Djok prevails; is anyone surprised?

POSTED BY DAVE: Novak (and Andy, too, I suppose)... my apologies. I didn't stay up overnight (like Bess did) to watch your final live. Nor did I watch the replay in its entirety this morning. Actually, I only watched the first two sets, and then most of the final set. And all of that while making chili and baking brownies for the Super Bowl later today. Worst fan ever?

Maybe next year, Andy. (Photo: IBI Times)

The truth is that I knew exactly how this match would go. Djokovic would win in less than five sets, and Murray would fade after a strong start. I'm not being critical, just realistic. Djok has won two-thirds of their head-to-head matches, most of which have been on hard courts. So, the outcome was easy to predict, and not surprising to see when I fast-forwarded to the end this morning.

I'm a big Novak fan for many reasons, including his cockiness, charisma and bravado (all of which Bess can't stand). I'm not as into Murray, mostly because he reminds me of an early-day Lindsay Davenport -- schlumping around the court when the chips are down, and having too much of a negative, self-defeating attitude. Lindsay turned this around eventually, and maybe Andy will, too. For now, give me Novak and his larger-than-life confidence.

That said, I do admire Murray, and for three specific reasons: (1) he boldly hired a female coach, in Amelie Mauresmo, who I have always thought to be terrific, anyway; (2) he has recovered from back surgery, which is not easy at all to do, and something with which I still struggle; and, (3) he publicly treats his mom with such great respect and love, far more than any other player, man or woman. I get the sense that Andy is a pretty innovative, resilient and good-hearted bloke. Now, if he could just consistently display more of these qualities on court, and all the way through to the finish of these big events.

Before I close, let me share my favorite tweet from this weekend, which happens to be from my friend and former colleague, Lori. No explanation or caption needed. Enjoy!

BESS REPLIES: I guess you'd have to color me surprised at the outcome of the match. To back up a sec, I didn't have either Djok or Murray in my bracket picks for the finals! And after watching the semis, I was pretty sure Murray was going to win the championship. He looked really impressive, while Djok appeared to struggle physically in his win over Wawrinka. 

So I was surprised, and I was not delighted. As Dave mentioned, I'm not a Novak fan.  I try to edit my comments to take out that personal bias, but it's hard! Just as I admire Serena's ability to win in almost any scenario, I have to admire that in Djokovic. But since i don't want either of them to win, I simultaneously admire that skill and am ridiculously annoyed by it. 

I'm not a huge Murray fan, but - like Dave - I'm coming around a bit, which I'll get to in a minute. But first, I found it somewhat entertaining that Murray was thrown off by Djokovic's really odd and inexplicable "wounded bird" routine, when Murray has been accused of doing just that in many previous matches--acting like he's struggling to catch his breath and like one or both of his legs are in terrible pain--only to go sprinting full-out toward an unreturnable shot and returning it for a winner. Like, Andy is KNOWN for this.

So when Djokovic started stumbling around after every point, seemingly unable to get his balance - think Serena at that infamous Wimbledon doubles match - yet he continued to hit winners at a moment's notice, well, Andy should have recognized that routine. Instead, he allowed himself to get truly distracted by it (reportedly with the help of his camp who apparently fell for it.) So I just can't feel that sorry for Andy. Beaten at his own dubious game.

Murray and Mauresmo, putting in the work

But what I would like to address is what Dave mentioned above - something I'd been thinking we should blog about, which is Andy Murray's subtle and not so subtle appreciation of women in sport. 

Andy comes by this honestly. Raised by a single mom who is also a tennis coach (current captain of the British Fed Cup Team) and who acted in that capacity for Andy to some extent in the early years, Andy is clearly comfortable with strong female role models. 

His choice of Amelie Mauresmo as his latest coach has been met with a lot of raised eyebrows in multiple circles--players (I'm sure), the press, the public. So I give him much credit for making that decision and sticking with it. While the end of 2014 was nothing to write home about, Murray has looked great so far in 2015. Credit to Mauresmo, Murray and the whole team.

After his drama-filled, testosterone-laden semi-final clash with Berdych, people remarked how funny it was that Andy's post-match, on-court interview was essentially a commercial for feminism. Take a gander:

But one more subtle way Andy has impressed me lately is how often he Tweets about women players and/or coaches in a very genuine way. The first couple of times I saw those tweets I was surprised--sad, isn't it? But it's just rare among the top men. 

This was his Tweet after the semi-final referenced above:

And here are some other Tweets:

Among the male players I follow on Twitter, Andy remains the most vocal male player in support of the women's game. I hope he influences others on the ATP tour to more vocally support their female counterparts (or, you know, to even pay attention to the WTA.) It would be a welcome change.

TENNIS FANS: Were you team Murray or team Djokovic? What stood out for you in this final? Let us know...