak ahead of Australia might not prove to be the worst thing and his reaction at the end, all smiles at the net, suggested that. Becker had described Djokovic’s performance against Murray at the World Tour Finals as his worst in the three years they worked together. That was a more significant occasion than this one, but it was clear early on yesterday that the Serb would not lack for being fired up against his old rival. What was their 36th official meeting began with Murray being slightly in the ascendancy. Djokovic became frustrated not to create an opening in the sixth game, as he began to find his best tennis and forced Murray on to the back foot with his penetrating drives. His failure to make a breakthrough when Murray dropshotted him saw him angrily swipe a ball away and earn a warning from umpire Carlos Bernardes.
Murray looked to be comfortable enough at 3-4 and 40-15 when he missed an easy backhand for game point and followed it with three more errors that gave Djokovic the break, which he consolidated with a blinding forehand winner to take the set.
In 19 matches the Scot had never come back to win against his rival after losing the first set.
The Serb, blowing hard, just about held on at 3-3 in the second and broke in the next game when Murray sent a second serve long to be broken.
At 5-4, Djokovic was on the cusp of victory, but Murray hit out courageously and saved three match points, coming back from 0-30 when his opponent double faulted and finally getting level with an inside out forehand that just clipped the sideline.
At 5-5 the Serb’s temper snapped again when he lost the point at 30-30 and he angrily smashed his racket into the ground, earning himself a point penalty from Bernardes and having to concede the game immediately.
Instead of firing Djokovic up, that setback appeared to subdue him momentarily. In the next game Murray climbed all over his second serve and on set point leant on a backhand drive into the corner.
Djokovic was beginning to look distinctly weary, but in the deciding set managed to hold off a Murray break point at 2-3, coming up with an excellent first serve when he most needed it.
That save again switched the momentum, and Murray put in a poor service game replete with unforced errors to be broken to love and go 3-4 down, from where his revitalised opponent was able to close it out.
This victory was not quite normal service resumed from the Djokovic point of view, but it will have made for a much happier long flight to Melbourne.