Greatest player of all time is too subjective but the best of their generation is something more palatable to discuss.
Since we began the new millennium there have been two stand out players, one who has almost all of the attention when handing out "greatest" accolades. For me, Roger Federer for now remains the best male player of his time, although the longer he pursues his career, the likelihood increases that Rafa Nadal may prosecute just as compelling case. I still believe Roger will edge the clay court king based simply on the percentage of GS titles won at Roland Garros by the Spaniard. Federer's are a more even spread.
Until a few years ago Federer may even have been the best player, irrespective of gender of the past 20 years. However, Serena Williams decided to give tennis another shot after a shocking injury run and a life threatening health scare. I was fortunate enough to be at Eastbourne in 2011 to see the champion play her first tournament upon returning, and then again courtside at Wimbledon as she made it through to the fourth round.
Serena was back fit and enjoying her tennis but could she again reach those scary heights where the 13 time GS winner would intimidate all her opponents with the power and athleticism unmatched in the women's game?
A final at the US Open and 3 GS titles out of the last 4 contested, including her second at Roland Garros on Saturday night has answered that emphatically and given me just cause to argue strongly for Roger's mantle to be handed to Serena. She is indeed the greatest player I have seen of her generation. Given her interruptions through injury and fitness concerns, her record could even have been more imposing and that is just frightening.
16 Grand Slam singles victories from 51 attempts gives Serena a 31.37% success rate, compared with Roger Federer 17 from 56 at 30.35%. Rafa Nadal is ahead of them both on percentages but having only played 34 GS tournaments we need to be guarded on that.
Serena Williams is achieving wonderful things as her career is approaching its end but how long that approach will actually be is anyone's guess.
I only hope that she continues to enjoy what she is doing on the court because as long as she does she will give us even more joy with her outstanding tennis prowess.
Sunday, 9 June 2013
Monday, 3 June 2013
Week One down - Favourites cruising
Paris has been rather wet but not enough to dampen the hopes of the top players after the first week of clay court Grand Slam action.
Rafa Nadal, despite losing the first set he contested at this year's French Open, has done everything to suggest that an eighth title is only a Serbian away from fruition. A quarter final against either Wawrinka or local favourite Gasquet will provide exactly the quality match practise required to be ready for the Djokovic assault on Friday.
Roger Federer is into another quarter final but that is nothing new - the five sets that he took to ease past Gilles Simon was more of a surprise. Another French star Gael Monfils set the crowd alight with his first round win over highly fancied Tomas Berdych, but unfortunately the inconsistency remains and Tommy Robredo stopped the run in the third round.
We have two veteran Tommys flying their respective flags, Robredo through to the quarters, and Tommy Haas with a chance to join him there if successful over Youzhny in the fourth round.
Novak has saved his scariest form for this fortnight, dismissing dangerous first round opponent David Goffin in straight sets before dispensing uncaringly of the next two pretenders for the loss of just 11 games. The third round victim was Grigor Dimitrov, who had the nerve to actually defeat the world number one in Madrid a few weeks back. Now the Bulgarian will have to content himself watching his girlfriend defend her singles title.
Yes Maria Sharapova is looking good, and her tennis is rather appealing too, certainly at a level out of reach of her first 3 match ups. Even Zheng Jie could not sustain a seemingly set winning position against the Russian, who seeded second has her sights on a second straight final. Her toughest match could be a quarter final against a rejuvenated former number one Jelena Jankovic who is in terrific 2013 form, and is fresh off a tough three set win over previous finalist and last year's semi finalist Samantha Stosur.
Surprisingly we have lost 2011 winner Li Na, courtesy of a rampant Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the American's quarter final berth up for grabs with Maria Kirilenko. Another pair of previous winners are due to play a quarter final, Svetlana Kuznetsova winding back the clock to her triumphant year of 2009, but in need no doubt of plenty of luck and all of her skill to push Serena Williams who is attempting to repeat her success of 2002.
Yet another past champion is alive into the second week - Francesca Schiavone, who has been desperately out of form for quite some time, is in a fourth round clash with Aus Open title holder Vika Azarenka.
