Ideally, Andy Murray would be happier to face someone else in Sunday’s Australian Open final. Anyone from the locker room, or even history. Anyone but Novak Djokovic.
Really, this is in no way disrespectful to Murray. He is the world’s No 2 ranked player, but the problem in men’s tennis these days is, there is the Serb and than there are the rest.
Did I say Serb? Many of his illustrious opponents must wonder if he is actually from another planet. He is certainly not a “tennis robot” as some tennis enthusiasts might suggest. He is human. Just of the super or stratospheric type.
In cricket, it is said a great batsman has not one or two shots to play against a delivery but almost a dozen. On a tennis court, that is Djokovic, with a dozen breathtaking counters to each of his opponents’ strategies, Roger Federer’s “SABR” move — where he half-volleys an opponent’s second serve — included.
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To steal the great cricket writer Neville Cardus’ description of a Don Bradman innings, Djokovic is “precise and shattering”, “beautiful and yet somehow cruel in his excessive mastery”.
Federer will vouch for that. Perhaps not in a news conference, but deep in his heart he will. Last November, at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, Federer said he was not “that far off” from Djokovic in terms of their tennis.
On Thursday, in their Australian Open semi-final meeting, his fans realised just how misguided that optimism was.
We are not trying to put the dagger in, but Bernard Tomic was right. Federer is “far away from Djokovic”, as the Australian said last week: “He’s nowhere near Novak’s tennis right now.”
To be honest, no one is anywhere near Djokovic’s level. Federer, we thought, was the closest after his three wins over the world No 1 in 2015. But, in those first two sets in Melbourne, he was given his worst drubbing since a similar defeat to Andre Agassi at the 2001 US Open.
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Djokovic, frighteningly, keeps pulling away from his peers, and to think, in the not too distant past we were talking about him choking in finals. There was a 24-month stretch between the 2012 and 2014 French Open when Djokovic made it to six grand slams finals but lost five. Since then, he has won four of his five major finals, including a fifth Australian Open 12 months ago.
Murray was the man he beat in that 2015 Melbourne final, and he did it pretty convincingly. What hope does the Scot have in today’s encounter then? If the recent past is any indication, not a lot. Murray has just one win from their last 12 duels.
Even those ATP rankings show just how ridiculously good Djokovic is. He has 16,790 points to Murray’s 8,945.
Another important stat to consider is Djokovic’s performance in Australian Open finals, where he was won five of five. Murray, on the other hand, has lost four of four finals in Melbourne.
So it is understandable why not many are giving Murray a chance, but as his coach Amelie Mauresmo said, he “still believes that he can lift the trophy here on the last day in this tournament, so definitely he will go in believing that”.
There is hope, then, for Murray fans. Especially after Angelique Kerber’s triumph over Serena Williams in the women’s final. But then that famous line from Shawshank Redemption comes to mind: “Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane”.
We have seen that many times with Djokovic’s opponents, including Murray. Remember the bagel in the third set of the Miami final in 2015? Or the 6-0 in the fourth set of the last Australian Open final?
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