By Peter Bodo
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla.—So, this thing about getting in someone’s head? It looks like a trend, rather than this little trick Rafael Nadal likes to play on Roger Federer.
Ah, Nadal and Federer. Remember them? They were the two guys who, as recently as the start of the year, were supposed to play the next 63 Grand Slam and Masters 1000 tournament finals. The next two names in the stud book, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, were supposed to provide semifinal cannon fodder and wait their turn.
Well, Nadal and Federer did play the Australian Open final in early February, but since then, Murray has caught fire and Djokovic has regained his traction. Today, they did a fair impersonation of Federer and Nadal in the stadium at the Sony Ericsson Open, with Murray bagging the title, 6-2, 7-5.
The roles proved remarkably portable. Federer, until last summer, was the have lording it over the eager have-not, Nadal. Likewise, Djokovic came into Miami as the long-time No. 3 behind those two men, with Murray the aspiring No. 4. But just as Nadal wrested the No. 1 ranking away from Federer last August and has ridden hard on him since then, Murray has crept up and hogtied Djokovic. He’s 3-0 against Djokovic in their last three meetings (including this one) and now a mere 170 ranking points behind the No. 3 as the tour moves to Europe and clay.And just as Nadal seemed to go where no player has gone before – into Federer’s head, to damage his confidence and sow doubt and confusion – so Murray has done to Djokovic. The best example of that was the penultimate game of the second set today, in which Murray broke Djokovic in a way that was both unexpected and mortifying. Djokovic, playing spectator at his own execution, lost four straight points, at least two of them because his mind didn’t seem to be on the task at hand, and another because he got caught in the mid-court area, uncertain about whether to hang back or swarm the net.
Swarming the net would not have been a terrible idea, either. In fact, attacking paid rich dividends in the second set, after Djokovic pretty much gave away the first by going for too much, too soon – playing right into Murray’s strategy. “I was really impatient,” Djokovic said. “I made huge number of unforced errors and he was playing solid and waiting for his chances.”
Djokovic was broken to start the second set, but broke right back as he began to find the range on his ground strokes and began to move forward more frequently, giving Murray more to think about than which side he’d try to work for his next error, and with which shot: the wimpy slice that begged to be powdered, or the crosscourt backhand intended to tease out the big forehand down the line – which Murray, anticipating well, could then run down and drive back, crosscourt, for a winner?
It isn’t exactly accurate to call Murray’s game cat-and-mouse – it’s really more like tiger-and-mouse, as Djokovic would later admit: “Andy’s moving much better (than in 2008). This switch from defensive to offensive tennis, he’s really good at this. . .”
Funny, isn’t that what they used to say about Federer?
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AP Images
Murray has now won three of the last five Masters titles (Cincinnati, Madrid, Miami) on the ATP Tour. |
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But as lethal and tricky as Murray is, Djokovic was on the right track when he settled in and began to press forward. He broke Murray for the second time running by applying pressure that, if it wasn’t exactly distracting, gave Murray a little more than he was accustomed to having to think about. Leading 4-1, Djokovic stretched Murray’s next game to the breaking point, but Murray hung on. The men exchanged holds, and then some evil little mini-Murray began screaming inside Djokovic’s brain. He had a set point wiped out by a monster backhand crosscourt service return. He earned another set point with a lob error, but wasted that chance with a double fault. Two errors later, Murray was back on serve at 4-5.Murray held, and then came the meltdown. Djokovic didn’t hurl his racket at the asphalt, as Federer did the other day, but he had every reason to after playing such a poor game that the notion of recovery was ruled out. Murray served out the match with no trouble.
“Yet again, I was the biggest enemy to myself,” Djokovic ruefully admitted in his press conference.
Murray pretty much agreed with the assessment, saying, “Novak started rushing me, he started to shorten the points and I struggled a little bit. He was coming in (to net) 60, 70 percent of the time in that second set. I lost my rhythm a little in that second set but I got it back.”
He didn’t even have to take it back; Djokovic handed it to over to him in a quick, brief ceremony that took place inside his head.
Peter Bodo, a senior editor for TENNIS magazine, also writes the TennisWorld blog.
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