Semi finalists predictions from me:
Mens Singles:
Djokovic/Nadal & Ferrer/Tsonga
Womens Singles:
Williams/Errani & Azarenka/Sharapova
Rafa Nadal, despite losing the first set he contested at this year's French Open, has done everything to suggest that an eighth title is only a Serbian away from fruition. A quarter final against either Wawrinka or local favourite Gasquet will provide exactly the quality match practise required to be ready for the Djokovic assault on Friday.
Roger Federer is into another quarter final but that is nothing new - the five sets that he took to ease past Gilles Simon was more of a surprise. Another French star Gael Monfils set the crowd alight with his first round win over highly fancied Tomas Berdych, but unfortunately the inconsistency remains and Tommy Robredo stopped the run in the third round.
We have two veteran Tommys flying their respective flags, Robredo through to the quarters, and Tommy Haas with a chance to join him there if successful over Youzhny in the fourth round.
Novak has saved his scariest form for this fortnight, dismissing dangerous first round opponent David Goffin in straight sets before dispensing uncaringly of the next two pretenders for the loss of just 11 games. The third round victim was Grigor Dimitrov, who had the nerve to actually defeat the world number one in Madrid a few weeks back. Now the Bulgarian will have to content himself watching his girlfriend defend her singles title.
Yes Maria Sharapova is looking good, and her tennis is rather appealing too, certainly at a level out of reach of her first 3 match ups. Even Zheng Jie could not sustain a seemingly set winning position against the Russian, who seeded second has her sights on a second straight final. Her toughest match could be a quarter final against a rejuvenated former number one Jelena Jankovic who is in terrific 2013 form, and is fresh off a tough three set win over previous finalist and last year's semi finalist Samantha Stosur.
Surprisingly we have lost 2011 winner Li Na, courtesy of a rampant Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the American's quarter final berth up for grabs with Maria Kirilenko. Another pair of previous winners are due to play a quarter final, Svetlana Kuznetsova winding back the clock to her triumphant year of 2009, but in need no doubt of plenty of luck and all of her skill to push Serena Williams who is attempting to repeat her success of 2002.
Yet another past champion is alive into the second week - Francesca Schiavone, who has been desperately out of form for quite some time, is in a fourth round clash with Aus Open title holder Vika Azarenka.
Semi finalists predictions from me:
Mens Singles:
Djokovic/Nadal & Ferrer/Tsonga
Womens Singles:
Williams/Errani & Azarenka/Sharapova
Sunday, 26 May 2013
Draw Stupidity costs us possible Dream Final
The fascination of Grand Slam tournament organisers have with random shuffling of seeds in the draw, just to seemingly satisfy their own useless whims has cost the fans big time at Roland Garros this year.
With Rafa doing all he needed to grab one of the top 4 seedings thanks to a superlative week in Rome, topped off with a routine thrashing of Federer in the final, and the unfortunate withdrawal of Andy Murray from proceedings in Paris, we had the follwing:
1: Novak Djokovic
2: Roger Federer
3: Rafa Nadal
4: David Ferrer
Sensible developers of a tournament draw would place these seeds in a way that would result in Djokovic playing Federer in the final, should they win all their 6 preliminary matches. Job done by the French Open crew with Novak and Roger at the top and bottom of the draw respectively.
Logic should also suggest that the top seed be set to play the lower seeded player in the semis should all 4 players win their 5 preliminary matches. Then we would be fortunate enough to avoid the 2 best players in the world playing each other prior to the final, which is where they should meet.
But no - once again we are privy to the stupid situation where Roger Federer, the second seed, who is in fact the most poorly performed player of the top 4 seeds this year (the only one yet to win a title) has the privilege of not having to play the best player on clay, and 7 times winner of this Grand Slam title, in the semis. That burden goes to the top ranked player in the world, and the only player from the top 4 yet to lose to Nadal this year.
Djokovic will have to meet and beat Nadal in the semis before he even has a chance to play another final and perhaps claim the last leg of a career Grand Slam.
It used to be a tournament organiser's dream to have a possible Federer Nadal final, but these days those potential match ups are virtual no contests. It is the thrill that a marathon fight between the 2 finest in the game - Rafa and Nole, the 2 leading points scorers on tour this year by a street - provides that we will more likely receive 2 days earlier in Paris in 2013 than we should have.
