Djokovic and Murray Hugs and Hugs Too Bad No Kisses

hug out after tough match

AUSTRALIAN OPEN: You gotta feel for poor Andy Murray, a really great tennis player who has the misfortune of playing during the same era as Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal andRoger Federer – a trio of greats who have won 30 grand slam singles titles between them.

The world’s fourth-ranked player and the runner-up at the Australian Open the last two years, Murray lost a dramatic five-set semifinal to Djokovic 6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 6-1, 7-5. The match lasted nearly five hours.

Djokovic will face Nadal on Sunday in the finals of a grand slam tournament for the third straight time. He beat the Spanish star in last year’s Wimbledon and US Open finals as well as in four other finals.

“I know that I maybe have a mental edge because I’ve won six finals. … We played in 2011 and I’ve had lots of success against him,” Djokovic said after the match. “That’s going to be my main priority and concern the next day and a half, to physically be able to perform my best and be ready to play five sets.

Murray said he is more encouraged than ever that he can break through and become the first British man to win a Grand Slam singles title since 1936.

“Tonight’s match was important for many reasons,” the 24-year-old said. “Obviously I wanted to win first and foremost. But also sort of after last year, the year that Novak’s had, I think there’s a very fine line between being No. 1 in the world and being 3 or 4. I think that gap, I feel tonight I closed it. My job over the next two or three months is to surpass him and the guys in front of me.”