HAVE YOUR SAY: Djokovic regains intitiative over Murray in battle for supremacy

Murray required a medical time-out at the end of the third set to treat a nasty-looking blister and he went on to lose the next two as Djokovic claimed his third successive Melbourne crown with a 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 6-2 success.

The Scot put the injury down to wear and tear and felt missing the opportunity to hammer home his superiority at the start of the second set was more damaging to his hopes of recording back-to-back grand slam triumphs.

Of the toe, he said: “It’s just a pretty large blister. You get them – it happens.

“It was just a bit sore when I was running around. It’s not like pulling a calf muscle or something.

“It just hurts when you run, but it’s not something which stops you from playing.

“Ninety per cent of the players on tour will have played this tournament with some sort of blister or problem.

“It had no bearing on the result.”

More frustrating for the world No 3, who had been hoping to become the first man in the Open era to win his second major immediately after claiming his first, was his inability to take one of three break points immediately after edging the opening set.

“At this level it can come down to a few points here and there,” he added.

“My biggest chance probably came at the start of the second set but I didn’t quite take it.

“When Novak had his chance at the end of the third he got his.”

A final which was absorbing without being a classic was dominated by serve for the first two sets.

Djokovic had the openings in the first without converting and Murray made him pay by winning the tie-break.

It was role reversal in the second as Murray wasted that triple chance for an early break as Djokovic held on for a tie-break he won, thanks largely to a Murray double-fault at 2-2.

He put his first serve into the net and was shaping up to deliver the second when he noticed a feather dropping on to the court out of the corner of his eye.

Having removed it, he promptly put the second serve long.

“I could have served,” he explained.

“But it just caught my eye before. I thought it was a good idea to move it. Maybe it wasn’t.”

It was all Djokovic needed to level the match and the momentum appeared to swing further in his favour when Murray had to call for the trainer.

There was no immediate deterioration in his movement, although there was the definite sense the match was now Djokovic’s for the taking.

And the top seed needed no second invitation as he set up three break points for a 5-3 lead.

Two poor forehands saw the first two come and go but Murray could not escape a third as Djokovic claimed the first break of the match before serving it out.

From there there was no way back as Djokovic broke twice more in the fourth to extend his winning run in Melbourne to 21 matches and take revenge for his defeat to Murray in the US Open final in September.

“I knew it was going to be physically demanding,” the Serbian said following the three-hour, 40-minute contest. “So I needed to hang in there.

“There were a few turning points in the match. Maybe one of them was the second game of the second set when I was 0-40 against the breeze. He missed a few shots and I managed to get a crucial hold.

“After that I felt mentally a little bit lighter and more confident on the court than I had done in the first hour or so.

“I went for my shots in the third and fourth and came to the net quite often.

“I needed to be the one who dictated the play and I’m really glad that I played my best.”

Djokovic got the better of Murray yesterday, but the Scot’s portent of further, future epics still holds true as much as ever.

It will come as no consolation to Murray, who will have to concede he came off very much second best to his old foe, despite the outrageous hope that flickered all too briefly after he managed to nose ahead via the first set tie-break.

But greatness is not something that can be sewn out of cold-hearted statistics. Just as Ali needed Frazier in order to truly transcend his own sport, so Murray needs Djokovic – and vice-versa – in order to embellish any future claims to all-time greatness.

Murray is bound to lose many more big games to Djokovic, most likely including some more grand slam finals. But they will simply serve to make the moments when he does see a way past the mighty Serbian all the sweeter.

If their latest showdown lacked the verve of Roger Federer’s finest clashes with Rafael Nadal or the incendiary allure of McEnroe-Connors, it made up for it in sheer, bruising physicality which made it befitting of such a momentous occasion.

It said it all when Murray’s win in the first set tie-break betrayed barely a flicker of emotion – he and Djokovic both knew that in reality it afforded the Scot the slenderest of advantages – if their rivalry has been many things, it has never been straight-forward.

In ordinary circumstances, Murray’s biggest fans might have looked back to Djokovic’s gruelling, five-set close call against Stan Wawrinka in an earlier round as a factor in their man’s favour. But such tribulations barely merit a mention where Djokovic is concerned. Nor would it be reasonable to suggest with any conviction that had Murray converted any of three break points in the second game of the second set that the outcome would have been different.

He was up against an iron man who has proved his mettle in adversity so many times before.

Again today, instead of tiring under Murray’s early onslaught, it was he who came on strongest to clinch his sixth grand slam crown.

By the end, you could almost call it one-sided. Murray will cut a dejected figure as he comes to terms with defeat. But he is in a great place right now, shorn of the burden of seeking his first major title, and firmly ensconced in a position from which we can only assume more will follow.