The History of Men's Tennis (Open Era)

Final 2012     Final 2011

(1)Novak Djokovic d. (3)Andy Murray    6-7(2), 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-2    [3:40 h] 

Their second straight major final, third consecutive meeting in Melbourne, only four pairs met thrice in a row at the Australian Open before # Each of these encounters of two 25-year-old men featured different colors of clothes (White vs. Green, White vs. Red, Dark Violet vs. Dark Gray respectively), different outcome of sets (3, 5, 4 respectively) as well. The 2013 final was like a chess game: both players were very conservative, glued to the baseline and mainly focused on well developed patters of winning service games, which caused a new record of Grand Slam finals in terms of holding consecutive service games from start ## Murray didn’t even lose a point on ad-court delivering his 1st serve-in over two sets! The first blood, literally, came in the 7th game (15-all) of the 1st set when Djokovic dived on the back of the court and won a point with two subsequent strokes after a drop-shot. He looked more solid out there (Murray saved four break points at 2:3 and another one at 3:4), however, at the end of the set he seemed a bit paralyzed – led 6:5* (30/15) when his ground-strokes became very tentative and lost seven points in a row; when he entered the tie-break scoreboard at 0:4, it happened as he barely hit the line with a shaky overhead. The crisis of uncertainty was extended to the first two games of the 2nd set, the Serbian apprehended it at 0:1 (0/40) gaining two points with comprehensive winners, Murray wasted one of those break points sending a backhand long.

Anyway the Scot led 6:5* (30-all), so he was two points away from a two-sets-to-love advantage, repeating the outcome of the first two sets of their previous Grand Slam final, but this time Djokovic was much more better adjusted than at the critical stages of the previous set, and struck an overhead to get a 40/30. He displayed immediate self-confidence of the highest order in the tie-break, in which at 2-all unusual thing occurred – just before Murray’s second serve, a feather emerged out of nowhere in front of him. He halted his service motion, removed the feather from his sight, and committed a double fault a few seconds later… After the 2nd set Murray took a medical time-out for the treatment of right-feet blisters; in the first few games of the 3rd set he was still moving very well. The opening point of the 8th game was consisted of 36 strokes (longest rally of the match), ended up with Djokovic’s inside-out forehand winner – first check. This rally brought reminiscence of their Australian Open final two years before when Murray had lost a 39-stroke rally and didn’t recover after that. To some degree it was the same case this time, the Scot lost his serve on third break point in that game, and counting from 3-all in the 4th set he lost 9 out of 11 games to the end of the event. Hypothetically, if hadn’t been tie-breaks at majors, Djokovic would have won “1st set” 17-15 after almost three hours of play! Murray’s demeanor afterwards could suggest as he lost such a long set instead of being a break down in the 3rd set. His  pretty long service streak was broken as well as his fighting spirit. Since that 8th game of the 3rd set, with every point Djokovic seemed more and more fresh & confident while Murray’s physical struggle more and more evident. He had a break point at 1:0 in the 4th set only to witness Djokovic’s service winner. Fifteen minutes later or so, the Serb already leading 3:1 showed amazing commitment in defense sensing the approaching success, and it was check-mate – the glum Murray served a double fault facing a break point and the final was virtually over. Admittedly Murray led 30/0 in the last two service games of Djokovic, but the Serb twice found a new gear being down to get four consecutive points, in the farewell game Murray was running like crazy during three consecutive points to no avail. The championship point was actually as unspectacular as the whole final – Murray netted his forehand, and Djokovic celebrated in squatting position. The leader of the ranking collects his third consecutive Australian Open title, it’s something no-one achieved in the Open era before, in the entire history just two players managed to do that: Jack Crawford in years 1931-33, and Roy Emerson, who got five titles in a row short of the Open era (1963-67). “I have to try and look at the positives of the last few months, and I think I’m going the right direction,” said Murray, now the three-time Aussie Open finalist (2010-11, 13). “This is the first time I’ve beaten Roger in a Grand Slam over five sets. I think I dealt with the situations and the ebbs and flows in that match well. I know that no one’s ever won a Grand Slam, the immediate one after winning their first one. It’s not the easiest thing to do.” Djokovic, who grabbed 35th title (6th major), said: “Winning it three in a row, it’s incredible. It’s very thrilling. I’m full of joy right now. It’s going to give me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season, that’s for sure. There were a few turning points in the match. Maybe one of them was the second game in the second set when I was 0/40 against the breeze. He missed a few shots. I managed to have that crucial hold. After that I felt just mentally a little bit lighter and more confident on the court than I had done in the first hour or so.” They have played eight matches against each other in the last 12 months, including two last Grand Slam finals, and I assume they’re going to meet in a major final at least once more in 2013 ###. Stats of the match.

