2016 Australian Open Final - [1] Djokovic vs. [2] Murray

Who will win?

  • Total voters
    120
  • Poll closed .
125downthemiddle said:
Really got the feeling you liked Nadal, almost put him 1st. Shows how little I know :)
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Well, I prefer him to Roddick or Devvarman at least, and would much rather watch him than most random non-top-100 players.

None of this is going to get in the way of how I try to analyse the game though.
 
I'm going to wake up (the match will start at 5:30 AM where I live) and I'll watch the first set. If Murray somehow wins the set, I'll stay to watch the entire match. If he loses the first set, back to sleep again :(
 
Murray is a much better version of Simon and can make it extremely difficult for Novak. It is not going to be easy. He will be raring to go after today's match and also considering the number of times Novak has beat him at AO, he will certainly be looking for revenge. I just hope that the 100 UE's version of Novak doesn't show up in the final. No choking in the final FFS Novak please, I want him to win..
 
sosa09 said:
I'm going to wake up (the match will start at 5:30 AM where I live) and I'll watch the first set. If Murray somehow wins the set, I'll stay to watch the entire match. If he loses the first set, back to sleep again :(
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Good plan, I think you will get your sleep. :P
 
Nathaniel_Near said:
Well, I prefer him to Roddick or Devvarman at least, and would much rather watch him than most random non-top-100 players.

None of this is going to get in the way of how I try to analyse the game though.
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Is it his play style or something personal? Just genuninely curious, and yes I find you to be very fair and professional in your assesments regardless of personal opinions.
 
Djokovic in straight sets. It has been long time (five years to be exact) Novak hasn't defeated Murray in straights in a Slam event. Since AO 2011 for seven straight Slam matches in row Murray at least has taken a set off Djokovic. He has won last 9 out of 10 matches against Murray. As I caught in highlights, his last two wins over Murray were highly convincing. He just dismantled his final opponent when majority expected a very competitive match. It just shows how quickly he is closing the door in this rivalry for Murray. When playing on his favorite surface, it seems perfect time for Novak to end this streak of competitive matches and establish full control on rivalry. Although not very impressive in beginning, Novak has picked up his form in last couple of matches dispatching Top Ten players without too much trouble. I think his performances against Top rivals since USO are truly special. The level he is displaying in important matches lately seems higher than most of his 2015 matches. The best what I can expect from this rivalry at this moment is two competitive sets - that's all.
 
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Mainad said:
I guess he'll be setting a record one way or another on Sunday. I'm sure he would prefer the other one though! :cool:
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If he wins AO, I'd consider him co favorite for RG to complete the career slam
 
125downthemiddle said:
Is it his play style or something personal? Just genuninely curious, and yes I find you to be very fair and professional in your assesments regardless of personal opinions.
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Nadal exasperated me in a huge variety of ways. I find his whole manner to be dishonest with the not truly straight up manufactured humble act and questionable antics in many matches, as well as IMO highly dubious retirements (2010 AO against Murray springs to mind)... and further things I have vague memories about - but he's a win at all costs sort of player and it rubs me the wrong way - although that is the game and the method. I like straight up, no BS types who are honest and frank. Nadal's eternal underdog act was one of the single most annoying things I've ever seen in sport, but this can be made up for if I really love the style of play a player produces. A good example of this would be Ronnie O'Sullivan being an equally annoying twat but playing Snooker in an equivalent manner to Federer playing tennis. Also, Nadal wrecking my boy Federer never helped matters, but ultimately: would have I ever supported Nadal if I wasn't a Federer fan? Nope.

As a counter example, though I didn't live through the times, I know Connors was a total jerk, but he was a straight up jerk. What you saw is what you got, and so he's a jerk I like, because he was an honest jerk. In the end then, it comes down to authenticity.
 
