Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are to meet in the finals at the Australian Open 2011 on Sunday, the 30th January. Both are equally determined and equally motivated. Djokovic has one Grand Slam tournament title, Andy has none. With Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer out, there are no rewards for guessing who would be more hungry and if the situation gets difficult, more desperate. There in lies the key for Djokovic. A confident Andy plays a different game from a desperate Andy. As against David Ferrer, serve is not going to be an overpowering weapon for Andy, since Djokovic too is a good returner. But it will be absolutely essential for Andy to serve at a minimum of 60%. Djokovic can also serve well but his ace count is likely to be lesser than Andy’s. Djokovic may find it difficult to get past Murray with serve, but it is possible to force error on return. It is also difficult to get past Murray on ground strokes; Djokovic will have to go for the lines. He is likely to commit more errors in the process which may look unforced, but would be rather forced on Djokovic on account of seeming omnipresence of Murray on the court. Djokovic is no mean mover himself, but could be the first to go on offensive in a long rally. If his shots find the corners, he can drive Andy to desperation; if not, he will himself become desperate. Both have good back hand, but whereas Andy can be natural while hitting top spin or slice, Djokovic prefers top spin cross court in defence and down the line, in attack. Andy Murray can change the pace of the game and spin on the ball. But he has a tendency to overdo drop shots. Novak Djokovic is sure to reach these drop shots on most of the occasions. It is infact sometimes horrendous to see Andy hitting a drop shot at 30-30 or deuce, which takes a beat or two away from weak hearts. He hits the ball without pace on the shots which is not that bad against somebody like Djokovic who is more comfortable with pace. Djokovic prefers bouncing ball to a low ball and does not like to change the pace of his shots much. His method is mostly to move the opponent corner to corner with hard shots. These days he puts lot of top spin on his shot to keep it within the lines.
Andy Murray has sometimes been accused of being a pusher, which is unjust. But he occasionally becomes cautious to the point of hating to hit a winner. He does not choke, but loses his killer instinct. These are the moments when his hard shots start going beyond the lines. Since he does not put enough pace on shots, he tends to go more and more to the lines, and many a time beyond them. It takes him 6-7 games to realise the error and rectify it. Between Murray and Djokovic, Andy plays more from mind and Novak more from instinct.
It will be a persevering Murray this time round in the finals since he has known the hard way that reaching the finals is one thing and winning it is another. Who will win? Well, difficult to answer, but easier to say that whoever plays better on the day will win.
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