Doubles final:
(1)B.Bryan/M.Bryan d. R.Haase/I.Sijsling 6-3, 6-4

# Most consecutive matches at Australian Open:

3 – Steve Docherty vs. Robin Drysdale (1977-78) *
3 – Mats Wilander vs. Johan Kriek (1983-85)
3 – Ivan Lendl vs. Stefan Edberg (1990-92)
3 – Jim Courier vs. Stefan Edberg (1991-93)
3 – Novak Djokovic vs. Andy Murray (2011-13)

* Two editions in 1977

# Number of consecutive service holds in Grand Slam finals from start:
31 – Novak Djokovic vs. Andy Murray (Australian Open 2013)
28 – Pete Sampras vs. Patrick Rafter (Wimbledon 2000)
25 – Pete Sampras vs. Jim Courier (Wimbledon 1993) & Pete Sampras vs. Goran Ivanisevic (Wimbledon 1994)

## Comparison of the finalists:
Djokovic
Age 25.8; tournaments 146; finals 35-19 (6-4 majors); matches 476-123; tie-breaks 138-81; five-setters 18-6
Murray
Age 25.8; tournaments 149; finals 25-14 (1-5 majors); matches 389-124; tie-breaks 113-72; five-setters 14-6

Semifinals 2012     Semifinals 2011

2nd semifinal: Friday

(3)Andy Murray d. (2)Roger Federer     6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-2    [4:00 h] *

Very important victory for Murray from psychological point of view on different levels; most of all he has beaten Federer at a major for the first time on fourth attempt, moreover it’s his first win with two tie-break drops, and the first time he prevails despite losing a 4th set tie-break (previously won all 8 tie-breaks he’d played while leading 2-1 in sets). The start of the semifinal could be tricky for Murray because he appeared for the first time in night session this year (he had been complaining on it a bit) whereas Federer found himself fifth straight round under these circumstances. The Scot hadn’t any problems to adapt under floodlights though, and got his first break as early as in the 3rd game on fifth break point. Surprised me that Federer was serving much more below his abilities from the beginning (Murray out-aced him 21-5, holding quite easily all service games until the 4th set), perhaps he was afraid of Murray’s aggressive returns on second serves. The Swiss managed to hang in there with help of tie-breaks, that part of the game he knows better than anyone in tennis history as far as only singles is concerned. In the first tie-break at 5-all Murray tried to nail an overhead a la Pete Sampras‘ slum dunk style, but hit the ball with the top of his frame, and Federer passed him after a slow bounce with his backhand. The second tie-break was less interesting, however, that set was the most entertaining that evening: Federer finally broke his opponent, led 4:1*, at 4:3 for him (adv. Murray) there was confusion due to linesman’s call ‘out’ and immediate ‘correction’. The Scot instead of replying the point chose ‘challenge’, lost it, the point as well, and was challenge-less. Yet the unfortunate argument with Enric Molina didn’t distract him, he broke Federer second time in that set in the 11th game, and serving for the win led 30/15. At that moment Federer showed his masterclass, won a point with a clever-into the body-overhead, followed up by a backhand down the line, and made a solid BH-return after Murray’s service bomb which blindsided the Scot forcing his casual error. Federer caught the momentum, grabbed 10 out of 12 consecutive points in total, and improved his tie-break record against the Scot to seven to one. Murray stepped onto a new mental ground then, he’d never lost two tie-breaks in a 5-set match before, it’s always tough situation when you have won much more points than your rival (150-135 for Murray after four sets), but you are at two sets apiece, especially if that rival is named ‘Federer’. Murray confirmed he is very well prepared both, physically and mentally, held easily four service games, and broke the Swiss twice, to ’30’ & ’15’ respectively, after the last point he reacted without any gesture of enjoyment, like he wanted to say: “I should have wrapped up this victory in 4 sets, it’s an accident it lasted 30 minutes longer”. No doubt Murray is fully aware of being close to reach No. 1 this season, he has won the last two biggest events (Olympics, US Open) defeating on both occasions world’s best player Djokovic. “It was a tough match,” said Murray. “There was a lot of ups and downs. So it was good to come back after the way I lost the fourth set. I thought I did a good job tonight… I am just happy with the way I responded after [losing] both those sets.” Federer gave credit to Murray: “He beat me fair and square tonight. No regrets from me. I think Andy was a bit better than I was tonight. I think overall he probably created more chances than I did. I had difficulties getting into his service games time and time again.” Because youngsters (guys born 1990-92) are relatively weak, whilst the Swiss is constantly in a great shape, I expect he’s going to reach major quarterfinals on a regular basis until 2016. If he still enjoys travelling, he shouldn’t drop outside the Top 10 until 2018 or 2019 – it’s a time when should emerge today’s teenagers that are totally unknown to the broader audience. Stats of the match

