1. What is it about this tournament that brings out the best in Novak Djokovic, and—at least in finals—the worst in Andy Murray? It’s a tough question to answer, for both of these baseliners love the medium-paced azure hard court that sits inside Rod Laver Arena. The surface plays to their strengths, as we saw for the first two hours and 32 minutes of their third career title fight in Melbourne. Only two sets were completed in that interval, both featuring four breaks of serve and each being decided in a tiebreaker. It was only fitting that the two split those sudden-death sessions, and if visions of Djokovic’s 2012 Australian Open final with Rafael Nadal (which lasted nearly six hours) were dancing in your head, I can understand why.
But—and this so strange to say, for two players born just a week apart—is the answer maturity? Midway through the third set, at 3-3, the outcome of this match was a pick’em, sort of like another big championship game that will take place today. Murray then earned a break point, which he failed to convert—although he nearly broke a ball boy in half by trying to retrieve a Djokovic drop shot. Djokovic went on to hold serve; Murray wouldn’t win another game, eventually going down 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-0 in 3:39.
The nine-game surge which ended the match was less a display of excellence by Djokovic as it was a display of petulance by Murray. He berated himself after seemingly every miss; his changeovers were Shakespearean soliloquies: