Australia Open 2016 : Is Djokovic the greatest of all time?

Novak Djokovic beats Andy Murray to win sixth Australian Open title

Djokovic crushes Murray in final

World number one Novak Djokovic beat Andy Murray in straight sets to win his sixth Australian Open title and condemn the Briton to a fifth final defeat.

The Serb, 28, won 6-1 7-5 7-6 (7-3) to claim his sixth Melbourne title, tying the record of Australia's Roy Emerson.

Djokovic also draws level with tennis greats Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver on 11 Grand Slam titles.

Second seed Murray, 28, has now lost all five Australian Open finals he has played, four of them against Djokovic.

The Scot becomes only the second man - behind his former coach Ivan Lendl at the US Open - to lose five finals at the same Grand Slam since the open era began in 1968.

He was expected to head straight to the airport after the final to return to London and his wife Kim, who is due to give birth to their first child in the next two weeks.

Djokovic has now won four of the past five major tournaments, including three in a row, and will try to complete his career Grand Slam with a first French Open title in June.

Match reaction

Murray has lost seven of his nine Grand Slam finals

Murray: "I feel like I've been here before. Congrats Novak. Six Australian Opens is an incredible feat. The last year has been incredible. Good job.

"I'd like to thank my team for getting me to this position. Sorry I couldn't get it done. Thanks for all your support during a tough few weeks off court.

"And finally to Kim, my wife, who is going to be watching at home. You've been a legend. I'll be on the next flight home."

Djokovic: "I need to pay respect to Andy for having another great tournament. Tough luck tonight.

"He's a great champion, great friend and a great professional who I'm sure will have many more chances to win this trophy.

"I also wish you and Kim good luck for the birth of your child and I hope you will experience a feeling like no other before - that's what happened to me and my wife. I wish you all the best."

Slow start hurts Murray

Murray has now lost 22 of 31 matches against Djokovic

Murray fought hard after a wretched start but ultimately could not cling on to the pace set by Djokovic, who has suffered just one defeat in six years on Rod Laver Arena.

The British number one came back from a break down in an 80-minute second set, and again in the third, before succumbing to an 11th loss in 12 matches against Djokovic.

Murray needed to make an early impression but Djokovic saved an early break point and then raced 5-0 clear as the Scot made a succession of errors.

It took 24 minutes for Murray to finally get on the scoreboard but the set was soon gone and he was faced with successfully recovering a deficit for the first time in 31 meetings with Djokovic.

Murray was still under pressure as the second set developed and hauled his way through a gripping 12-minute game at 1-1, giving him a foothold in the contest.

Some harder hitting brought success, only for costly errors to keep tripping up the Briton at crucial moments - and Djokovic looked to have made a decisive move when he broke again for a 4-3 lead.

Murray fightback falls short

Djokovic has won four of the last five Grand Slam tournaments

It prompted a recovery from Murray, who powered his way to a break-back point in the following game and converted with a terrific backhand winner onto the line.

At last it was Djokovic who was berating himself rather than the Scot, but with a tie-break looming at 5-5 the five-time champion produced a burst of brilliance that took the match away from Murray.

Murray was in charge on serve at 40-0 only to crumble under a spectacular display of hitting from his opponent, who reeled off five straight points, including one stunning 36-stroke rally.

The Serb showed an unexpected fragility as two successive double faults offered Murray a lifeline in the next game, but he recovered with a good serve and closed it out thanks to three straight errors across the net.

There was still plenty of fight in the challenger and Murray roused himself to come back from a break down at the start of the third and force a tie-break.

It proved a reflection of the match as a whole, though, as Murray started poorly with two double faults and was out of touch by the time Djokovic sealed victory with an ace after two hours and 53 minutes.

Match analysis

Pat Cash, former Wimbledon champion, on BBC Radio 5 live: "Andy needed to be more intense. Players have to realise that Djokovic blows through the players with deep powerful hitting. You're forced into errors and the set's gone.

"Murray needed to be on the ball and he wasn't. Murray has improved since last year, but so has Djokovic. He's become tougher to beat under pressure."

Russell Fuller, BBC tennis correspondent: "Allowing Djokovic a 6-1 head start is like giving Usain Bolt a 10m start in a 100m sprint. Djokovic played another immaculate first set but Murray was very sluggish and only discovered his best when he went a break down midway through the second set.

"Murray attacked gloriously and his net play become more of a threat as he broke back and got to within two points of squaring the match. But Djokovic did not offer any encouragement. He was again magnificent all night long: too consistent and too strong for even the second best player in the world."

Match stats
Djokovic		Murray
7	Aces	12
3	Double faults	5
66	First serve %	64
74	First serve pts won %	68
53	Second serve pts won %	35
5/12	Break points converted	2/6
31	Winners	40
41	Unforced errors	65

                                                                                                                      

Is Djokovic the greatest of all time? We compare him to the game's legendary names

Is Novak Djokovic the finest men's tennis player of all time? If not, who would you put ahead of him? Read the profiles of the tennis legends below and take our poll.

Roy Emerson: The Consummate Pro

At the forefront of tennis's charge into professionalism, the undervalued Roy Emerson's statistics still impress.

In an age when Australians dominated world tennis, Emerson and Rod Laver were the names that stood out, with 'Emmo' winning 12 individual major titles (including six Australian Opens in seven years), along with 16 in doubles.

It was his work ethic, versatility and unmatched fitness levels which drove the boy from Blackbutt, Queensland, to so much silverware. He was a brilliant volleyer with a booming serve, but a mark of his greatness was his ability to adjust his game for different conditions, evidenced by his multiple French Open wins in singles and doubles.