With Rafa doing all he needed to grab one of the top 4 seedings thanks to a superlative week in Rome, topped off with a routine thrashing of Federer in the final, and the unfortunate withdrawal of Andy Murray from proceedings in Paris, we had the follwing:
1: Novak Djokovic
2: Roger Federer
3: Rafa Nadal
4: David Ferrer
Sensible developers of a tournament draw would place these seeds in a way that would result in Djokovic playing Federer in the final, should they win all their 6 preliminary matches. Job done by the French Open crew with Novak and Roger at the top and bottom of the draw respectively.
Logic should also suggest that the top seed be set to play the lower seeded player in the semis should all 4 players win their 5 preliminary matches. Then we would be fortunate enough to avoid the 2 best players in the world playing each other prior to the final, which is where they should meet.
But no - once again we are privy to the stupid situation where Roger Federer, the second seed, who is in fact the most poorly performed player of the top 4 seeds this year (the only one yet to win a title) has the privilege of not having to play the best player on clay, and 7 times winner of this Grand Slam title, in the semis. That burden goes to the top ranked player in the world, and the only player from the top 4 yet to lose to Nadal this year.
Djokovic will have to meet and beat Nadal in the semis before he even has a chance to play another final and perhaps claim the last leg of a career Grand Slam.
It used to be a tournament organiser's dream to have a possible Federer Nadal final, but these days those potential match ups are virtual no contests. It is the thrill that a marathon fight between the 2 finest in the game - Rafa and Nole, the 2 leading points scorers on tour this year by a street - provides that we will more likely receive 2 days earlier in Paris in 2013 than we should have.
Thursday, 25 April 2013
JJ Continues a Career Revival
While Tommy Haas has received the well deserved plaudits for resurrecting his tennis fortunes - back at 14 in the world with a victory over Novak Djokovic to his credit this year and recently turned 35 -credit must be generously afforded former WTA ranked number one Jelena Jankovic for her highly unexpected return to the consistent results she had been achieving around 5 years ago.
After early losses in Sydney and the Australian Open - to higher ranked players - Jelena reached a low point in Doha, losing a first round encounter to Niculescu, not even ranked in the top 50.
Many believed that the fine career of the Serbian star was just winding its way down to maybe a retirement within the next year or so, and the results reflected an inability to adjust to changes in the game.
However, as the backdrop against which to prove that notion totally off the mark, Jelena chose South America. In Bogota, as top seed, she tore through the draw losing just 2 sets, admittedly against lowly ranked opposition, but with the determination of winning successive matches and lifting a trophy at the end.
A setback at Indian Wells with a first round exit at the hands of Kuznetsova was more than compensated with a great Miami tournament. Here the Jankovic court coverage covered four players including Petrova, Cirstea and Vinci (avenging her loss to the Italian in Sydney) on the way to a semi final with WTA second ranked Sharapova. The tournament ended for Jelena here but her fighting efforts at Charleston propelled her into her second final of 2013, and again it took a Grand Slam title holder to stop her winning run. Serena Williams even surrendered the first set of that final.
As it stands, the Stuttgart tournament has seen Jelena draw top ten player Samantha Stosur in the first round, and her response? A straight sets win no less.
After 3 losses in her first 6 matches of the year, Jelena Jankovic has now strung together 15 match wins from her last 18 starts. Although her ranking is still only 18, she is 12th in the points race for the calendar year and a return to the top ten is increasingly a likelihood rather than a possibility.
This is exciting for womens tennis as Jankovic adds much needed colour to the game.
After early losses in Sydney and the Australian Open - to higher ranked players - Jelena reached a low point in Doha, losing a first round encounter to Niculescu, not even ranked in the top 50.
Many believed that the fine career of the Serbian star was just winding its way down to maybe a retirement within the next year or so, and the results reflected an inability to adjust to changes in the game.
However, as the backdrop against which to prove that notion totally off the mark, Jelena chose South America. In Bogota, as top seed, she tore through the draw losing just 2 sets, admittedly against lowly ranked opposition, but with the determination of winning successive matches and lifting a trophy at the end.
