Tennis

[weslgarlic]

Australian Open 2013: Novak Djokovic beats Andy Murray to win hat-trick of titles in Melbourne

Novak Djokovic became the first man to win three successive Australian Open titles in the professional era when he beat third seed Andy Murray 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a battle of attrition on Sunday.

Novak Djokovic has become the first man to win three consecutive Australian Open titles in the Open Era after beating Andy Murray 6-7 (2), 7-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the final at Melbourne Park.

Regardless of how this encounter ended one thing was guaranteed, a record of some sort was going to be set, one of the men on the court would etch their name into the tennis history books.

The world No 1 was bidding to become the first man in the Open era to win three consecutive Australian Open titles while Murray was on course to become the first player to claim a second grand slam crown at the first attempt after winning his first.

That maiden win came four and a half months ago in the final of the US Open against Djokovic on that famous night in September when Murray ended a 76-year wait for British tennis at Flushing Meadows in a five set thriller lasting just shy of five hours.

Today's match had all the makings of following suit and just as he had in New York, Murray took the first on a tiebreak after 68 minutes, unfortunately for him, that was where the similarities ended.

The second set, also decided by a tiebreak, went Djokovic's way, and while until that point there was little to separate the two players, neither of whom was playing their best tennis, things started to unravel for Murray in the third set as two nuisances wreaked havoc on his game.

With the score at one set apiece, Murray needed attention for blisters on his right foot, but despite the treatment, his discomfort was clear to see. Grimacing on every move he could not execute his shots with the power and precision he had demonstrated in earlier games and his focus was starting to wobble.

Murray said his foot wasn't a factor in his defeat: "It's a bit sore when you're running around, it's not like pulling a calf muscle it hurts when you run. It's not something that stops you from playing. There are certain things that just hurt when you run and hit the ball but it doesn't stop you from playing. I very rarely get blisters but 90 per cent of players will have played with one or a problem."

The blisters, combined with an overexcited fan making himself heard at the most inappropriate of moments – namely when Murray was serving – saw the world No 3's game unravel and Djokovic was waiting to pounce. In the 32nd game, the Serbian, not phased by the apparent heckling, broke service for the first time in the match to take a 4-3 lead before closing out the set.

Murray's complaints were met with sympathy by chair umpire John Blom but despite him explaining that “just asking them to be quiet isn't enough” nothing more was done to address the problem besides a polite reminder. In fairness to the fan in question, the problem did not arise again, unfortunately the same could not be said for Murray's injury woes.

His body was giving up on him, not only was he struggling with blisters but as the fourth set started he was gesturing to his team that there was a problem with his left hamstring and his movement appeared limited.

At two sets to one down against the defending champion, Murray had to come out fighting and while he held his opening game of service in the fourth set, he was unable to do so again as the King of Rod Laver played out to secure his crown, his fourth in Melbourne and sixth of his career.

After being presented with the trophy by one of only two other men to have won three title in Melbourne – Andre Agassi – Djokovic said: “I would like to congratulate Andy, we've played so many great matches over the years and I hope for many to come.

“What a joy, it's an incredible feeling winning this trophy once more, it's my favourite grand slam my most successful grand slam, I love this court.”

While clearly disappointed, Murray was gracious in defeat and took many positives from the loss: "The last few months have been the best tennis of my life, I know no-one's ever won a slam straight after their first and I got close so I have to look at the positives of the last few months. I'm in the right direction. It's the first time I've beaten Roger in a grand slam. Before the US Open I was nervous and doubting myself, today i was nervous but confident, I felt more at home on a court like that."

[Percys_Plant]

Yay, Nole!! Had to wake up at an ungodly hour to watch this, but well worth it.

[Black Dawg]

Australian Open 2013: Novak Djokovic beats Andy Murray to win hat-trick of titles in Melbourne

Novak Djokovic became the first man to win three successive Australian Open titles in the professional era when he beat third seed Andy Murray 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a battle of attrition on Sunday.

Novak Djokovic has become the first man to win three consecutive Australian Open titles in the Open Era after beating Andy Murray 6-7 (2), 7-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the final at Melbourne Park.

Regardless of how this encounter ended one thing was guaranteed, a record of some sort was going to be set, one of the men on the court would etch their name into the tennis history books.

The world No 1 was bidding to become the first man in the Open era to win three consecutive Australian Open titles while Murray was on course to become the first player to claim a second grand slam crown at the first attempt after winning his first.

That maiden win came four and a half months ago in the final of the US Open against Djokovic on that famous night in September when Murray ended a 76-year wait for British tennis at Flushing Meadows in a five set thriller lasting just shy of five hours.

