Aaron Favila/Associated Press
Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates his win over Britain's Andy Murray on Sunday.
MELBOURNE, Australia — His legs are stronger than in the past. So are his résumé, his nerves and his coaching staff. But Andy Murray still cannot solve the tennis riddle that Novak Djokovic represents at the Australian Open.
But then Murray — beaten again in the final on Sunday — is in excellent company.
Melbourne and its blue hard courts and aromatic eucalyptus trees are nearly half a world away from the Serbian mountain resort of Kopaonik, where Djokovic first learned to play the game. But Djokovic, just 25, has transformed Melbourne Park into his Grand Slam redoubt: the distant outpost where he is toughest to trump, not just for Murray but for all challengers.
No man has beaten him here since 2010, when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga managed it in five sets in the quarterfinals. Since then, Djokovic has used the Australian Open as a launching pad to the No. 1 ranking and has reeled off three straight titles, generating squeak after squeak with his quick-moving feet and generating innumerable breaches in opponents’ morale with his ability to contort and extend his body in pursuit of other men’s best shots.
Murray, his boyhood friend and onetime doubles partner, knows Djokovic’s strengths as well as anyone. He shares many of them, but Murray gradually faded on this clear night in Melbourne after more than holding his own in the early phases of the grueling match — suffering from a toe blister and a surprising inability to break serve — as Djokovic put the finishing touches on his 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-2 victory.
“What a joy,” Djokovic said in his postmatch remarks in Rod Laver Arena. “It’s an incredible feeling, winning the trophy once more, and it’s definitely my favorite Grand Slam, my most successful Grand Slam. I love this court.”
Djokovic won his first Grand Slam title here in 2008 and is the first man in the 45-year Open era to win three consecutive Australian Open singles titles. Only two other men have won three or more Australian championships in a row: Jack Crawford from 1931 to 1933 and Roy Emerson from 1963 to 1967.
No one has covered the angles and the corners quite like the elastic-limbed Djokovic. He dived to his right like a goalkeeper midway through the second set to hit a forehand behind the baseline, a modern update in this era of supreme defense to the diving volleys that net-rushers like Boris Becker used to hit.
Midway through the fourth set, as he took control of this final for good, he sprinted to his left and skidded into nearly a full splits with his back to the net as hit a towering defensive lob that rebooted a point that Murray eventually lost with an error.
Then there were the moments — his trademark — when he was pushed wide into what was once considered a vulnerable position and responded with something decisive.
“When he’s on defense he can actually win the point with one shot; that’s an evolution of the game,” said Andre Agassi, the former American star and four-time Australian Open champion who handed Djokovic the trophy on Sunday night.
Agassi continued: “It’s remarkable to watch him play so far behind the baseline; to watch him play so far inside the baseline; to watch him be so defensive; to watch him be so offensive; watch how he upsets the spin and how he creates his own set of rules out there.”
Murray, another supreme defender, can thrive by those rules, too, just not quite yet in Melbourne.
“His record here is obviously incredible,” Murray said.
Before this final, Murray had said that he was “ready for the pain,” but he was presumably referring to marathon rallies not foot pain. He was treated for a blister after losing the second set and when the match was over and Djokovic celebrated on court, Murray sat down, removed his shoes, tossed them aside and raised his racket high as if to smash it in frustration.
He refrained and also refrained from using his foot problems as an excuse.
“I very rarely get blisters, but I mean 90 percent of the players on the tour will have played this tournament with some sort of blister or problem,” Murray said. “It had no bearing at all on the result. It just hurts a little bit when you run.”
Running and then running some more is a requirement when Murray and Djokovic meet.
“When you’re playing the points like we were there, the positions you’re sort of getting yourself into on the court, you expect those sorts of things,” Murray said of his blister.
What was unexpected was that two of the best returners in the world were unable to break each other’s serves in the first two and a half sets. The first break came in the third set with Murray serving at 3-4; Djokovic would then break him twice more in the fourth while never losing his own at any stage.
Murray speculated that the increased speed of the court in Laver Arena this year might have played a role in their difficulties in breaking serve.
But fast or slow, Murray has experienced nothing but frustration against Djokovic at Melbourne Park, losing all three r matches. He was soundly beaten, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3, in the 2011 final, then beaten last year in a five-set thriller of a semifinal that was a harbinger of Murray’s greater performances to come.
Murray defeated Djokovic on the grass at Wimbledon on his way to the Olympic gold medal in London and then beat him in another epic final to win his first Grand Slam singles title at the U.S. Open.
But he could not use that for leverage in Australia.
Djokovic Wears Down Murray for his 3rd Straight Australian Open
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Djokovic Wears Down Murray for his 3rd Straight Australian Open
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Djokovic Wears Down Murray for his 3rd Straight Australian Open