Nathaniel_Near said:
I've been unimpressed with Djokovic all tournament when he's not had a good pace of shot to feed off to create his own offence - it's been hit and miss. Also, he's been impatient in longer rallies.
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You might actually be surprise and see that Andy will be the impatient one as demonstrated in their latest 2 encounters. Both in Shanghai and Paris9especially Shanghai) Andy was trying to go into trigger happy mode and rushing to pull it which resulted in plenty of UEs(lots of them even unecessary) because he felt that he needed to take the game to Nole and not dance around in baseline rallies for too long(well I guess he figured the strategy hadn't been working at all and his some victory over Nole in 2015 came in Montreal when he was a bit more aggressive than his usual self)

I like judging players based on how they've recently approached their games and how much it has helped them against opponents. I look at their latest encounters and both have been one sided. Same thing with Nadal at the back of 2015 when his match against Nole where blow out which carried on this year at Doha and Fed who got relatively routined in the final which carried on this his semis game against Nole

On the other hands players such as Simon and Berdych gave Nole trouble at the back end of 2015 with the former trading countless breaks with Nole in Paris(one could already see signs of Nole's game self distructing against Simon in Paris and not to surprising to some, Nole had trouble coping with Simon game). Same thing with Berdych who took Nole to a tiebreaker and was a bit of a stick at WTF last year, gave Nole the biggest trouble in Doha. Comparatively the guys Nole had easier time to handle in the Asian swing, Paris and WTF still got demolished by Nole this year(Nadal in Doha and Fed in the semis). I'm expecting the game against Andy to be a straight set, he is the easiest along with Nadal from the 3(Fed, Nadal, Murray) to handle for Nole based on their latest encounters.

Then again this is Tennis which is unpredictable, they might both come in unpredictable forms and the unexpected happen but if I were a betting man, I'd have to say that I'm going with Nole in Straight, no 5 setters or such, simply a straight set victory
 
Mainad said:
I guess he'll be setting a record one way or another on Sunday. I'm sure he would prefer the other one though! :cool:
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Me too but it seems highly unlikely. :p

May be all these losses finally give him the liberty to play freely without any pressure. Everyone expects him to lose anyway.
 
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Nathaniel_Near said:
Nadal exasperated me in a huge variety of ways. I find his whole manner to be dishonest with the not truly straight up manufactured humble act and questionable antics in many matches, as well as IMO highly dubious retirements (2010 AO against Murray springs to mind)... and further things I have vague memories about - but he's a win at all costs sort of player and it rubs me the wrong way - although that is the game and the method. I like straight up, no BS types who are honest and frank. Nadal's eternal underdog act was one of the single most annoying things I've ever seen in sport, but this can be made up for if I really love the style of play a player produces. A good example of this would be Ronnie O'Sullivan being an equally annoying twat but playing Snooker in an equivalent manner to Federer playing tennis. Also, Nadal wrecking my boy Federer never helped matters, but ultimately: would have I ever supported Nadal if I wasn't a Federer fan? Nope.

As a counter example, though I didn't live through the times, I know Connors was a total jerk, but he was a straight up jerk. What you saw is what you got, and so he's a jerk I like, because he was an honest jerk. In the end then, it comes down to authenticity.
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"I will have to play great and focus one point at at time to have a chance, no?" -Nadal before playing a 250 ranked player in the 2nd round of Rome. :)

TBH, I loved that schitck and found it highly amusing, from Uncle Toni as well.

Different strokes... thanks for your opinion, I can see how some would feel that way.
 
The good thing is that Murray is serving much better in this tournament than he has in the past two years I feel so that's something. The bad thing is he might be tied after this match and he is a mental midget against Djokovic.
 
125downthemiddle said:
"I will have to play great and focus one point at at time to have a chance, no?" -Nadal before playing a 250 ranked player in the 2nd round of Rome. :)

TBH, I loved that schitck and found it highly amusing, from Uncle Toni as well.

Different strokes... thanks for your opinion, I can see how some would feel that way.
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Sometimes it's the personality sometimes it's the game. The way Roddick developed ended up with me liking him the least of the major players on tour. Oh, and Federer rekt Roddick, so I suppose this means that "with all due respect the rest of my post doesn't matter."

