The double celebration the Murray brothers, Andy and Jamie, were looking for, didn’t come after all. Though Jamie Murray succeeded in winning the Australian Open men’s doubles title along with partner Bruno Soares, luck did not favour Andy, who faced the disappointment of a fifth Aussie Open final defeat.
The man responsible for this was everyone’s favourite villain on the tennis court, Novak Djokovic. After toppling the very popular Roger Federer in the semis, Djokovic ripped through Murray’s tactics in their face-off on Sunday’s final at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, winning in straight sets 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3).
It seems there’s no stopping the 28-year-old Serb as he tears down his opponents match after match. 2015 has been an immensely successful year for him, and it seems 2016 will follow the same pattern. This is his sixth Melbourne title, tying the record with Australian Roy Emerson.
With this win, Djokovic levelled another record – 11 Grand Slam wins – with tennis greats Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver. At the dazzling rate he’s going, it seems overcoming Federer’s tally of 17 is not a distant dream.
Andy Murray congratulated Djokovic on his ‘incredible feat’, and said he himself was now eager to “take the first flight home” to be with wife Kim, who’s expecting to deliver their first baby this week.
Commenting on the contest, no critic put it better than BBC’s tennis correspondent Russell Fuller, who said “allowing Djokovic a 6-1 headstart is like giving Usain Bolt a 10m headstart in a 100m sprint; you can’t expect to win after that”. Absolutely true!