Today's match had all the makings of following suit and just as he had in New York, Murray took the first on a tiebreak after 68 minutes, unfortunately for him, that was where the similarities ended.

The second set, also decided by a tiebreak, went Djokovic's way, and while until that point there was little to separate the two players, neither of whom was playing their best tennis, things started to unravel for Murray in the third set as two nuisances wreaked havoc on his game.

With the score at one set apiece, Murray needed attention for blisters on his right foot, but despite the treatment, his discomfort was clear to see. Grimacing on every move he could not execute his shots with the power and precision he had demonstrated in earlier games and his focus was starting to wobble.

Murray said his foot wasn't a factor in his defeat: "It's a bit sore when you're running around, it's not like pulling a calf muscle it hurts when you run. It's not something that stops you from playing. There are certain things that just hurt when you run and hit the ball but it doesn't stop you from playing. I very rarely get blisters but 90 per cent of players will have played with one or a problem."

The blisters, combined with an overexcited fan making himself heard at the most inappropriate of moments – namely when Murray was serving – saw the world No 3's game unravel and Djokovic was waiting to pounce. In the 32nd game, the Serbian, not phased by the apparent heckling, broke service for the first time in the match to take a 4-3 lead before closing out the set.

Murray's complaints were met with sympathy by chair umpire John Blom but despite him explaining that “just asking them to be quiet isn't enough” nothing more was done to address the problem besides a polite reminder. In fairness to the fan in question, the problem did not arise again, unfortunately the same could not be said for Murray's injury woes.

His body was giving up on him, not only was he struggling with blisters but as the fourth set started he was gesturing to his team that there was a problem with his left hamstring and his movement appeared limited.

At two sets to one down against the defending champion, Murray had to come out fighting and while he held his opening game of service in the fourth set, he was unable to do so again as the King of Rod Laver played out to secure his crown, his fourth in Melbourne and sixth of his career.

After being presented with the trophy by one of only two other men to have won three title in Melbourne – Andre Agassi – Djokovic said: “I would like to congratulate Andy, we've played so many great matches over the years and I hope for many to come.

“What a joy, it's an incredible feeling winning this trophy once more, it's my favourite grand slam my most successful grand slam, I love this court.”

While clearly disappointed, Murray was gracious in defeat and took many positives from the loss: "The last few months have been the best tennis of my life, I know no-one's ever won a slam straight after their first and I got close so I have to look at the positives of the last few months. I'm in the right direction. It's the first time I've beaten Roger in a grand slam. Before the US Open I was nervous and doubting myself, today i was nervous but confident, I felt more at home on a court like that."

Why do you continue to spam entire stories from publications without citing the source, as if it was your own?

[Led Dirigible]

Why do you continue to spam entire stories from publications without citing the source, as if it was your own?

Because he's a troll.

[Black Dawg]

Because he's a troll.

Thanks Sherlock. But it's about time we call his ass out on it.

MAybe he'll figure it out for himself but I don't think so.

[weslgarlic]

Why do you continue to spam entire stories from publications without citing the source, as if it was your own?

I usually put a link on if I've cut and pasted an article , so this time I forgot ,shame you choose to have a go at me instead of contributing to the thread . don't you like tennis?

Edited January 27, 2013 by weslgarlic

[Black Dawg]

^Funny how you haven't contributed to the topic yet, other than spamming a news article from the Australian Open. Your tactics are getting old and I am no afraid to call your limp ass out on them.

[weslgarlic]

The article (admittedly unaccredited on this occassion )seemed an perfectly good catalyst to open an topic on tennis not on weslgarlic ,another perfectly viable thread ruined by people who should start up their own threads if they aren’t happy with others.....why not start a weslgarlic thread thus leaving threads to the subject they are about

[Black Dawg]

When you decided to open another meaningless thread to entertain your troll desires, I decided to feed it. We don't need another thread to call you out. It is obvious that you have no intention in discussing tennis. If you wanted to talk tennis you would have already. The closest your going to get to a tennis match is to volley your buffoonery around. There's no ace on this court. Only Love for trolling.

[weslgarlic]

When you decided to open another meaningless thread to entertain your troll desires, I decided to feed it. We don't need another thread to call you out. It is obvious that you have no intention in discussing tennis. If you wanted to talk tennis you would have already. The closest your going to get to a tennis match is to volley your buffoonery around. There's no ace on this court. Only Love for trolling.

why not start a troll thread then ? whatever trolling is

[Black Dawg]

Volley continues. BD service still in play. I looked up trolling and it had a picture of a tennis players sans Huevos.