"No offense." - Whoops, rather: "with all due respect."
 
If Murray want to win then he will have to prepare himself physically for another four hours battle (at least) within 48 hours.
 
Nathaniel_Near said:
Sometimes it's the personality sometimes it's the game. The way Roddick developed ended up with me liking him the least of the major players on tour.
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I didn't like his attitude or the way he treated umpires. Some people seemed to find him a great sarcastic bro type guy, didn't see that. Still, I was really pained for him to see Wimby 09 final. Just shockingly painful.

His "revamped" pusher game under Stefanki and laughable slice net approaches were a low-light.
 
125downthemiddle said:
I didn't like his attitude or the way he treated umpires. Some people seemed to find him a great sarcastic bro type guy, didn't see that. Still, I was really pained for him to see Wimby 09 final. Just shockingly painful.

His "revamped" pusher game under Stefanki and laughable slice net approaches were a low-light.
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Also, Djokovic absolutely ruining Federer does nothing to change my general estimation of Djokovic -just to expound somewhat on the inferences of the last few posts... I'm guessing @zep is a Nadal fan (possibly Nadalovic), hence his reaction - but some guys will refuse to get it as it doesn't fit neatly into their tennis-world view. If Djokovic chases down Nadal and Federer, so be it. I'm not going to like him more or less - certainly the member I like the second most of the Big Four due to his professionalism and consistency in being ever present on the tour and putting himself out there. Furthermore, suppose Djokovic wins the AO, would I suddenly lose the compassion and not cheer for him at RG? No. It makes no difference.

Roddick's attitude was exasperating and his game was infuriating.
 
90's Clay said:
Murray screwed himself not dispatching of RaoMug easier
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You didn't watch the match did you?

xtwitter.jpg
​
 
Nathaniel_Near said:
Also, Djokovic absolutely ruining Federer does nothing to change my general estimation of Djokovic, just to expound somewhat on the inferences of the last few posts. I'm guessing @zep is a Nadal fan (possibly Nadalovic), hence his reaction - but some guys will refuse to get it as it doesn't fit neatly into their tennis-world view. If Djokovic chases down Nadal and Federer, so be it. I'm not going to like him more or less - certainly the member I like the second most of the Big Four due to his professionalism and consistency in being ever present on the tour and putting himself out there. Furthermore, suppose Djokovic wins the AO, would I suddenly lose the compassion and not cheer for him at RG? No. It makes no difference.
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With all due respect, that's all I needed to read :p
 
Nathaniel_Near said:
Also, Djokovic absolutely ruining Federer does nothing to change my general estimation of Djokovic -just to expound somewhat on the inferences of the last few posts... I'm guessing @zep is a Nadal fan (possibly Nadalovic), hence his reaction - but some guys will refuse to get it as it doesn't fit neatly into their tennis-world view. If Djokovic chases down Nadal and Federer, so be it. I'm not going to like him more or less - certainly the member I like the second most of the Big Four due to his professionalism and consistency in being ever present on the tour and putting himself out there. Furthermore, suppose Djokovic wins the AO, would I suddenly lose the compassion and not cheer for him at RG? No. It makes no difference.

Roddick's attitude was exasperating and his game was infuriating.
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If I was in your position, I would have also disliked Nadal for wrecking my boy. Then I would have found reasons other than that to hate him. I am not blaming you, it is basic human nature. But the last point of your previous post comes first, everything else follows from that.

If Nadal hadn't recovered from his 2011 losses and beaten Djokovic next 4 times in slams, I probably would have started hating Djokovic as well and would have justified it the same way you did. No hard feelings, just stating how it usually works.
 
