2013 Wimbledon Championships...London England

[stotty]

Djokovic

Stotty is right about his court coverage in that Djokovic could not get the ball past him and when Murray was out of position he was showing Djokovic some his own talent from playing out of a deficit. Particularly on the forehand side...Murray chased down a lot of balls and neatly played some tactical defense to stay in just about every single point. But the key to the match was in his serve...and the inability of Djokovic to do anything meaningful with the second ball of Murray's. Again though...it appeared to me that Djokovic was subpar in all categories of his game which only made the Murray effort look more superb.

In the final game Djokovic came to life. He took on a backhand off Murray's second serve at 40-15 and dispatched it for a clean winner. Murray's second serve is slow. It sits up at times, too. TV isn't the best at revealing these things. Djokovic has terrific returning capabilities against even the fastest serves...the best ever. What he isn't so good at is hammering weaker serves. Djokovic could improve his game in this department. It would stand him in good stead against Murray from here on in.

More disturbing for Djokovic was his reluctance at times to go head to head with Murray in shot tolerance. Djokovic cannot hit through Murray or out manoeuvre him. All he is left with is going toe-to-toe with Murray in rallies. Djokovic can out rally anyone, yet against Murray (and against Nadal at the French) for some reason he felt the need to be the one to take the more decisive, riskier move. Why? Why the incompetent trips to the net?

My gut feeling is that Djokovic spent a lot of himself in that semi with Del Potro.

The temperature on centre court during the final was above 40 degrees in the early stages of the match...most unusual for England. The first seven games were played at a ferocious tempo with Murray getting off to an uncharacteristic flying start. I think this rocked Djokovic who sensed the tempo would unsustainable after his sapping semi with del Potro. I think the reason for his faulty decision making and subsequent demise started in the hub of that first set.

As a Brit I am delighted Murray won. It was a stroke of luck Djokovic had a sapping semi with Del Potro. It was handy Djokovic was a little sub par. But I cannot help probing the deeper questions...