Sir Andy to banish Open blues

MELBOURNE. — Newly knighted Andy Murray will bid to end a run of heartbreaking defeats at the Australian Open and see off his chief rival Novak Djokovic as he enters his first Grand Slam tennis tournament as world number one.

“Sir Andy”, knighted in Britain’s New Year Honours list after a magnificent 2016 saw a second Wimbledon crown, a successful Olympic title defence and the year-end top ranking, has lost five Melbourne finals, four of those to Djokovic.

But after years of playing second fiddle to the 12-time major-winning Serb, Murray is coming off a break-out year when he knocked Djokovic off the top spot to become world number one for the first time.

The 29-year-old Scot may have relinquished his unbeaten run of 28 competitive matches to Djokovic in this month’s lead-in Qatar Open, but feels he’s in the right shape to finally hoist the trophy at Melbourne Park.

“I think physically it was a good test to start the year, and I did good in Qatar,” Murray said.

“My body feels all right just now, so that’s positive. Still think there are things I can do better.”

As the top two seeds, Murray and Djokovic will be on opposite sides of the men’s draw and seeded to meet each other in the January 29 final.

Murray, who lost to Djokovic in the 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016 Australian Open deciders, trails the Serb 25-11 in their encounters, but the Scot dominated the second half of last year. — AFP.