Emerson is often overlooked when the game's greats are mentioned as he nabbed many of his grand slams while Laver, who had already turned pro, was not competing against him. As Laver's great rival, however, and the man who held the record for the most grand slams right up until Pete Sampras came along, Emerson certainly doesn't deserve to be ignored.

Rod Laver: Rocket

With five of Rod Laver's best years lost to the record books due to the fact he turned professional before tennis officialdom deemed it proper, stats don't tell the full story of his remarkable career.

Not only is he one of just two men to have completed a calendar Grand Slam, he actually did it twice, in 1962 and 1969 on his way to 11 majors. And while the ATP only acknowledges 52 of his overall tournament wins, it is estimated he won close to 200.

The Rockhampton Rocket was, by all accounts, an absolute nightmare to play against due to his speed and supreme set of skills across all surfaces.

Most formidable was his Popeye-like forearm strength which enabled him to tear his left-hand forehands past hapless opponents.

Little wonder Roger Federer idolises him.

Bjorn Borg: Cold as ice

Men's tennis had some big personalities in the '70s. There were the charismatic chaps like McEnroe and Connors and 'Willy' Vilas. And then there was the Swedish robot with rock-star looks who was seemingly sent from the future to blast everyone away from the comfort of his baseline.

Ilie Nastase once said, "They should send Borg away to another planet. We play tennis. He plays something else."

They called him the Ice Man or the Ice Borg because he didn't show any emotion on the court. He didn't even seem to enjoy the game. Regardless, he won five Wimbledons in a row and four straight French Opens. He usually couldn't be bothered coming to the Australian Open because it was too far to travel.

He helped himself to 11 grand slams, then promptly retired at the age of 26. Borg is indisputably one of the best to have played the game. Imagine the consequences for everyone else if he had actually enjoyed tennis.

Pete Sampras: The Straight Shooter

He may never have been wildly popular, or have generated as many headlines as his fiercest foe, Andre Agassi, but that didn't seem to trouble Pete Sampras much while he ruled the tennis world for close to a decade.

If you were a sporting god designing what the ultimate tennis player would look like, you would likely end up with an end product closely resembling 'Pistol Pete'.

Tall and powerful, Sampras sent down first serves that were so consistently perfect that they have never been matched, before or since. But at a time when the game was adjusting to weaponised rackets and bouncier courts, the hulking American was far more than a big-hitting bully.

He could also move about the court like a panther, despite his hulking frame, and played with an aggression that belied his colourless off-court persona.

Sampras claimed the last of his major titles, fittingly, with a win over Agassi at the 2002 US Open, meaning he had amassed 14 by career's end, in an era that overlapped with quite a few legends' timelines.

Roger Federer: The Artist

You can argue all day about who the best men's tennis player is, but it's almost a given that nobody has mastered the game like Roger Federer.

Though by no means a lightweight (and boasting a brilliant first serve), the 17-time slam winner could never hope to match the likes of Nadal, Sampras or Djokovic in terms of pure power.

He more than makes up for it, though, with all those adjectives you would wish upon yourself if you were an athlete in a non-contact sport; his tennis is intelligent, elegant, artful, beautiful ... sublime.
The writer David Foster-Wallace described watching Federer as a religious experience.

For those reasons, those who say the Swiss is the G.O.A.T. can never be completely refuted, even if you believe the best of Laver or Sampras or Djokovic might beat the best of Federer.

Rafael Nadal: Power and passion

One of the reasons the Rafael Nadal v Roger Federer rivalry was so hard to watch at times was that they both seem like lovely blokes. It was difficult to see one of them lose any final, knowing neither really deserved to end up finishing second to anybody.

The 2008 Wimbledon final stands out in particular, because of Federer's post-match tears. Nadal had long been looming as his great nemesis, but to that point the Spanish player had only be able to assert his dominance on clay, conquering the French Open four times in a row.

In that Wimbledon final, though — considered by many as the best match ever — Nadal defeated the great Federer on his best surface, grass. And he made him cry.

It was horrible to watch but it marked a turning point in their rivalry, in which Nadal now had the upper hand.

His weapons on clay, that massive left arm and that tremendous hustle, had become so potent that they translated to all surfaces, helping Nadal to the number one ranking and 14 grand slam titles, as many as Sampras.

As it stands he now holds a 23-10 record over the Swiss, 9-2 in slams. It remains to be seen whether his body will again allow him to stand toe-to-toe with current world number one, Djokovic.

Novak Djokovic: The Kingslayer

No sooner had the tennis world become convinced that it was watching two of the finest tennis players of any generation play out one of the sport's great rivalries, than someone else came along and started regularly and convincingly beating both of them.

Novak Djokovic may not have accumulated as many major titles as Federer or Nadal just yet, but the manner in which he has surpassed that duo on the court must raise serious questions about his status in the pantheon. Yes, the Spaniard is now severely hobbled by the accumulation of injuries, and the Swiss is 34, but Djokovic has arguably been the superior player to the pair of them since he won nearly every tournament in sight when they were both at or near their respective peaks in 2011.
If you belong to the 'Federer is the G.O.A.T. and that's that' brigade, consider this: aside from divvying up majors with Nadal, the Fed Express conquered names such as Mark Philippoussis, Marcos Baghdatis, Fernando Gonzalez and Robin Soderling on his way to notching up a record 17 grand slam wins.

Djokovic, meanwhile, has had to face Federer, Nadal or Andy Murray in 17 of his 19 finals, on his way to winning 11 of them.

Like a coiled-up spring, the Serb's wiry physique is capable of unleashing tremendous power, and he boasts just about every weapon the modern game requires to attack and counter-attack his way to success; a searing first serve, a reliable second serve, unbelievable defence and the capability to laser-guide his shots to all corners of the court at will.

He pushes his body relentlessly past its limits, but if it can withstand that strain for another few years he could end his career with more major titles than anybody.