Sloppy Djoker survives Wawrinka test
— -- MELBOURNE, Australia -- Certainly, Novak Djokovic has played worse matches than Friday's men's semifinal, but when the world's No. 1 player won the third set against Stan Wawrinka, he didn't even realize it. Instead, Djokovic simply waited around the baseline preparing to serve again and wondering why the court workers and security were moving about.
"Sometimes these things happen. You get carried away by the moment, by the circumstances" he said, likening it to something that might happen at the junior level. "Obviously, anytime you're playing the defending champion in a full area, there is a lot of tension and sometime you can't keep track of the score."
Well, it wasn't the best performance by either player: "Today was a strange match," Wawrinka said of the up-and-down and sometimes sloppy play -- but the only score that mattered was the final one that was in Djokovic's favor -- 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 -- to advance him to Sunday's final against Andy Murray. Again.
Born just one week apart in May of 1987, Djokovic and Murray started playing each other back in juniors and now will be meeting in their fifth Grand Slam championship match. Each has won two of those previous four major final meetings -- Djokovic won the 2011 and 2013 Aussie Open while Murray won the 2012 US Open and 2013 Wimbledon.
"I've known him for a long time," Djokovic said, "so it's great we are able to challenge each other now in another Grand Slam final.
"It's a great challenge. I'm going to need to step it up. I'm going to need to play better than I did tonight to win the title."
He certainly will, though Djokovic won't need to play that much better than he did earlier in the tournament when he dominated everyone. He never lost a set and his first five opponents broke him just one time.
And then Wawrinka, the defending champ, broke him twice in the first two sets.
"I did not play at the level that I intended before the match," Djokovic said. "There were spots tonight where I played the way I need to play, but parts of the match where I was too defensive and allowed him to dictate the play from the baseline. And he has great depth with his shots. And once he has control of the rally, it's very difficult to play against him."
Nonetheless, Djokovic won the first set, which is never a good thing for an opponent, particularly in a semifinal match. Djokovic has won his past 11 Grand Slam semifinals after winning the first set. Although he was passive and tentative against Wawrinka when losing the second and fourth sets, Djokovic finally showed his fire in the fifth set when he bageled his opponent.
This will be Djokovic's 15th Grand Slam final and his fifth at the Aussie. He's won all four previous finals here, while Murray has lost three times (in addition to the losses to Djokovic, Roger Federer defeated him here in 2010). Overall, Djokovic is 15-8 against Murray, winning seven of their past eight matches and the past four in a row. But Murray has been playing very well here, while Djokovic struggled in the semi.
"He's been playing some great tennis these couple weeks," Djokovic said. "From my side, it's going to be necessary to perform at my best and play the best match of the tournament if I want to win.
"Obviously, it's the finals. There's no clear favorite. But as you mentioned, the record I have in finals against him here in Australia can serve maybe as a slight mental edge. But not much. I don't think he's going to feel that on the court. I'm sure he's going to be very motivated to win his first title here. I'm going to, of course, give my best that that doesn't happen."
The two have known each other that Djokovic says he has no trouble understanding Murray's Scottish accent, which has become clearer over the years. "He's trying to talk very clear and slow to everybody. I thank him."
They also know each other's game very well, too. "Very similar game and very similar role to professional tennis," Djokovic said. "So I think that's what makes it very special."
Who will win the final? We'll see. Although to learn who wins, you might want to keep your eye on the scoreboard rather than Djokovic.
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