We’re four weeks into the new season and Novak Djokovic has already notched crushing victories over his three main rivals – his fellow ‘Big Four’ members – and has made history by equaling Roy Emerson’s all-time record of six Australia Opens won.
One can only imagine what he will have achieved six months from now.
After destroying Rafael Nadal in the Doha final in the opening week of the season and beating Roger Federer convincingly in the Australian Open semi-finals, Djokovic committed Andy Murray to the same fate in the final yesterday,
Djokovic won 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (3) to hand Murray a fourth defeat in an Australian Open final, leaving the Scot as just the second man in the Open Era to lose five finals at the same major.
The world No1 kissed the ground on Rod Laver Arena after he slammed an ace to wrap up his near-three-hour triumph.
“I’ve had a love affair with Rod Laver Arena for many years and I hope it can last a long time,” said Djokovic after the match.
The victory earned him an 11th grand slam title and he now joins Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg in fifth place on the all-time list of most majors won.
What a journey. Really grateful for everything. I'll keep working hard. Love is the key! pic.twitter.com/CrT7TYRL3O
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) January 31, 2016Djokovic mentioned in his victory speech that he and his team have been “breathing as one” and later in his press conference, he spoke about a metaphor he heard recently that said that “the wolf running up the mountain is hungrier than the one standing on top of it”. The increasingly dominant Serb of course is the one standing at the top and he says he is well aware that everyone is gunning for him.
“I can’t allow myself to relax and enjoy. I mean, I can. Of course I want to enjoy, and I will, but it’s not going to go more than few days. After that I already thinking about how can I continue on playing well throughout the rest of the season each tournament,” said Djokovic, who has now won four of the last five majors.
“Kind of a mindset that one needs to have if one wants to stay up there. Because I think you need to work double as hard when you’re up there.”
Against Murray yesterday, Djokovic survived a mostly-dreary match that saw the world No2 commit 65 unforced errors.
Before the final, Ken Rosewall carried the Norman Brookes trophy onto the court and was welcome by a host of Australia’s finest ever players including Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Pat Rafter, Tony Roche and Lleyton Hewitt.
“To all of the ex-players that are watching, I can’t see all of you, but thank you for coming, it makes playing this match extra-special,” Murray told them after the match after receiving yet another runner-up trophy.
.@DjokerNole continues to make his mark on #tennis history. Match Report: https://t.co/VqifbkwcfK pic.twitter.com/tBEDHjoult
— ATP World Tour (@ATPWorldTour) January 31, 2016Djokovic was up 5-0 in 20 minutes as Murray struggled on every shot, hitting error after error.
The reigning Davis Cup champion finally stopped the bleeding in game six, hitting his first ace and first winner of the match, sending the crowd into a frenzy, but Djokovic closed out the set in the following game.
Murray had to save four break points to hang on and hold for 2-1 in the second set in a 12-minute game that saw him yell “this is the worst I’ve ever played”.
Djokovic broke for a 4-3 lead but Murray broke right back to stay in it. The No2 seed inexplicable was broken from 40-0 up soon after which gave Djokovic the break for 6-5. Serving for a two-set lead, Djokovic saved a break point and took the game on a yet another error in the net from Murray.
The world No1 broke Murray in the first game of the third set but his opponent retaliated to draw level at 3-all. The set went to a tiebreak and two Murray double faults were basically the end of him as Djokovic soon took the title with an ace.
Eager to fly back home to reunite with his pregnant wife, Kim, who is due in a couple of weeks, Murray was fighting tears when he addressed the crowd.
“I feel like I’ve been here before,” he joked, referring to his four other Australian Open final defeats.
“To my wife Kim who I’m sure is watching back home, you’ve been a legend the last 2 weeks, thank you so much for all of your support and I’ll be on the next flight home.”
Djokovic is having an incredible run against his toughest rivals – he has won 11 of his last 12 matches with Murray – but insists he doesn’t let himself acknowledge the gap he is creating between himself and everybody else.
“I don’t want to allow myself to be in that frame of mind. Because if I do, the person becomes too arrogant and thinks that he’s a higher being or better than everybody else. You can get a big slap from karma very soon. I don’t want that,” said Djokovic.
Asked if the wolf is now hungry for Roland Garros, Djokovic replied: “Very hungry. But wolf needs to eat a lot of different meals to get to Paris. Paris is a dessert.”