A setback at Indian Wells with a first round exit at the hands of Kuznetsova was more than compensated with a great Miami tournament. Here the Jankovic court coverage covered four players including Petrova, Cirstea and Vinci (avenging her loss to the Italian in Sydney) on the way to a semi final with WTA second ranked Sharapova. The tournament ended for Jelena here but her fighting efforts at Charleston propelled her into her second final of 2013, and again it took a Grand Slam title holder to stop her winning run. Serena Williams even surrendered the first set of that final.
As it stands, the Stuttgart tournament has seen Jelena draw top ten player Samantha Stosur in the first round, and her response? A straight sets win no less.
After 3 losses in her first 6 matches of the year, Jelena Jankovic has now strung together 15 match wins from her last 18 starts. Although her ranking is still only 18, she is 12th in the points race for the calendar year and a return to the top ten is increasingly a likelihood rather than a possibility.
This is exciting for womens tennis as Jankovic adds much needed colour to the game.
Monday, 11 March 2013
Djokovic and Azarenka set stunning pace
As we begin to start the serious part of Indian Wells, the undisputed world's best male tennis player and maybe the current best female player (if not, certainly part of a duo way above the rest) have yet to experience defeat in 2013.
Nothing new for the pair - Vika began her 2012 with victories in Sydney, the Australian Open, Doha and Indian Wells, while Novak in 2011 blitzed everyone, especially Nadal, on his way to Roland Garros without a mark on his record. These two players have the art of consistency ingrained in their game, and have proved that they should be favourites once again to take home the Masters and Premier titles on offer at Indian Wells.
Just a few statistics on Djokovic in his relatively few outings this year:
This is only his third tournament of the year. He won 12 matches to capture his fourth Australian Open and his third Dubai event, 5 of those against top ten players. The player ranked number two in the world is the great Roger Federer. He had played 3 tournaments in 2013 prior to Indian Wells, and played 13 matches, only three of those against top ten players, with only the one success (Tsonga in the Aus Open quarters). That illustrates the gap that Djokovic has managed to eke out between himself and the rest. Of course Nadal is seeded to play Federer in the quarter finals and either of those players is still equipped to bring Novak's run to an end, if Andy Murray hasn't already done it in the semis. However, these days any win by the others in the "fab four" against Novak is deemed an upset.
Vika Azarenka has had her problems against Serena Williams, but not against any other female player during her glittering run since the beginning of 2012. Safe to say that the WTA rankings merely caught up with reality when Serena displaced Azarenka at the top of the list. The WTA rankings never pretend to proclaim that the woman with the most points is the "best" player in the world. How can that be the case when undoubtedly by all valued measures, Serena Williams when fit and playing has been that virtually throughout her stellar career?
The irony of Vika surrendering her lead in the ranking points table, is that she did it in the same week that she overcame the Williams curse and said to the world "I can now beat anyone, all things being equal."
Serena in my opinion still deserves her title of world's finest player, but as this year rolls on, the Azarenka claim may become more deserving, especially if she keeps winning relentlessly in the style of Djokovic. Each battle between Serena and Vika is now as eagerly awaited as any "head to head" in female tennis since Henin and Williams, Clijsters and Williams or Williams and Williams.
Nothing new for the pair - Vika began her 2012 with victories in Sydney, the Australian Open, Doha and Indian Wells, while Novak in 2011 blitzed everyone, especially Nadal, on his way to Roland Garros without a mark on his record. These two players have the art of consistency ingrained in their game, and have proved that they should be favourites once again to take home the Masters and Premier titles on offer at Indian Wells.
Just a few statistics on Djokovic in his relatively few outings this year:
This is only his third tournament of the year. He won 12 matches to capture his fourth Australian Open and his third Dubai event, 5 of those against top ten players. The player ranked number two in the world is the great Roger Federer. He had played 3 tournaments in 2013 prior to Indian Wells, and played 13 matches, only three of those against top ten players, with only the one success (Tsonga in the Aus Open quarters). That illustrates the gap that Djokovic has managed to eke out between himself and the rest. Of course Nadal is seeded to play Federer in the quarter finals and either of those players is still equipped to bring Novak's run to an end, if Andy Murray hasn't already done it in the semis. However, these days any win by the others in the "fab four" against Novak is deemed an upset.
