Djokovic wins 6th Australian title; Murray loses 5th final

Andy Murray’s thoughts were on returning home after he lost out to Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s Australian Open final. “Yeah, I just want to get home”.

While Djokovic was still celebrating his 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory on Sunday night, equaling Roy Emerson’s record of six Australian titles, Murray was rushing for the airport to catch a flight back to Britain to reunite with his pregnant wife. “Yeah, I spoke about it. Regardless of today’s result, it’s been hard”. Then let’s see what will happen, I have no idea. Murray also had to deal with the courtside collapse and hospitalisation of his father-in-law Nigel Sears eight days ago.

The slow start, in which he trailed 0-5 in 19 minutes, was partly a effect of all that he had been dealing with, Murray said.

The defending champion was at his ruthless best under the lights at the Rod Laver Arena, mauling Murray in the baseline duels and closing out the match in two hours and 53 minutes.

Williams had long left Melbourne Park, a gracious loser of the Australian Open final in three high-quality sets when, for the second time in five months, she was tantalisingly in reach of drawing alongside Kerber’s compatriot and long-distance supporter, Steffi Graf, whose 22 majors in the open era are two short of Margaret Court’s record of 24. On one hand, it’s hard to commend the Serbian for his dominance when he played well for maybe one match (the semifinals against Federer), but in a way, it’s even more impressive that he didn’t need to be at his best to win.

In Melbourne, Djokovic beat Federer in straight sets in the semifinals before moving on to Murray. “I’m sure in the future you are going to have more opportunities to fight for this trophy”.

Grand slam greatness already assured, Novak Djokovic says he’s hungry like a wolf to stay ahead of his challengers as he eyes career-defining French Open glory in Paris. Djokovic only had his serve broken twice.

Djokovic underlined his status as the dominant force in Melbourne, after downing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win his first major title in 2008 and beating Rafael Nadal in an epic final in 2012, along with his four wins over Murray in 2011, 2013, 2015 and now 2016.

“The end of the second set, obviously the game I lost 40-love up, was a tough one”, Murray lamented.

Kerber, a national hero in her native Germany as its first Grand Slam victor this century, had a poor record in majors before her fairytale run, which also included a brutal quarter-final win over former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka. I’ve won nearly every tournament that I’ve played. “I mean, I got two in the same day, so… it’s special”. Murray has also been dealing with off-the-court distractions-including the fact that he is going to become a father in a matter of a few weeks.