Both men aiming to win maiden Roland Garros title
Sunday 5 June 2016 17:48, UK
Britain's Andy Murray and world No 1 Novak Djokovic are all set for yet another blockbuster clash as they meet in the French Open final on Sunday.
The top-seeded Djokovic is the winner of 11 majors and is bidding for a first Roland Garros crown to become just the eighth man in history to complete the career Grand Slam.
Victory on Sunday would also give him the 'Novak Slam' as the Serb already holds the Wimbledon, US and Australian Open titles - he would become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four majors at the same time. But the 29-year-old has lost all three finals he has made in Paris.
Murray - a rival of Djokovic since their junior days - has previously fallen three times at the semi-final stage but could end Britain's 81-year wait for a men's French Open champion.
The last British man to win in Paris was Fred Perry in 1935, while Bunny Austin was the last finalist in 1937.
Murray will be playing in his 10th slam final, looking for his third title, and is only the 10th man in the Open era to have reached the final at all four slams.
Before his clay-court epiphany last year, it was virtually unthinkable that he would make it this far at Roland Garros but the Scot has been in majestic form since being dragged to five sets in the opening two rounds.
Not many people expected it this year either when he was two sets down against Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek, and then two-sets-to-one down against 164th-ranked French wildcard Mathias Bourgue.
But having survived those scares, Murray went into full throttle mode to easily defuse the thunderbolt serves of Ivo Karlovic and John Isner before showing off his full array of tricks to subdue the last French hope in Richard Gasquet and then defending champion Stan Wawrinka in Friday's semi-final.
While reaching the title match at Roland Garros is a major milestone for a player who had never won a claycourt title before 2015, he is eager to ensure Sunday does not turn out to be a missed opportunity.
"Novak trying to win the career slam... it's obviously a huge match for him, and me trying to win my first French Open, as well," said Murray, aware that even Roger Federer needed 11 visits to Paris to win his first and only French Open.
When Federer finally broke through - and completed the career Grand Slam in 2009 - he was 27.
"Neither of us know how many more chances we'll have to win here. It took obviously Roger a long time to win this one," added Murray.
"It's a very tough event to win. There is a lot riding on the match for both of us."
If Murray is to go on to lift the trophy, he will have to join Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal in denying Djokovic the title he craves more than any other.
All of the Scot's slam finals have been against either Djokovic or Federer. He beat Djokovic to win the US Open and Wimbledon, but has lost four times to him in Australia.
"Beating the best players gives you a boost but it's more the way that I played that gives me more confidence," said Murray of his final chances, after beating Wawrinka in the semis on Friday.
"Sometimes you can play not a great match and win. But today I played well, and I think my game is in the right place now. Hopefully I can play another good one on Sunday."
Djokovic was runner-up to nine-time winner Rafael Nadal in 2012 and 2014 and was stunned by big-hitting Wawrinka 12 months ago.
He will be playing in his 20th Grand Slam final and seventh against Murray having won four times against the Scot in Australia but losing at the US Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2013.
If he does finally break his drought in Paris, he will be the second oldest to complete the career Slam after Andre Agassi who managed the feat in Paris in 1999.
"I put myself in a position in which I wanted to be in of course ever since last year's final," said Djokovic, who has already set one impressive benchmark in Paris by reaching the $100m prize money barrier.
"It's always high on the priority list when I start a season thinking about Roland Garros."
Djokovic has dropped just one set at the French Open this year and he shrugged off having to play four days in succession by blitzing young Austrian Dominic Thiem 6-2 6-1 6-4 in the semi-final.
Murray, who lost in five sets to Djokovic in last year's semi-finals, also came off worse in straight sets against Nadal in 2011 and 2014.
Despite trailing 23-10 in career meetings with Djokovic, the Scot enjoyed a morale-boosting win on clay in the Rome final last month.
Djokovic had come out on top in the Madrid final, also on clay, the previous week after the Serb had also swept to victory in the Australian Open final in January.
"Novak obviously plays great on all of the surfaces. But this is a new experience for both of us," said Murray.
"We only played once here before. It was a pretty tight match last year in the semis. So I expect a very, very tough match on Sunday."
Follow our live blog of the men's final between world No 1 Novak Djokovic and Britain's Andy Murray this Sunday from midday on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad and our Twitter account @skysportstennis.
