Finally he made it! After losing a very very long and tough semifinal at the 2012 Australian Open Murray had his (small) revenge.
To tell the truth Novak is not the same immense player as he was in 2011. Do not take it wrong, he is still a clear and 100% deserving world nr.1, but it looks tired and the last Australian Open did not do any good to him from this point of view. The last 2 matches in Melbourne with Murray and Nadal lasted 11 hours in aggregate and they were obviously very taxing also from a mental point of view.
In the previous 2 matches in Dubai he had a couple of awkward sets and he appeared in an immediate struggle since the beginning of the semi-final. he lost 7 games in a row (from 2-2 in the first set to 2-6 0-3 in the second) and the result was not too punishing only because Murray badly choked up while serving for the match when he was leading 6-2 5-3.
Djokovic had an impressing 18 matches winning streak in Dubai (he won the previous 3 editions)… but sooner or later it had to finish!
It’s obviously great any time you beat the world number one,’ Murray said. ‘I just tried to do some of the same things I did in Australia.
‘I was very close there against one of the greatest players ever, and today I did what I needed to – even though it nearly got away from me at the end.’
Talking about his mental status.
‘But generally I feel good, physically, mentally, you know. It’s just the start of the season. You know, there are some 1000 events (Indian Wells and Miami) coming up which are really important, and I need to get ready.’
The he added Djokovic added: ‘You know, I been having a lot off court activities since I became number one, but I have a team of people that controls it well.
‘Obviously there is a lot of temptations and a lot of things that you can enjoy. But it’s normal. You know, you can’t on one hand just be 100% of your life in the tennis. You know, you are young. You have to enjoy life. You have to experience some other things, you know.’
Click here to See the complete Draw
Photo Credit: Beth Wilson