5-setters: 21-17 Federer, 14-6 Murray

# 5-setters between ‘Big 4’ guys, beside parenthesis their 5th set Open era ranking by %:

4-1 Djokovic (Federer 2-0, Nadal 1-0, Murray 1-1)… 6.
4-3 Nadal (Djokovic 0-1, Federer 3-2, Murray 1-0)… 7.
2-2 Murray (Djokovic 1-1, Federer 1-0, Nadal 0-1)… 13.
2-6 Federer (Djokovic 0-2, Nadal 2-3, Murray 0-1)… 96.

* Murray’s coach, Ivan Lendl won one of his many major semifinals with almost identical scoreline, Wimbledon ’86 d. Slobodan Zivojinovic 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-4.

1st semifinal: Thursday

(1)Novak Djokovic d. (4)David Ferrer    6-2, 6-2, 6-1    [1:29 h]

D’Joke’s clinical performance, fantastic display of the whole-court coverage and shot-making of all sorts. The Serbian hero was so good that even his coach (Marian Vajda), usually reserved in showing emotions, laughed when his pupil manufactured 1 out of 30 winners (Ferrer 11) to get a first point at 2:0 in the 3rd set with a blistering forehand down the line around the post. The helpless Pics didn’t even show anger throughout – he knew that against Djokovic in that form, he couldn’t do anything. The Spaniard experienced such a severe beat-down in the last year’s Roland Garros semifinal against Nadal, the scoreline was identical, yet the Parisian encounter lasted 17 minutes longer. Djokovic, like Mats Wilander (1983-85) and Ivan Lendl (1989-91), advances to the third straight Australian Open final. He analyzed: “I played incredible tennis. Felt very comfortable & very confident from start. It’s not easy at this stage in semis of a Slam. You need to focus on every point. I didn’t want to give him any points.” Ferrer admitted: “I am trying to do my best very much but I know they are better than me. What can I do?” He has lost all five major semifinals to ‘the better players’ (3 – Djokovic, 1 – Murray & Nadal) #. Djokovic was so relaxed that shortly afterwards returned on court imitating a doctor during a legend-doubles match: Goran Ivanisevic/Pat Cash d. Guy Forget/Henri Leconte 7-6 2-6 [10-7]. By the way, those guys born in the 60s are physically shadows of themselves when they were professionals, which is rather sad, maybe even sadder than the outcome of the first semifinal…

# Multiple Grand Slam semifinalists never to reach a final:

6 – Tim Henman (Wimbledon 1998, 99, 01, 02; Roland Garros 2004; US Open 2004)
5 – David Ferrer (Australian Open 2011, 13; Roland Garros 2012, US Open 2017 & 12)
4 – Sebastien Grosjean (Australian Open 2001; Roland Garros 2001; Wimbledon 2003, 04)
4 – Nikolay Davydenko (Roland Garros 2005, 07; US Open 2006, 07)
4 – Tommy Haas (Australian Open 1999, 02, 07; Wimbledon 2009)