Australian Open Men’s Tennis Final

2010 Australian Open Tennis final was played last Sunday and Britain’s Andy Murray and Switzerland’s Roger Federer played against each other for the championship.   Until that point, Roger Federer had 15 Grand Slam titles and Andy Murray was yet to win his first Grand Slam.  Earlier, 2 had met at United States Open 2008 final where Roger Federer won the championship.   While Andy Murray is known for his defensive skills Roger Federer’s aggression is well known.  Before Sunday’s match, both of them had played 10 times against each other. Andy Murray had won 6 and Federer prevailing in 4 matches. Interestingly, Federer had won last two of their meetings.  During pre-match press interviews, Federer played mind games about how he has the edge over Andy Murray. He tried to over ride the fact that Andy Murray had beaten him several times by saying that he was not at his best when Murray won matches against him.

                Usually, Andy Murray plays a waiting game. He does not take risks and wins majority of points by his serve and opponent’s errors.  This usually works in low profile tournaments and in early rounds in Grand Slam tournaments. But he does not change his style during later stages of Grand Slams. While this style helps him win against low profile players, it may not work in a major semi-final or a final. On Sunday final, Andy Murray tried his defensive style in first two sets and Federer won them easily. He tried aggression in 3^rd set and it was very close. But it looked like it was too late.