Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray Bring Building Slam Rivalry To Wimbledon Final

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Novak Djokovic, right, is congratulated Andy Murray after winning the men's final at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013.

LONDON — Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are building their own Grand Slam rivalry, one that perhaps someday will merit mention alongside Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal, or Djokovic vs. Nadal.

When the No. 1-ranked Djokovic faces No. 2 Murray to determine Wimbledon's champion Sunday, it will be their fourth meeting in a major final – and third in less than a year.

Djokovic beat Murray at the Australian Open in 2011. Murray beat Djokovic at the U.S. Open last September. Djokovic beat Murray at the Australian Open this January.

That's not yet quite up to the lofty standard set by Federer and Nadal, who played each other in eight Grand Slam title matches from 2006-11. Djokovic and Nadal have contested five major finals since 2010, including a stretch of four in a row.

While part of the appeal of the Federer-Nadal matchup lies in their vastly contrasting games – all the way down to the most basic level, righty vs. lefty – Djokovic-Murray features two guys who employ rather similar styles.

They are improving servers and fantastic returners who managed to silence big hitters in the semifinals Friday: Tough to decide whether it was more surprising that Djokovic had a 22-4 edge in aces during his 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (6), 6-3 victory over No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro, or that Murray had a 20-9 edge in aces during his 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory over No. 24 Jerzy Janowicz.

They also are cover-every-inch hustlers who can switch from defense to offense, quick as can be.

"There is some similarities there, in terms of if you look at stats and stuff. I mean, both of us return well. That's probably the strongest part of our games. Both play predominantly from the baseline," said Murray, who is aiming to become the first British man to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936.

"We both move well, but a different sort of movement," Murray continued. "He's extremely flexible and he slides into shots, even on the courts here. He slides more. He's quite a bit lighter than me. So I'd say I probably move with more power, and he's much more flexible than me."

In the women's final Saturday, 15th-seeded Marion Bartoli of France won her first Grand Slam title, beating 23rd-seeded Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-1, 6-4.

Djokovic, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, is seeking his seventh Grand Slam title overall and will be playing in his 11th major final. Murray is 1-5 in major finals. He has reached the championship matches at each of the last four Grand Slam tournament's he entered; he skipped this year's French Open because of a bad back.

Murray didn't need to expend too much energy to get past Janowicz, but Djokovic's win against del Potro was physically and emotionally sapping. It lasted 4 hours, 43 minutes, a record for a Wimbledon semifinal, and was filled with intense points.

"I did play a very long match, but I had situations before where I had to recover even just in 24 hours for the match the next day," Djokovic said Saturday. "I kind of got used to it and I know my body. I have a great team of people around me that make sure that we respect everything that we usually do. I'm confident I'll be ready for tomorrow."

Del Potro's take about how much Djokovic will have left for Sunday: "He will be OK."

Djokovic and Murray have put up remarkably close numbers over this fortnight.

Djokovic has lost two sets, Murray three. Djokovic has dropped 80 games through six matches, Murray 82. Djokovic has won 95 of 101 service games, Murray 95 of 103. Djokovic has 76 aces and only seven double-faults; Murray has 80 aces and 11 double-faults.

Born a week apart in May 1987, Djokovic and Murray first met as junior players.

"We know each other since we were 11 years old. On and off the court, we have lots of respect for each other. Always very fair, very honest relationship," Djokovic said. "Now we are big rivals and it's difficult. ... So we don't get together and have dinners and parties, but we definitely always chat and remember the fun days we had as juniors."

The two men get along well enough that when both were at the semifinal stage of last year's U.S. Open, they sat in front of a computer together and watched online while Murray's Scotland and Djokovic's Serbia played to a 0-0 draw in a qualifying match for soccer's World Cup.

"We have a professional friendship, I think, now. When we were younger, it was more friendly," Murray said.

