OK so this is my final post on the 2015 Australian Open which has been an interesting tournament and seen some dramatic upsets on both sides of the net and I will cover both the men's and ladies finals in this post together. So let's give them a look....
So ladies first as the final was between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova which was a clash of the titans even though Serena emphatically leads in their head to head 16-3 going into the match, with Maria never having beaten her for over 10 years so it was a tough task for Maria to try and pull out this win. But the match itself was a very entertaining and compelling one and Maria turned up for a fight and sure gave Serena one although Serena broke Maria to take the opening set. In the 2nd set it was far more tense affair and plenty of nip and tuck points as Maria had to battle hard and dig deep to save break points on her serve. And at 6-5 as Maria served for a tiebreak she gave two championship points to Serena but she managed to dig deep and save them to push the match into a tiebreak. And the tiebreak was a tense affair which saw the players exchange breaks of serve but it was Serena who brought down the final hammer as her first appeared to seal the deal but it turned out to be a let, but Serena closed it out on her second go with another ace to claim her 6th Australian open title and her 19th grand slam title overall with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) win.
Well this was a highly entertaining match and it was a fine battle between two great veterans in the ladies game. It was a big ask however for Maria to try and beat Serena given that she had lost their previous 16 matches and in the end Serena was yet again just too solid and too good on her serve and Maria (just like a certain other player I will soon mention!) just wasn't consistent enough on her own. And this also saw Serena overtake Martina Navitrilova in grand slam title wins as they were tied at 18 each but now Serena stands with 19 and she is just three more away from equalling Stefi Graff and five away from equalling the all time record of 24 held by Margaret Court (whom second biggest court at Melbourne park is named after). And I'm sure Serena will still want to keep on playing until she has either surpassed or equalled Margaret's record and if she plays long enough and injury free she will do just that. And another thing is that Serena has now since returning from her life threatening illness to the sport in 2011 at one or another won all four of the grand slams in that time since, which is remarkable in itself. So for the time being Serena remains the undisputed No.1 and while she keeps playing no one will be able to equal her.
As for Maria well she had a great tournament and she put up a great fight against Serena in the final and she also did really well as she nearly went out of the tournament in the 2nd round as she faced the tough Russian opponent Alexandra Panova there. But Maria has no doubt shown once again that she is one of the game's toughest competitors and she knows how to fight and bring it on court and in a way its a pity that for her Serena has become an unmovable object but that is the way the sport can go. However there is no doubt that Maria will be back again soon in the major of a final and she no doubt has a chance to win one again this year.
Right now we get onto the men's final which was a hugely anticipated clash between two of the world's best players right now, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Nole was going for a record 5th Australian open title while Andy was looking to end his losing streak in Melbourne by trying to win his first title there. The match promised great things especially given Andy's strong form throughout the tournament and for once he went into the final being the slight favourite, especially after Novak played below par in his semi final against the then defending champion, Stan Wawrinka. However as for the match itself???? Well it was a match of two halves really and both players in the first set looked a bit tight, especially Andy as Nole made the stronger start and raced into a 4-1 lead. But soon the momentum swung back in Andy's favour as he broke back and after this both men traded breaks of serve which saw the match go into a tiebreak in which Andy had his chances at 4-2 and lost them as Novak took the breaker 7-5. In the 2nd set Andy went down a break again but he managed to dig deep and break back and from here both men played great tennis as it edged towards another tiebreak, which this time Andy seized the initiative and broke Djokovic to win the set and level. In the 3rd set Andy made a promising start as Novak started to show signs of cramping and fatigue as he wobbled about the court, which started to prove distracting for Andy so much so he shouted "he always does this!". And from here Andy dropped serve and let Nole back into the match and from here... well Novak didn't look back as he started to capitalise on Andy's mounting unforced errors and also his tame second serve getting punished, he lost the 3rd set, handing the initiative to the Serb. And in the 4th set it was curtains for Andy as he folded in spectacular fashion and the errors and poor serves and he handed the title to Djokovic who claimed his 5th win down under with a 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-0 result.