Vika Azarenka has had her problems against Serena Williams, but not against any other female player during her glittering run since the beginning of 2012. Safe to say that the WTA rankings merely caught up with reality when Serena displaced Azarenka at the top of the list. The WTA rankings never pretend to proclaim that the woman with the most points is the "best" player in the world. How can that be the case when undoubtedly by all valued measures, Serena Williams when fit and playing has been that virtually throughout her stellar career?
The irony of Vika surrendering her lead in the ranking points table, is that she did it in the same week that she overcame the Williams curse and said to the world "I can now beat anyone, all things being equal."
Serena in my opinion still deserves her title of world's finest player, but as this year rolls on, the Azarenka claim may become more deserving, especially if she keeps winning relentlessly in the style of Djokovic. Each battle between Serena and Vika is now as eagerly awaited as any "head to head" in female tennis since Henin and Williams, Clijsters and Williams or Williams and Williams.
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
Barthel shakes off Aus Open blues
Germany's Mona Barthel began 2012 in style winning in Hobart and with other promising results appeared set to become one of her nation's top players. However, things stalled somewhat for her, and she ended the year ranked 39 after reaching a career high of 31 in April.
Again this year Hobart proved kind, and while not repeating the victory, her effort to make the final was worthy of praise. Melbourne Park saw a first round departure, losing in three to Pervak, and we may well have dismissed Mona from our list of players to watch for the time being.
However, the work ethic of all the German WTA players is a credit to them, and in Paris, Mona combined this with her undenied talent to sweep aside her opposition, including world number six Sara Errani in a most impressive final performance.
Now back in the top 30 at a new personal high of 28, the promise of early 2012 is ready to be realised in a big way for Mona Barthel in 2013.
Again this year Hobart proved kind, and while not repeating the victory, her effort to make the final was worthy of praise. Melbourne Park saw a first round departure, losing in three to Pervak, and we may well have dismissed Mona from our list of players to watch for the time being.
However, the work ethic of all the German WTA players is a credit to them, and in Paris, Mona combined this with her undenied talent to sweep aside her opposition, including world number six Sara Errani in a most impressive final performance.
Now back in the top 30 at a new personal high of 28, the promise of early 2012 is ready to be realised in a big way for Mona Barthel in 2013.
Sunday, 27 January 2013
Novak v Andy - writing another chapter
Last time they met here, Murray gave Djokovic a five set work out before falling in a semi final. Later in 2012, Murray edged the world number one in semi finals in Dubai and at the Olympics, but in finals, Djokovic won in Miami and Shanghai, while Murray broke through with his epic US Open win. The final clash was at the season ending Championships where Djokovic beat all comers including Murray on the way to the final.The form of both as they forged respective paths to this year's Aus Open final has been terrific, with Murray dominant over Federer but not able to put him away earlier than five sets. Djokovic on the other hand was playing in another universe from David Ferrer when he gave us a demonstration of the best three sets of tennis by an individual seen on this court in a long time.
My pick for the title from the start has been the world's best player and top seed Novak Djokovic, and nothing has happened in two weeks to change that selection. It would not surprise to see Andy Murray greet the judge, but at their best I still believe Novak has the slight but diminishing edge.
After winning the toss, Murray gave Djokovic the honour of serving first, hoping to take advantage of early nerves. After a rifled forehand Murray winner , Djokovic answered with an ace and a backhand winner to easily hold the opening game. Three ground strokes hit long showed that Djokovic had still to find his range, and Murray equalled at 1-1.
A couple of drives by Djokovic to Murray's backhand proved relaxing and he put the car back in the garage with two forced errors. Even a Murray forehand winner received an ace in reply and Novak led 2-1.
A Murray overhead to start and ace to finish made it 2-2, and in the first decent rally of the match in game 5 Murray won out, the error coming off the Novak racquet. Other mistakes brought him to an unwanted deuce before finally a new rally of the match was won with a stunning Djokovic backhand winner down the line and the game was safe.
The sixth game was all about catch up for Murray right from the first cross court forehand winner from Djokovic and saving multiple break points the third seed won himself a moral victory - games were 3-3.
