Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open 2016 (men's)

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

RE: Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open 2016 (men's)

wolf · Tennis legend

F: (1) Novak Djokovic WR 1 beat (2) Andy Murray WR 2 6-1 7-5 7-6(3)

wimdledont · Challenger level

Good performance overall in the second two sets.

Not a hint of tears or frustration in defeat, which is both unusual and encouraging.

I think the long 5 setter against Raonic forced his hand to try to force a 3-setter, by over-attacking, which backfired badly.

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Well that was a weepy, his tribute to Kim.......... got me going.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Gutted, but the better man won on the day.

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Another final in Melbourne. Someone really should fire these scriptwriters. Every year its the same old thing...

Sets 2 & 3 show promise for how Andy might be able to dismantle Djokovic in the future - same game style with less UE and better focus on the biggest points would get him very close.
At times, Djokovic scarcely seems real, some sort of rubber band metronome robot machine wall. However, I have a sneaky feeling that Andy will claim a GS this year.

Best of luck to Andy & Kim; for once we can welcome the fact that Andy will be missing from tour for a while.

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Yep, Andy gave it a good shot but Nole is pretty much invincible at the moment; hey ho, still world #2 which ain't too shabby :)

Jan · Hall of fame

Julia Carrot wrote:
Well that was a weepy, his tribute to Kim.......... got me going.

Yes - I just watched it and welled up.

indiana · Tennis legend

In the disappointment after the final I had forgotten a potential rather strange set of results - a kind of Australian Open booby prize, which has to be someone, but Rafa ?!

Nadal lost to Verdasco lost to Sela lost to Kuznetsov lost to Monfils lost to Raonic lost to Murray lost to Djokovic.

I said nothing before the final, hoping it wouldn't happen and the 'award' would go to Borna Coric, who was the lose to lose to etc candidate from the Djokovic half

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 1st of February 2016 12:47:10 PM

Spectator · All-time great

Just saw the final speeches. What a lovely one from Mr Murray - gracious, statesmanlike, and very moving at the end. He's done a remarkable job to get through and defend his points, under the circumstances.

I look forward to his AO winner's speech in the future!

thejester · Satellite level

Would never have thought I'd be saying this a few years back but I think Andy's best shot at GS glory this year might be at the French. He's improved drastically on clay and looked competitive against Novak last year, and perhaps more importantly, it's the only place Djokovic might feel the pressure a bit more, desperate as he is to complete the set

Spectator · All-time great

Just was looking at Nicolas Mahut's tweets and saw that at the end of the AO, he had retweeted a lovely comment from Antoine Benneteau re: Mr Murray.

The AO had tweeted a picture of Mr Murray after the final, with the text "I'll be on the next flight home." Andy to his wife Kim #AusOpen snpy.tv/1UzGbKJ

Mr Benneteau retweeted it with the annotation "J'admire le joueur et j'aime de plus en plus l'homme."

Nice to have the approbation of your peers ... especially given what Mr Murray has done to French hopes in recent years!

TMH · Futures qualifying

Google translates that rather comically as, "I admire the player and I like more and more men"

Spectator · All-time great

Not quite M. Benneteau's intent - but my fault for not translating. "I admire the player and, more and more, I like the man."