Novak Djokovic beats Andy Murray to claim first French Open title

No1 seed triumphs 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 for first title at Roland Garros
Djokovic completes grand slam and now holds all four slam titles

Paris has irretrievably fallen in love with Novak Djokovic and remains quietly indifferent to the moody charm of the man he defeated soundly on Sunday, Andy Murray.

French Open men's final: Novak Djokovic beats Andy Murray to win title – as it happened
Novak Djokovic plays spectacularly well to come from a set down to wallop Andy Murray; he wins his first French Open and becomes the first man since 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam titles concurrently

The courting of the Serb began in two failed finals against their near-invincible nine-times king, Rafael Nadal, bloomed when he fell again, tearfully, in the face of a muscular onslaught by Stan Wawrinka a year ago, and was sealed in the final on Sunday when he defeated Murray in four sets, his victory speech blessed from above as the sun pierced clouds that had held Roland Garros in their gloomy grip for a week.

It was Murray’s first final here, breaking another of those long British sporting droughts, this one stretching back to 1937 when Bunny Austin got to the decider and lost. Fred Perry was the last British player to win the men’s title, in 1935, and that record might stand for a little longer. This was, as Murray knew, his best chance yet to win the French Open, partly for reasons over which he had no control, mainly because he came to Roland Garros on a wave of soaring confidence.

Nadal quit after two ominous wins. Federer withdrew earlier to protect a back strain. And Murray was playing the best clay-court tennis of his career. He lost to Djokovic in the Madrid final, and beat him in Rome to win the Italian Open. He was primed to make the most of what John McEnroe called “his best shot ever”.

He also came to the closing Sunday on the back of a blistering dismissal of Wawrinka in Friday’s semi-final. The problem was Djokovic was in similarly great form, having beaten the young Austrian star Dominic Thiem with contained menace later that day.

After three hours and three minutes, the world No1 prevailed 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, his 24th win against Murray in 34 matches, to reaffirm the established order in a sport he now dominates like nobody else has in the Open era.

Even the man in the stands whose 47-year-old mark he matched by completing a set of four concurrently held majors, Rod Laver, must have wondered how good this great champion would have been in any era. If he were to go on to do the calendar grand slam with wins at Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows to go with his Australian Open title, the clamour to embrace Djokovic as potentially the best player of all time will be an irresistible crescendo.

Yet his ascent might easily have been interrupted had Murray not wasted several excellent chances. He missed a break point in the first game of the second set that could have carried him on a tide of adrenaline to a two-set lead, and Djokovic saved six more of a further nine break points, including one near the end, when his racket hand trembled noticeably in sight of the prize.



Had Murray been able to take the match into a fifth set, there is no telling what might have happened to Djokovic’s psyche and spirit. But it was Murray’s emotions that let him down more often in a final of the expected intensity, against a backdrop of raucousness normally associated with a street fight. And not many of the patrons were pulling for the Scot.

Murray railed at everyone and everything – from the local TV broadcaster Nelson Monfort, whom he had removed from his team’s box for intruding on his eyeline in the seventh game of the first set – to whoever controls the overhead “Jetcam”, another pesky distraction for him on serve.

These were the sorts of control-freakery obsessions and addiction to minor detail by Murray that pushed Amélie Mauresmo towards the exit after two years trying to help him rediscover the magic that won him two slams and an Olympic gold medal with Ivan Lendl. She could “do no more”, as she said, with such a complex individual. Murray was honest enough to admit she had a point, although he plainly was irritated when the story broke at the start of the tournament.

Yet these are the sort of collateral incidentals he should be used to after 11 years in the limelight of the Tour. It is unlikely his demeanour will change much, although he has made several attempts to do so in the past. Perhaps he should just keep chuntering.

What also let him down here was his serve, which had been improving. He was honest enough to admit as much later. “I didn’t serve particularly well today,” he said in acknowledgement of statistics that showed he began well enough but finished with a poor return: 50% of his first serves landing legally, overall, and winning just 41% of points on his second serve.

As he pointed out: “On this surface, it’s harder to get free points on your second serve. Maybe on the quicker surfaces you can do that. You serve 100 miles an hour second serve on the grass, that’s a little bit different to doing it on a slow, heavy clay court. It’s going to come back more often.”

And back it came – with interest. Neither player hit the heights of the semi-final blitzes on Friday, but Djokovic came close. He won 59% of return points on second serve – and the end-of-match total, 122 to 97, told the story of the dominance. It wasn’t close, despite the nervy finish.

It might be at Wimbledon, if they meet in the final, but Djokovic left another bruise on an opponent he must increasingly regard with fondness for all the wrong reasons. Murray desperately needs to beat him in a slam to recalibrate their relationship.

Original: www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/05/french-open-2016-final-novak-djokovic-beats-andy-murray