At 15-15 in game seven, Novak's diving stretch forehand to ultimately win a point all but gone was magical and gave him massive momentum to run out that game to lead 4-3.
Murray saved another break point thanks to a great serve and based the eventual winning of the game on more of the same from the line. 4-4.
As the set neared its conclusion the standard of shot making hit a flat spot with nearly all points decided on errors in the ninth game. A rare exception was the ace Djokovic served to win the game and edge to 5-4, asking Andy to serve to stay alive in the set.
Murray held firm behind a couple of good serves and the set lingered on. A fine forehand winner highlighted a Djokovic service game where he continually pushed Murray wide to his backhand side.
5-6 and tie break likely. At 15-30, Djokovic committed some uncharacteristic unforced errors and we did have the tie break.
Double fault from Djokovic unacceptable but Murray enjoyed it. So much so that he hit a forehand winner to celebrate 2-0. This became 4-0 after two Djokovic mistakes long, and things looked bleak for the top seed. On the board eventually after a long rally, Novak, who for much of the set had looked the stronger and more likely to break serve, still appeared certain to be down a set. Murray had played a Federer-like tie break and hardly made a mistake. 6-1 and running hot.
Nothing miraculous happened for the top seed and the first set was Murray's 7-6 (7-2).
Now the come back capabilities of Djokovic would be put to the test once more. In general play he was creating opportunities, but now he had to deal with the momentum that Murray had harnessed.
The opening game of Set 2 showed that Murray was now willing to attack more in the vein of the
Federer match and that narrowed the opportunities for Djokovic to push the Scot around the baseline.
Easy hold for a 1-0 lead. The deflation from dropping the first set reflected in the shot selection and execution of Djokovic which for the moment had slipped slightly enough to have him in trouble even on serve. Three break points to Murray. Slowly the champion scratched and clawed his way to the temporary safety of deuce. A couple of clean winners assisted him over the line and his serving record remained intact. 1-1 and no small amount of drama.
Not even a clean forehand return winner could faze Murray whose serve now took on the untouchable look that it picked up in the semi final. 2-1
Andy was returning the Novak serve quite well now but he couldn't do much with the aces. Novak needed a few more of them because he still was taken to deuce. A rare netted forehand then a forced backhand long gave Novak an escape to 2-2.
A far more impressive serving exhibition from Novak plus better choice of shot placement proved a better method of levelling the game score 3-3.
Despite a double fault Andy sailed along to another service hold with a suite of Novak errors on board. 4-3. Two Murray forehands, one a winner, the other into the net, plus some fine Djokovic net play set things up for a 4-4 score.
Again a double fault at 40-0 did nothing to stop the juggernaut into which the Murray serve had now developed. Djokovic now had to hold to stay in the set.
A Murray forehand passing winner had a big serve reply followed by another and 30-15. The Djokovic backhand down the line was not a clean winner but it deserves the same accolade if not more. Games were 5-5 but what else would you expect from these two?
At 15-15 Andy found an ace in his back pack which worked a treat, and enabled him to find his way to 6-5. A forehand volley winner from Andy at the net was a surprise and not a welcome one for Novak. He responded appropriately with good serve and follow up shots to pressure Andy into mistakes until he himself blundered with a double fault. He found some reliable tennis in his bag of tricks to move away from 30-30 and force a second tie break.
Novak began this tiebreak much better, winning both his opening two points on serve. Then inexplicably Murray double faulted leaving the window slightly open for Djokovic.
4-2 at the change of ends with another Novak serve to come following the Murray shot wide.
A service this time which Andy could only put into the base of the net. After a short point which Andy won, Novak claimed bragging rights after winning the long one for 6-3 and three set points, two on his own delivery. He only needed one. The second set to Djokovic after Murray had looked the better throughout 7-6 (7-3). One set all and this was just about to script.
The Andy Murray medical time out was not in my forecast of how the match might play out.
Wonder what that is about?
Not much at all I'd suggest and back to what really matters - the third set, and the Djokovic opener.
Except for one point where Murray capitalised after pushing Djokovic wide with an overhead winner, the top seed cruised with a couple of aces and a generally fine service game.