Well this was certainly not the result Andy would have wanted who it has to be said right from the start looked shaky and vulnerable particularly on serve as Novak sped to a 4-1 lead. But regardless of that Andy still did well to fight his way back into the first set and to even level the match in the 2nd before he completely lost his way toward the end of the 3rd and even squandered his own lead going a set all and a break up only to let Djokovic back in the door again. And the final showed a rather troubling picture of Andy Murray as he was able to hang tough for two sets and after that he just fell away from the match just like he did last at the US Open against Nole in their quarter final match. He also went back to his old ways of berating himself and giving his hangdog expression, getting down on himself and at the end of the match smashing his racquets a la Baghdatis style (who did the same during a match he had two years ago in Melbourne). Whilst his frustration is understandable it shows that Andy since Ivan Lendl's departure he isn't as mentally strong or as focussed as he once was back then. And in the New York last year, Andy physically couldn't stay with Novak but this time he could and the difference was that Novak won the battle on the mental side, which in tennis is the key to success.
However I also felt that Djokovic was a bit guilty of gamesmanship in the match particularly when he started to show signs of cramping and wobbly movement, which very much distracted Andy in the 3rd set and appeared to allow Novak back into the match. Yet somehow after Novak recovered the break in the 3rd set he suddenly went from having limp movement to jogging his way back to his seat as if there was nothing wrong with him! And its not the first time Novak did this sort of thing as he reportedly did the same thing during a Wimbledon match five years ago against Lleyton Hewitt after Novak complained of suffering a leg and ankle injury and he had a timeout and all of a sudden came back to beat Hewitt as if he had no injury whatsoever! So it does leave a question mark over Novak's behaviour on court in the final and if he was using some sneaky underhand tactics to get back into the match then that is inexcusable in itself and after the match Djokovic claimed he wasn't cramping but was having a "physical crsis for about 20 minutes" after the rigours of the first two sets (or so he says!). But I guess in the end the outcome wouldn't have been any different and overall it had to be said that Novak was by far the better player after those first two and a half sets there was no contest and it became one-way traffic but regardless of that I still don't like how he behaved during that 3rd set.
However I guess Novak deserves the credit and his title as the Australian open has now very much become his slam, just like the French open is Rafa's although of course winning the French will be Novak's next main aim and on his current form his might just do it, especially given Rafa's current ropey form. And with Novak having captured his 5th Australian open title that sees him break the record for holding the most Australian open titles in the open era which is remarkable in itself and he will look to emulate Roy Emerson's record of six Australian open titles next year (who won them all just prior to the beginning of the open era of tennis in 1968).
As for Andy the worrying signs however are still the same as Andy's serve again let him down badly and whilst he is able to get away with poor service games against lower ranked players he is not able to do the same against Novak, who remains one of the most consistent servers on the tour whereas Andy must have the worst serve of any of the top ranked players in the game just now. Andy also mentally seemed to collapse towards the end of the match as well particularly in the 4th set where he was dished out a bagel, which must have reminded him of the rout he suffered at the hands of Roger Federer last year at the ATP world tour finals in London. Another concern is that his rivalry with Novak has now become increasingly one-sided as he now trails 8-16 in their head to head and has lost their last five meetings and it makes you question if he will be able to beat Novak again in any event never mind a major. Personally I think he will get a win over Novak some time this year regardless of which tournament it might be and if they were to meet in the Wimbledon final he might just get his revenge (well you can but hope!) and while Novak is the better player overall, Andy is a superior grass court player to Novak. On the plus side however by reaching the final Andy has secured his return back to the top 4 and his ranking will rise up to No.4 again, which will help him throughout the year if he will meet the big three in the latter stages of the big tournaments and given his form it should hopefully see him win a few titles of his own this year. So we will just need to wait and see how Andy's year will pan out for him in 2015 but so far he's off to a pretty good start and I'm sure Andy will bounce back soon from his loss and he will be
back in action soon in Rotterdam in a week's time so hopefully he can do well there.
Right so that's it for now and that's the Australian open come to an end and it was interesting tournament even if it was a mixed bag and not always of the highest quality and it all ended in disappointment for Andy Murray and delight for Novak Djokovic but that's the way it goes in sport.
So I will probably be back sometime soon with some other tennis posts and in the meantime I will carry on doing some posts for my review blog (A Blogggggg Odyssey its called!).
So until the next one its bye for now.
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