[TypeO]

Why do you continue to spam entire stories from publications without citing the source, as if it was your own?

That's pretty funny, because the moment I saw another thread by this clown I was thinking pretty much the same thing.

He doesn't really say, "Hey, I like tennis and check out this."

He just copypasta's some article and voila! another wesgarlic thread.

He seems to thrive on having his name all over the board.

I mean he's been a member for 2 months and has 1400 posts.

I've been here just over 5 years and only have about 900 more than he does.

[weslgarlic]

That's pretty funny, because the moment I saw another thread by this clown I was thinking pretty much the same thing.

He doesn't really say, "Hey, I like tennis and check out this."

He just copypasta's some article and voila! another wesgarlic thread.

He seems to thrive on having his name all over the board.

I mean he's been a member for 2 months and has 1400 posts.

I've been here just over 5 years and only have about 900 more than he does.

this is no longer a tennis thread , but a have ago at weslgarlic thread , most of my posts are in the band name game , song title ,word association ,film title threads ,I remember on a couple of occasions battling it out black dawg trying to compete over all four threads

[Black Dawg]

15- love Black Dawg. It remains a tennis thread. Just not the one you envisioned. I'll check to the man in the chair by the net. If you need to validate the score ofte match.

Maybe we could turn this into doubles and enlarge the court.

[Led Dirigible]

this is no longer a tennis thread , but a have ago at weslgarlic thread , most of my posts are in the band name game , song title ,word association ,film title threads ,I remember on a couple of occasions battling it out black dawg trying to compete over all four threads

If your previous topics are anything to go by, you'll have created about three more tennis threads before we know it.

Edited January 28, 2013 by Led Dirigible

[Black Dawg]

If your previous topics are anything to go by, you'll have created about three more tennis threads before we know it.

HAve you found a partner for doubles yet?

Wesli, come out to play.

Edited January 28, 2013 by Black Dawg

[Walter]

If your previous topics are anything to go by, you'll have created about three more tennis threads before we know it.

[fishhead]

Murray complained to the umpire about the crowd noise. What about the noise some tennis players seem to feel the need to make nowadays when serving and volleying?...lol.....he needs to learn to focus more

Edited January 28, 2013 by fishhead

[the chase]

this is no longer a tennis thread , but a have ago at weslgarlic thread , most of my posts are in the band name game , song title ,word association ,film title threads ,I remember on a couple of occasions battling it out black dawg trying to compete over all four threads

Come on Wes.

Tennis is great.. My Mother is 76 and plays Tennis 4 days a week. It keeps her going..

(that and Bridge)

But you've started more threads in an average week than some of us have in 6 years.. and most of the topics are either goofy or already exist.

You are all about quantity over quality.

Some of your thread topics have been good... some not so great... and then you just keep plodding on with them.

Do it all you want, but don't act all surprised when people get annoyed.

Edited January 28, 2013 by the chase

[Whoopie Cat]

Lets get back to some tennis talk.

I didn't read all the quoted first post, but that was because i'd watched a lot of the tournament and had also watched the whole mens final match, so I was already aware of those facts.

I'd preferrred it to have been a Federer/Djokovic final, mainly because I don't like Andy Murray. He is obviously a very good tennis player who seems to be hitting his peak in the last year, but he presents as a staid, boring type of person and to me thats a turn off when it comes to watching a person play. A player with a bit of character, who shows some genuine emotion and someone who is likeable, is a lot more entertaining to watch and cheer on, rather than a grumpy, sour, miserable player. Djokovic on the other hand, is not only the world number one, but he is entertaining to watch. He shows emotion, he jokes around at times, he's humble and seems to be a true gentleman .... not to mention has a killer first serve, an incredible passing shot, slugs it out from the baseline and is no slouch at the net either.

To Andy Murray's credit, he played a great match and didn't place any blame on the injuries which troubled him through the match.

There was no celebrations for Djokivic, as early this morning he was on the plane to fulfil his Serbian Davis Cup duties in Belguim. Interestingly, as he boarded the plane, at the same time last year, Djokovic was still playing an epic 5 hours and 53 minutes final against Nadal. It's a shame Nadal had to withdraw from the Australian Open, along with other tournaments, due to injury and illness .... his presence was missed.

[chillumpuffer]

Lets get back to some tennis talk.

I didn't read all the quoted first post, but that was because i'd watched a lot of the tournament and had also watched the whole mens final match, so I was already aware of those facts.

