Jayita’s View: The Djokovic-Murray Final Controversy

By Jayita Belcourt

After a dramatic showdown at Melbourne Park last week where the world no.1 Novak Djokovic clinched his fifth Australian Open title, much to the despair of Scotsman Andy Murray, the hype and banter hasn’t stopped in Australia.

Unfortunately, not all the attention is good.

Let’s start with Djokovic. Was he “foxing” injury throughout the match?

After trailing by a break and looking rather unsteady on his feet early in the third set, which tennis legend Jim Courier described much akin to a “new born fowl” stumbling around taking its first few steps, Djokovic powered on to win 12 of the last 13 games for a decisive 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-0 victory. On top of this, the Serbian superstar was frequently staggering around the court gasping for air looking like the tin-min about to run dry. But anyone who knows Djokovic would know better than to call him down and out. So was this just part of his cunning plan to win at all costs?

His post-match interview did not provide any real answers, however convincing it seemed.

“Tonight, two and a half hours [for] the first two sets. Very physical, very exhausting. We both, of course, went through some tough moments physically. You could see that I had a crisis at the end of the second [and] beginning of the third,” Djokovic said.

“I wasn’t cramping. I didn’t call a timeout because I had no reason to call it. I was just weak. I went through the physical crisis in the matter of 20 minutes. And honestly, I didn’t feel too many times in my career.”

“Even though I went through this moment, I believed that I’m going to get that necessary strength. I’m going to have to earn it, and that’s what I did. I started hitting the ball more, covering the court better, shortening the points, and allowed myself to come back to the match.”

“It’s normal to expect that you can’t always be, you know, at your 100%,” Djokovic explained. “From my side it was definitely very exhausting. Just glad I believed it all the way through.”

Belief is a powerful thing, no doubt about that. But there is obviously more to the equation than positive thinking Novak.

You may have noticed the world no.1 being delivered some magic “concoction” in a clear coloured water-bottle during the match, compliments of his camp. So what was in the bottle? And was it the reason for his miraculous recovery that led him to ultimately win the match? Not a sole incident, Djokovic had a special delivery in his semi-final matchup against world no.4 Stan Wawrinka. Again, the world no.1 was elusive to explain his “mystery drink” and the edge it may have given to his game.

“Look I’m not injured and I have no major concerns for my body,” Djokovic highlighted.

“Drinks, electrolytes, energy drinks, the stuff that every athlete drinks [during the match]. I, of course, am very disciplined, very thorough with what I drink, with what I eat. I think when all the small details that you think are small, you pay attention to them, in the end it turns out to be very decisive, especially for these kind of matches.”

I don’t know about you, but things just don’t seem to add up. Either Djokovic is seriously delirious with what he considers a “major concern for his body” or his camp does have some magic formula that appears to cure all ills – at least those that come on in high pressure moments.

Or, is Djokovic craftier than we think. Perhaps if more “mystery” illnesses or injuries continue to kick in against high caliber opponents, the world no.1 might seriously want to consider a career in acting.

Faking an injury to yield advantage is not unprecedented by any means. Just watch the soccer world cup, a fall in anguish here or there can bring a penalty shot that decides a game. And in tennis, Belgian’s Justine Henin was accused in 2003 of faking injuries to distract opponents.

Only Djokovic knows the authenticity of his symptoms, but unfortunately for Murray, the consequences were real. And ugly.

“Mental as anything.” “Timid”. “Distracted”. “Meltdown”. These are the words being slashed around this week in reference to Andy Murray’s performance.

Australian tennis great Pat Cash was quoted on BBC radio as saying “things just started snowballing for Murray once he lost that concentration when everything was going his way. He absolutely collapsed. Sorry, but you don’t put a rose tint on this. He melted down, he’s been disappointing and the bottom line is, the situation got too much”.

Murray is not one to hide behind the bushes. Acutely aware of his performance and lapse in focus, the 27 year old believes he still has a lot of work to do to bring his ‘A’ game back to full stream.

“The third set was frustrating because I got a bit distracted when he, like, fell on the ground after a couple of shots. It appeared that he was cramping, and then I let that distract me a little bit,” the Scot explained.

“It’s very difficult to not be aware of what’s happening down the other end. But year, I play enough matches to be able to handle that situation better. That’s what I’m saying. For me, that third set was what was disappointing because I feel I could have done a bit better”.

Excuses and speculation aside, only time will tell how Murray and Djokovic bounce back from this.

Jayita Belcourt is our Australian Open / Aussie Summer Swing correspondent. This was her second year covering the Australian Open with her sister Louise Belcourt.

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