By Mike Dickson, Tennis Correspondent Reports From Melbourne
We came in the hope of seeing the Grand Slam- winning career of Andy Murray take flight. Sadly, we watched as he laid an egg instead.
Three finals in major tournaments and he has yet to win a set, indeed barely looked like doing so.
He looked further away than ever when going down 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 to his childhood rival, the mightily impressive Novak Djokovic, in the Australian Open final.
There is no disgrace in losing to someone who right now looks the equal of Rafael Nadal, but it should trouble Murray that he could not even lay a glove on a player who he had beaten on their last three meetings.
Most disappointingly of all, he appeared to have learned nothing from this same night 12 months ago when his straight-sets defeat by Roger Federer ended in a deluge of tears.
This time Murray was contrastingly matter-of-fact about the result, entirely in line with his flat response to what was surely his best chance yet of breaking Britain’s near 75-year drought of men’s Grand Slam titles.
From the outset he was too passive, just as he had been against Federer in 2010, missing the chance to get on top of the Serb when he, too, was at his most vulnerable and nervous.
About the only animation we saw was the recalcitrant teenager-type ranting at his box and occasional gesturing to them to calm down. Once Djokovic pounced in the 10th game there was really only one man in it.
Wrapped up in a green wax jacket and brown boots, Andy Murray's girlfriend Kim Sears is all smiles as she walks their dog ahead of his big match with Alejandra Gutierrez, the wife of Andy's brother. A few hours later it was a very different story as the 23-year-old Scot lost in the Australian Open final for the second year running
To the victor, the spoils: Serbia's Novak Djokovic poses for photographers with his Australian Open trophy
Murray walks behind Novak Djokovic as they hold their trophies after the Serb's victory
Thereafter, the 23-year-old Serb was outstanding and some of his baseline defence defied human biology as he did the splits and managed to loop back his opponent’s attempts at winners.
Djokovic was terrific and surely no easier a prospect than Nadal or Federer. But that is a reminder these opportunities may not come around too often for Murray, certainly not often enough for him to fail to turn up.
Let us be clear, however, that this is far from the end of the Scot’s Grand Slam ambitions. He can look at Andre Agassi, Ivan Lendl and Goran Ivanisevic as modern examples of players who lost their first three Slam finals (Lendl lost four) and ended up winning — the American and the Czech eight times, the Croat just the once.
It is customary after big matches for the winner to tell the loser that his day will come — Tim Henman often had that ringing in his ears — and Murray’s may come soon, but not until he learns to respond with the proper mindset to the biggest occasions.
Any time you get to the final of a Grand Slam and show the kind of courage he did to win his semi-final, it has not been a bad fortnight, but to achieve the extraordinary you have to come up with something special.
It is hard not to conclude that he suffered from failing to have a coach here who is used to going deep into a Grand Slam — his part-time consultant Alex Corretja, the former world No 2, remaining in Spain.
But the biggest single reason for yesterday’s huge disappointment was the brilliance of Djokovic, who was consistently the best player at this tournament, with his revamped serve to the fore. That was the department in which he outplayed Murray, as well as the relatively flatfooted British
No 1’s traditional forte of defence behind the baseline.
Both players were edgy at the start, but Djokovic was always the more assertive and at 5-4 he noticeably cranked up his intensity, driving deep and clinching the break to 15 when he forced Murray to hit long on the forehand.
That sparked a nightmare 20-minute spell for the Scot who, while his opponent seized the moment, went into meltdown.
Murray was defeated in straight sets by Djokovic, becoming the first player to reach three grand slam finals and not managing to win a single set during any of them
Supporters of Murray in a bar in his hometown of Dunblane react as they see the title bid slip from his grasp
It's all over. In Dunblane, fans of the Scot make their way home after the final
Champagne stays on ice. The bottles on the bar in Dunblane remain unopened as fans of Murray see him lose in the final of the Australian Open
Murray, who could not defuse his opponent’s lethal forehand, stopped the collapse by securing two games at 0-5 and then got his one meaningful break at the start of of the third set.
A missed overhead, one of several, contributed to him getting broken straight back, and although there was an exchange of breaks to keep glimmers of a comeback alive, it never looked like being ‘David Ferrer revisited’.
A final break of service for 5-3 effectively sealed it.
Surprisingly, Djokovic barely celebrated in the immediate aftermath.
Partly it was out of respect for Murray, his friend, but partly it was down to him not having been given much of a contest.It had all been so curiously, disappointingly straightforward.
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Don’t be kidded by Andy Murray’s outwardly composed response to this defeat — I know inside he will be really hurting, even stunned by the result.
My advice would be for him not to panic and, related to that, not to take the extended break he talked about. After having a well-earned rest, get back on the horse and start riding again, because there is still everything to play for.
Andy has lost twice in major finals to Roger Federer and once to Novak Djokovic — on each occasion facing a player ranked above him.
He needs to look not only at Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi as people who also had difficulty opening their Grand Slam tally but also to this year’s women’s champion Kim Clijsters, who lost in four finals before she got going (she has now won her last four).
There is no doubt that winning your first one is the hardest thing to do, but I still maintain that Andy has a window of about eight, maybe 12 tournaments in which to do that. It is not as if this was like the crushing, fourth round exit at Flushing Meadows against Stan Wawrinka.
But I was wrong in predicting that Andy would narrowly shade a victory yesterday. Where I was right was in saying that the real key to the match would involve who took care of their second serve the best.
The statistics, which showed that Novak won 60 per cent on his compared to Andy’s 31 per cent, tell a lot of the story.
That’s a huge difference and, while the British player had a bad serving night, his opponent really hit his spots.
Andy did not move particularly well, either, in contrast to Djokovic, whose overall calm really impressed me.
I knew he was in a special vein of form when he allowed Tomas Berdych, who had been looking pretty special himself, just eight games in the quarter-final, and he carried that on right through the tournament.
For the last six years we have seen Rafael Nadal and Federer finish the season as the top two in the world. After Djokovic’s US Open final appearance and winning here, there can be every expectation he will break up that arrangement this year.
Andy is the worthy world no 4 and the good news is that he can still improve significantly, because there is so much to his game and it was always going to take time, probably longer than with most players, for everything to come together.
I have mentioned his second serve, but I was actually very impressed with it all tournament until the final.
All he needs to do is remember Lendl, and his fellow former charge of mine, Agassi.
The lesson is that by the end of his career Andre had won every Grand Slam there is to win, which should be an inspiration.
Source:Dailymail
