RICHARD EVANS REPORTS FROM THE FINALS OF THE FRENCH INDOORS IN BERCY WHERE NOVAK DJOKOVIC BEATS ANDY MURRAY TO WIN

Bercy Six – Djokovic wins title from Richard Evans, Paris

 

The stats are piling up. Novak Djokovic defeated Andy Murray 6-2, 6-4 here in the final of the BNP Paribas Masters to claim his sixth ATP Masters 1000 title of the year and his tenth overall for 2015. And it was the fourth time he has won here at the eastern end of Paris, next to the old wineries at Bercy. He deserves at least one good glass of red.

The Serb, who, admittedly, doesn’t play indoors too often, has not been beaten with a roof over his head since losing to Sam Querrey here three years ago. If anyone has thought up a way to beat him, put it on a postcard and mail it to Murray and his fellow sufferers in the world’s top ten. They need any advice they can get.

At the moment Djokovic seems to be in the perfect place, doing the perfect job. But he will not accept that he has found perfection. “Nobody can be perfect,” he said afterwards. “But if you are going for the perfection, you might reach excellence. That’s the kind of mindset I have. Try to work every single day with a purpose. As long as there is this drive, I’m able to get up every morning knowing that I have ways of inspiring myself to keep playing at this level.”

News flash to the rest of the Top Ten: This attitude is not going to change any time soon. Djokovic has worked too hard to stop before he has squeezed the last drop out of his talent. Life has not always been as rosy as it is now.

“Of course I did go through certain periods that had more doubts and I wasn’t as successful,” he said. “It all served a great lesson, a way to improve and get better. So this season everything came together. I’m a married man, I’m a father. I think I have a nice balance and serenity in my private life that reflects on the professional life and vice versa. In have this belief that the holistic approach will definitely get the best out of yourself. So it works for me.”

One cannot argue against that. And it leaves Djokovic a massive 6,815 points ahead of Murray who will move back to No 2 in the world this week, edging ahead of Roger Federer.

Murray was realistic about where he stands and is certainly not getting carried away about in such an exalted position. “You know, for me, since the beginning of last year, my results against Novak and Roger haven’t been good enough. I need to do better in those match ups. These are two of the greatest players of all time so it is no disgrace losing to them. But I do feel I need to start doing better because the score line in the last couple of matches hasn’t been good. I need to think about why that is and what it is I can do to turn it around.”

The problem Murray faced in this final was basic. He needed to play out of his comfort zone if he was to have any chance of throwing Djokovic out of his. So he attacked more; tried to hit the ball harder and, inevitably, made mistakes. He was particularly wayward off his usually sound backhand and only once did he get himself in a position to push the Serb back on his heels.

It came in a brief purple patch early in the second set, just after he had broken back, when he put together 11 winning points in 14 and led 3-2 on serve and 0-30.

“Yea, I had a pretty clean return and just missed it wide,” Murray admitted. “Then on the 15-30 point I went for a big forehand on the second shot and ended up losing the point. It was a tough one.”

But Murray admitted being happy with the way he had played through the week, reaching the final here for the first time and knowing that more important tests are looming just over the horizon. He will be in the strange position of having to practice on clay at the Queen’s Club while playing on an indoor court in the ATP Finals at the 02 in London’s Docklands.

That is because Murray will be attempting to lead Britain to victory in the Davis Cup final against Belgium in Ghent just five days after the ATP Finals end. Under the circumstances, it is unlikely he will be playing in the final at the 02 so there may be a little extra time but it will, nevertheless, be a stern test of his skill and adaptability.

If Murray, probably aided by brother Jaime in the doubles, can claim the Davis Cup it will be a personal triumph as well – similar to that which Federer achieved for Switzerland last year.

By then Novak Djokovic will have his feet up, playing with his kids, and wondering just how much better he can become.

 

Topics: Andy Murray, Atp World Tour, Bercy tennis, Bnp Paribas Masters, Djokovic vs. Murray, Men's tennis final, Novak Djokovic, Richard Evans, Tennis News

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