Borefest. Tennis lost big time. Prove us all wrong Andy this time, and ATTACK instead of doing those endless crosscourt drills with the better player. Your BH DTL is world class and troubles Djokovic, like Nadal's FH DTL from the similar position. Just go for it, d*mmit! Won't happen though...:(
 
maupp said:
You might actually be surprise and see that Andy will be the impatient one as demonstrated in their latest 2 encounters. Both in Shanghai and Paris9especially Shanghai) Andy was trying to go into trigger happy mode and rushing to pull it which resulted in plenty of UEs(lots of them even unecessary) because he felt that he needed to take the game to Nole and not dance around in baseline rallies for too long(well I guess he figured the strategy hadn't been working at all and his some victory over Nole in 2015 came in Montreal when he was a bit more aggressive than his usual self)

I like judging players based on how they've recently approached their games and how much it has helped them against opponents. I look at their latest encounters and both have been one sided. Same thing with Nadal at the back of 2015 when his match against Nole where blow out which carried on this year at Doha and Fed who got relatively routined in the final which carried on this his semis game against Nole

On the other hands players such as Simon and Berdych gave Nole trouble at the back end of 2015 with the former trading countless breaks with Nole in Paris(one could already see signs of Nole's game self distructing against Simon in Paris and not to surprising to some, Nole had trouble coping with Simon game). Same thing with Berdych who took Nole to a tiebreaker and was a bit of a stick at WTF last year, gave Nole the biggest trouble in Doha. Comparatively the guys Nole had easier time to handle in the Asian swing, Paris and WTF still got demolished by Nole this year(Nadal in Doha and Fed in the semis). I'm expecting the game against Andy to be a straight set, he is the easiest along with Nadal from the 3(Fed, Nadal, Murray) to handle for Nole based on their latest encounters.

Then again this is Tennis which is unpredictable, they might both come in unpredictable forms and the unexpected happen but if I were a betting man, I'd have to say that I'm going with Nole in Straight, no 5 setters or such, simply a straight set victory
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Yeah, I remember his anxious and trigger happy attempts at aggressive tennis, but he looks monstrously fit to me now, as though he might rather like to try and extend Djokovic and test his fitness, all macho like.
 
125downthemiddle said:
I didn't like his attitude or the way he treated umpires. Some people seemed to find him a great sarcastic bro type guy, didn't see that. Still, I was really pained for him to see Wimby 09 final. Just shockingly painful.

His "revamped" pusher game under Stefanki and laughable slice net approaches were a low-light.
Click to expand...
The worst no 1 ever. He himself has said that.
 
Murray can't win a single set in the final.Djokovic won AO finals even after he played tough friday semifinals.He could do it for several times in AO.This year he has played in Thursday semifinal and would be fresh.Andy Murray can't even stand against him. Murray is going to register the worst loss in AO final. This should not have happened to murray.
 
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zep said:
If I was in your position, I would have also disliked Nadal for wrecking my boy. Then I would have found reasons other than that to hate him. I am not blaming you, it is basic human nature. But the last point of your previous post comes first, everything else follows from that.

If Nadal hadn't recovered from his 2011 losses and beaten Djokovic next 4 times in slams, I probably would have started hating Djokovic as well and would have justified it the same way you did. No hard feelings, just stating how it usually works.
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You might of, but I'm not you nor do I follow your laws of human nature. That's the end. If I was a Nadal fan and he hadn't recovered from his 2011 losses, presuming for whatever reasons my brain is still configured the same way otherwise, it wouldn't change how much I like or hate Djokovic, except I'd probably like him more than before when he wasn't hammering Nadal (if I was a Nadal fan) due to the consistency and professionalism he's shown during his era of dominance.
 
Nathaniel_Near said:
Yeah, I remember his anxious and trigger happy attempts at aggressive tennis, but he looks monstrously fit to me now, as though he might rather like to try and extend Djokovic and test his fitness, all macho like.
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I remember you observed the problem in last year's final well, Nate. You noted that AM can't move into his shots as well defensively and looks clunky due to his bigger build which also causes him to burn out sooner. I think regardless of how great he looks cardiovascular wise, the same issues will surface if the match goes over 3 hours.
 
