MURRAY FACES TALL TASK DOWN UNDER
MELBOURNE — As he prepares for Sunday’s final against Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray can only have been encouraged by the scratchy standard of the second semifinal, which Djokovic finally won in 3 ½ hours.
We are so used to seeing electrifying tennis that it was a surprise when Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka struggled for confidence and rhythm.
There was one period in the fourth set when the world No. 1 felt so uncomfortable with his game that he settled for putting every ball back in the middle of the court — a tactic more often seen in your local leisure centre than at the Rod Laver Arena in front of a capacity crowd.
Yet Djokovic is a ferociously competitive beast. He found a way to win when he needed to, and we can expect him to come hard at Murray. Melbourne Park has, after all, become his personal precinct after his four titles in the last seven years.
“I did not play on the level that I intended before the match,” said Djokovic after his 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 win. “There were parts where I stepped in and played a game I needed to play, but parts of the match where I played too defensive and allowed him to dictate the play from the baseline. So, yeah, it was very emotional, very tense, as it always is against a top player in semifinals of a grand slam.”
Wawrinka, the defending champion, will now plummet down the rankings from No. 4 to No. 9. It was the third consecutive year the pair had fought out a five-set match at the Australian Open, but the standard was nowhere near that of the 2013 and 2014 clashes. And Wawrinka later admitted that he felt burned out.
“It was not the best match, for sure,” he said.
“It was mentally that I think I’m paying the price to finish off the season with Davis Cup, (and) not having a bigger off-season. I told my coach before the match and already yesterday that I was mentally completely dead — no battery.”
So ‘DjokoStan III’ delivered plenty of narrative drama but not the spectacular stroke play we are used to, and now the focus moves on to the latest instalment of Murray-Djokovic, a rivalry that dates back to their first meeting at the age of 12 in a junior tournament in Tarbes, France.
Djokovic has opened up a significant lead in their head-to-head score lines over the past 2 ½ years, winning seven of their last eight matches. Yet Murray did succeed on the most important stage of all: Wimbledon.
“Looking at where Andy was at the end of 2014, maybe people were not giving him such a great chance to get to the finals here,” said Djokovic. “But to me, it’s not a huge surprise. I know what his qualities are, know what he can play and what he can deliver.
“I think his forehand has improved. And because the courts here are playing a bit faster, because the ball is bouncing a bit lower, that’s pretty suitable to his style of the game. He likes that. He has a flat backhand and moves around the court pretty well, so it’s going to be a very physical match. It’s finals, so I’m sure that we both are going to give our best.”
The Serb’s flat performance suggested a lack of energy and an inconsistent focus. At about halfway, he broke Wawrinka to take a 2-1 lead in sets. And yet he tried to stay on the court, not realizing that the set was over. Later he said: “There is a lot of tension, a lot of emotions going around. We’re both trying to perform our best and sometimes you lose track of the score.”
Those emotions can be Djokovic’s weak point if he is pushed back by an aggressive opponent. He can be overwhelmed by negativity, as in his surprise defeat by Kei Nishikori at the U.S. Open.
Yet Murray will have to play superbly if he is to trigger that mental shift and beat his old rival for the first time on this court. Djokovic’s four previous finals at the Rod Laver Arena have seen him at his peak.