Although Murray had two points taken from his serve, he never appeared troubled and games were 1-1 and still no service breaks in the match.
Djokovic continued the service dominance to lead 2-1 and the ground strokes of both players also stayed in the elite class.
Both players held with ease until we reached 3-3. Errors, the second one long from Murray, gave Djokovic 30-0 before a backhand cross court winner was a better performer for Scotland. Djokovic threw in a backhand thriller of his own to give himself a couple of points for 4-3 and he did it thanks to an amazing (for all but Novak I guess) defensive lob.
A long rally which the players contributed at this point to enable patrons to top up with refreshments, ended with a Djokovic forehand then a sharp backhand volley forced Murray to hit wide and the third seed face 0-30. A forehand winner set up off a great return gave Djokovic 3 break points, the first two which he wasted with poor execution. The break did come though, courtesy of a Murray netted forehand.5-3 to Djokovic who had just achieved the first break of serve for the match.
The next game was almost textbook - service winner, backhand down the line setting up forehand volley put away, another service winner to create three set points. The first was used, and the defending champion won 6-3 to lead two sets to one.
Andy Murray, in trying to keep pace early in the fourth set, found it difficult as he saw another backhand winner from Djokovic pass by to take it to 0-30, but a big serve dragged a point back. Novak's returning and retrieval were becoming an even greater concern than normal. Fortunately Andy clipped the baseline to have it back to 30-30, and a superb volley dug him out of a small hole at deuce. 1-0.
A loose shot by Djokovic didn't make him feel too well at 0-30 but Andy gave him some first aid with 2 poor shots, one way long. However, a second wide shot from Djokovic gave Murray a break point, fleeting though the moment was. An uncontrolled return off a big serve saw to that. Another great serve wasn't spoiled by a wide forehand, instead complemented by a sizzling winner from that side, and the third of a trio of timely serves elicited an illegal return and games were 1-1.
An excellent return from Djokovic had Murray sprawling and the scoreboard changing to 15-15, and the double fault made it 15-30. Murray's pain grew with Djokovic's commanding forehand down the line winner. A big serve save one break point but Murray clearly grimaced despite the success. Could he be in some injury trouble? We should soon know because Djokovic is the best player to move an opponent around the court sufficiently to test a possible injury.
The second break point was not saved after Andy netted a backhand following a searching long rally. With the first service break of the set, Novak led 2-1 with a serve to come.
A poor drop shot attempt by Djokovic hit the top of the net and fell over for a lucky point to someone somewhere. Following a wide backhand, the ace came in handy to stretch the advantage to 30-15. A long forehand from Novak kept Andy interested. Djokovic's stress left after a netted forehand and a long return from the Murray racquet. 3-1 in the fourth to Novak.
A backhand beauty down the line left Andy stranded and at 0-15. Two Serbian backhand failures allowed Murray to retrieve the situation to 30-30 but still in bother. At 40-30 a good smash from Novak led Andy to a wild forehand and deuce. Gaining a game point (decent serve), deuce was revisited after Djokovic tested Murray with a drop shot, but he could not keep it in play despite reaching it in time.
Another awesome defensive lob kept Djokovic in the point and ultimately he won the exchange to have break point. A tragic double fault left the writing clearly on the wall for all to see . Djokovic 4-1.
Two errors and Djokovic was 0-30; not wanting to waste the luxury of a double break he hit a forehand winner for 30-30 despite missing regularly with his first serve. When he landed one it was good and the backhand volley was put away as a consequence. With the Murray netted ground stroke Djokovic was a game away from his fourth Aus Open.Not worrying too much about Murray's service game, Djokovic still played a delightful deft backhand at the net and later a forehand blinder to keep in shape ready to serve for the title at 5-2.
Losing the first two points due to the efforts of Andy Murray - the backhand for 0-30 was sublime - Djokovic steadied and with the first championship point Murray found the net with his backhand.
Novak Djokovic had won his fourth Australian Open 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 6-2 and become the first male player in the Open Era to win it three times in succession.
The world number one undoubtedly is that with exclamation marks added, while Andy Murray and he will continue to battle in finals at the highest level. Tonight was not quite right for Andy but the gap between his and Novak's respective best tennis has reduced markedly in the past 18 months.
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