I'd preferrred it to have been a Federer/Djokovic final, mainly because I don't like Andy Murray. He is obviously a very good tennis player who seems to be hitting his peak in the last year, but he presents as a staid, boring type of person and to me thats a turn off when it comes to watching a person play. A player with a bit of character, who shows some genuine emotion and someone who is likeable, is a lot more entertaining to watch and cheer on, rather than a grumpy, sour, miserable player. Djokovic on the other hand, is not only the world number one, but he is entertaining to watch. He shows emotion, he jokes around at times, he's humble and seems to be a true gentleman .... not to mention has a killer first serve, an incredible passing shot, slugs it out from the baseline and is no slouch at the net either.

To Andy Murray's credit, he played a great match and didn't place any blame on the injuries which troubled him through the match.

There was no celebrations for Djokivic, as early this morning he was on the plane to fulfil his Serbian Davis Cup duties in Belguim. Interestingly, as he boarded the plane, at the same time last year, Djokovic was still playing an epic 5 hours and 53 minutes final against Nadal. It's a shame Nadal had to withdraw from the Australian Open, along with other tournaments, due to injury and illness .... his presence was missed.

Anybody but Murray

[Percys_Plant]

Very good points, Whoopie Cat.

I've been a fan of Novak since '05 when he bust onto the scene. There was just something about that lanky, goofy kid with such talent, that caught my attention. Of course being an avid follower of his career has not been easy either. Watching him get flak for his retirements during matches, his good-natured ribbing of other players, and never getting the love due to all the Federer-Nadal fever, made rooting for him a lonely sport at times.

2011 was like a shot of adrenaline in the arm for us, and watching him rise from his position at #3 for so long to #1 was fantastic! Finally the tennis world (well besides the insiders) were now paying attention. There were actually other players besides Roger and Rafael! Shocking!

To say I'm proud of him would make me sound like some cheesy, over protective fan or something, but I really am. He's definitely come so far and we ought to bask in this moment for as long as it lasts.

As for Andy Murray...I don't dislike him, neither do I think he's that great either. I still think that U.S Open win was a fluke (so yes, yes, he won and played better in the windy conditions but there's still something about it that doesn't sit too well with me) And then there's his attitude on the court. The man needs to learn how to control his mouth more often (and facial expressions because he always looks like he's constipated or something). No one is denying he's got talent, but man, he can be boring to watch at times. Besides those two first sets, which were competitive, the next two showed exactly why he's at a risk of becoming a one-slam wonder. When he loses the serve and starts marking all those unforced errors, it's an atrocious thing to witness.

All the same, I'm glad he's finally out of that pressure cooker of a situation where he was constantly bugged about winning a grand slam. Now that's been taken care of, it's time to see if he can back it up in future grand slam events. I'm sure Wimbledon this year will be his to lose buuuuuuuuuuuuuut we'll see what the perennial favorite (Federer) has to say about that. Oh, and let's not forget Novak either...after he finally beats Nadal at Roland Garros to complete the career grand slam that is.

Vamos Nole!!

[Strider]

Why do you continue to spam entire stories from publications without citing the source, as if it was your own?

You took the words out of my mouth...thank you, Black Dawg! Wes tries to portray this as an isolated incident but he's a repeat offender. I've seen him do this at least three or four other times; fobbing someone else's words and work off as his own. Cite your source, please, at all times. It's helpful to Sam to keep media organizations from harrassing this forum over uncredited copyright violations.

I, too, am glad Djokovic beat Murray; after Federer, Djokovic is my second favourite player on the men's side. Being in California, the match started at midnight(for both women's and men's finals), so I was up until the wee hours watching until the conclusion.

Poor Rick...his favourite, Maria the Grunter, didn't make it to the finals. Neither did the Williams sisters. Just a statistical anomaly? Or are we seeing the decline of the Williams/Sharapova era?

Edited January 28, 2013 by Strider

[amie1974]

Just to defend Andy Murray a little - I agree his personality doesn't come across well on court - however I've seen him on few comedy quiz shows in the UK and he is actually quite funny, although with a very dry sense of humour . He is also quite happy to have the piss taken out of him..

If I'm honest my favourite player to watch is Nadal but I'll be shouting for Andy at Wimbledon - I think his Olympics/US Open wins have already inspired more UK kids to play tennis and sport in general and that's a good thing.

[Percys_Plant]

Oh, you can be sure if Nadal returns, the fans are going to be cheering the loudest for him in whatever tournament he plays in. My advice to his opponents? Play with earplugs (or if possible blinders) on.