Djokovic Believes Matches With Murray Are Turning Into Classics

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 8th November 2012

Djokovic Believes Matches With Murray Are Turning Into Classics

epa03462042 Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns to Andy Murray of Great Britain during their match at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, Britain, 07 November 2012. EPA/KERIM OKTEN |

Novak Djokovic believes that his career series with rival Andy Murray is turning into one of the classics, with the Serb winning the latest installment in three sets at the World Tour Finals in London. During 2012, the pair of 25-year-olds born a week apart have met seven times.

“It was another great match and another great performance from both of us,” said world No. 1 Djokovic after his 10th win in 17 meetings. “I didn’t expect anything other than a tight match that went to the wire.

“We have a great rivalry that hopefully will develop even more in the future.”

Djokovic, who beat Murray for the Shanghai title last month even as the Scot held five match points, said that the familiarity factors also enters into the competitive equation. “We know each other so well. The friendship goes for long time, since we were 11 years old.

“We developed into the professional tennis players at the same time. Hopefully this rivalry will evolve and we can have many more great matches on the tour.”

Murray agreed: “Both of us probably see each other’s games pretty well. Especially this year, because we’ve played so much. You kind of know a little bit what to expect. That’s why all the matches, especially the last few, have been so close and decided by a few points.

“The intensity of my matches with him have been extremely high this year, there’s a lot of long rallies, and the matches are incredibly tight.”