Garhi Shot First said:
Tennis is a cruel sport. Its structure feeds hope.

I am voting for Andy in 5, with my heart. Happy for Novak to win his 6th, though. I like them both. :)
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Exactly. Would love Murray to pick up a few more slams. He deserves it, and his slam count is NO INDICATION of the level of player he has been, and what he has meant to the sport. Easily the greatest player to never be number one, in my book.

Having said that, I will say that I want Djokovic to pick up his 6th AO, and make a run for at least another 4-5 slams. So it could shut the mouth of the Federer fans, and the GOAT debate. Have had enough of their argument about the 17 slams.
 
nmanimaran15 said:
Murray can't win a single set in the final.Djokovic won AO finals even after he played tough friday semifinals.He could do it for several times in AO.This year he has played in Thursday semifinal and would be fresh.Andy Murray can't even stand against him. Murray is going to register the worst loss in AO final
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It's possible, I predicted 4, but I could see 3.

The ONLY things AM going for him imo is "can he really lose again?" and "when everyone says 1 thing, it usually spells trouble" etc. Not good reasons though...
 
Murray deserves a better coach. I don't understand how he doesn't see that. Imagine if Lendl was still with him, or if he had a Becker or Moya on his side. Would make a HUGE difference.
 
joekapa said:
Exactly. Would love Murray to pick up a few more slams. He deserves it, and his slam count is NO INDICATION of the level of player he has been, and what he has meant to the sport. Easily the greatest player to never be number one, in my book.

Having said that, I will say that I want Djokovic to pick up his 6th AO, and make a run for at least another 4-5 slams. So it could shut the mouth of the Federer fans, and the GOAT debate. Have had enough of their argument about the 17 slams.
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302 weeks is equally as impressive as 17 slams. Djokovic will not handle the improving younger players, come 2017, and will fail miserably in reaching 303.
 
torpantennis said:
302 weeks is equally as impressive as 17 slams. Djokovic will not handle the improving younger players, come 2017, and will fail miserably in reaching 303.
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Let's not start please. I have said, and will always say that Federer is overrated because of the weak era.
 
This is very easy to predict, mark my words: this will be a straight sets beat down by Novak in the final. Murray will get a total of 9 games, tops, probably only seven. 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 for Djoker.
 
125downthemiddle said:
It's possible, I predicted 4, but I could see 3.

The ONLY things AM going for him imo is "can he really lose again?" and "when everyone says 1 thing, it usually spells trouble" etc. Not good reasons though...
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Sort of blind predictions based on the trends of history: "the streaks have to end at some point, right?"

125downthemiddle said:
I remember you observed the problem in last year's final well, Nate. You noted that AM can't move into his shots as well defensively and looks clunky due to his bigger build which also causes him to burn out sooner. I think regardless of how great he looks cardiovascular wise, the same issues will surface if the match goes over 3 hours.
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Good memory. I think Murray could hang with Djokovic on fitness now, despite needing to be higher to his own personal peak fitness in order to maintain the consistency of his stroke-play than Djokovic, because he plays with less efficiency. Can he hang with Djokovic's tennis, though?
 
joekapa said:
Exactly. Would love Murray to pick up a few more slams. He deserves it, and his slam count is NO INDICATION of the level of player he has been, and what he has meant to the sport. Easily the greatest player to never be number one, in my book.
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Some people out there still think Lleyton Hewitt was a better player. Stuff like that is why he needs to win more slams. A win against Djokovic on sunday will do wonders for his legacy.
 
I think destiny is calling for Novak to win 7 AOs to be the player that will always be linked with AO. Still, I hope Murray can push him to the limit.
 
joekapa said:
Let's not start please. I have said, and will always say that Federer is overrated because of the weak era.
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This 2014-2015 has been a much much weaker era. And peak Roddick owns Djokovic. Weak era is soon over though, so get prepared for the next generation emergence!
 
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