MURRAY LOST AUSTRALIA OPEN

Murray's is falling again to great Djokovic

 

Andy Murray is the second best tennis player in the world. Bummer. Turns out second, which must have looked so appealing when he was fourth, and then third, is still a pretty frustrating place to be. 
More so, probably, because now Murray gets to stand next to more trophies but without being  permitted to touch; he gets to give speeches, as the warm-up act for the winner; and he gets to be very polite about everybody, and have everybody be polite about him. You put up a good fight, you played your part in a great match. Let’s have a big hand for Andy. At that moment, second must suck way more than, say, 14th.
Of course, being second is  nothing to be ashamed of, not when first is occupied by a champion as great as Novak Djokovic. He is the first player to win the Australian Open title three times in succession in the Open era and no player could have lived with him in the third and fourth sets of Sunday’s final. Certainly not Roger Federer, whom Murray beat in a Grand Slam for the first time on Friday.

 

 

Well knock me down with a feather: Murray was distracted at a crucial moment in the second-set tiebreak (above) and the Scot's foot needed to be treated for a blister (below) as the grind of playing Djokovic took its toll

On many occasions, at his peak, there were golfers who matched Tiger Woods for the best part of three rounds, until he began to move, inch by inch, up that  leaderboard. Manchester United are rarely winning the league by 10 points at Christmas. Greatness shows, over time. 
After roughly two-and-a-half hours here, one could not put a feather between Murray and Djokovic. But what followed showed the measure of a champion, capitalising on every mistake,  each opportunity, no matter how minute.
If Murray took a 0-30 lead and failed to close it out, Djokovic made him pay; if Murray lost focus even for one shot, he pounced.
And the feather, that fateful feather, falling from the sky where a flock of seagulls screeched  and swooped and occasionally  spattered the paying customers below. At the fifth point of the  second-set tiebreak, Murray was poised to deliver his second service when he noticed a small white feather floating through the air in his line of vision. He stopped, watched it fall, tried to pick it up, failed, was assisted by a ball girl, double faulted.
Of course, Murray wasn’t truly knocked over by a feather in  Melbourne, but the momentum did undergo a subtle shift with that dropped point.
The tiebreak having gone with serve until that moment, Murray won only a single further point and lost 7-3 to wipe out his first-set  tiebreak advantage. The slow slide to the best supporting actor role had begun.

 

By then, Djokovic was sending him chasing all over court, left to right and back again and while Murray’s capacity to return against the odds barely faltered, it was increasingly obvious that his resistance was waning. That’s how it is for the second best. In the first set, Murray won 21 points to Djokovic’s 18, in the second Djokovic led  Murray by two, but in the third — the set Murray lost 6-3 — there were 10 points between them.

Wizard of Oz: Djokovic claimed his third-consecutive triumph in Melbourne with his four-set victory

Djokovic was kicking for home, and Murray merely hobbled in his wake. Quite

‘I had two black toenails after the US Open,’ said Murray. ‘Blisters are sore, but you play through them. I’d say 90 per cent of the players here got through at least one match with the type of blisters I’m dealing with now.’

Consolation prize: The British No 1 looks set to fight it out with Djokovic in many more major finals