"We've spent a lot of time discussing various issues within tennis and doing what I think sometimes what was best for the sport. But I don't think it goes more than that right now. I would hope when we finish playing, it will be different," Murray added. "But it's just hard, because playing in big, big matches with a lot on the line, you can't be best of friends when that's happening."

Djokovic leads the head-to-head series 11-7, including winning their most recent three matches. While this is their first Wimbledon encounter, they did play on the All England Club's grass in the semifinals of last year's London Olympics, and Murray won 7-5, 7-5 on his way to a gold medal.

That's part of year-plus stretch in which Murray has won 17 consecutive matches on grass, and 23 of 24.

His victory over Federer in the Olympic final, four weeks after losing to the 17-time major title winner on the same court in the Wimbledon final, gave Murray a real boost of confidence.

There's a tremendous amount of pressure and expectations heaped on Murray every year at this time, because of the considerable wait for a British champion.

He knows that, of course.

So does Djokovic, who is aware there will not be many people pulling for him in the stands Sunday.

"It's normal to expect, in a way, that most of the crowd will be on his side. He's a local hero," Djokovic said.

Murray says he thrives with the backing of 15,000 or so flag-waving, top-of-their-lungs-yelling spectators every time he plays on Centre Court.

"There's that extra bit of pressure that probably Novak doesn't have," said Murray's older brother, Jamie, who won the 2007 mixed doubles title at the All England Club. "If (Andy) deals with that well, then I'm sure he can perform in the final. Whether he wins or not I don't know, but they're two evenly matched guys, and they've had a lot of great matches in the past. Hopefully Sunday will be another one."

Instead of another Federer vs. Nadal, No. 1 vs. No. 2, match on the last Sunday, this time it'll be Djokovic and Murray. In as unpredictable a Wimbledon as anyone can recall, Nadal lost in the first round, and Federer exited in the second, both against men ranked outside the top 100.

Murray was asked how his mindset might be different in his second Wimbledon final than it was in his first, 12 months ago.

"I'll be probably in a better place mentally. I would hope so, just because I've been there before. I won a Grand Slam. I would hope I would be a little bit calmer going into Sunday," Murray said. "But you don't know. You don't decide that. I might wake up on Sunday and be unbelievably nervous, more nervous than I ever have been before. But I wouldn't expect to be."

___

Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

Also on HuffPost:

Philadelphia building collapse: rescue and search teams pull a survivor 14 debris (VIDEOS)

People sifted through the rubble after a collapsed building on Market Street tomorrow on Wednesday of four floors.

PHILADELPHIA - After a search overnight slow but steady by the discovery of a woman in the rubble, rescue workers at the scene of a collapse of building that killed six people was a temporary break on Thursday in what had been an excavation 24 hours for additional victims.

A building demolition collapsed in a neighbouring tent Wednesday morning, injuring at least 14 people, including a 61-year-old woman, pulled out from the rubble nearly 13 hours later and hospitalized in critical condition.

The authorities have not officially ended the search, but the sense of urgency dissipated after workers hairstyles of bricks and rubble with buckets and your hands well into the night.

"We are going to keep looking until we are absolutely sure that no one is there," fire Battalion Chief Charles Lupre said shortly before dawn. He said there were no reports of anyone missing, but there was always the possibility that someone was inside that not disappeared.

It was not clear what role it might have played the work of demolition in the collapse, but the accident raised questions about how closely the highly visible location on Market Street, one of the boulevards of Philadelphia firm, was monitored, particularly in the middle of the word of the demolition contractor of many legal and financial problems. Officials from the Department of work and safety and health administration were at the scene.

For weeks, people who work nearby had noted with concern as a team took the vacant four-story building next to a Salvation Army store on the edge of the city centre.

A roofer on top of another building, did not think that the operation seemed safe. A couple of window opposite the exposed washers a section without support, 30 feet from the wall and predicted among themselves throughout the building simply would fall down.

On Wednesday, it is what happened. Unstable shell of a building collapsed in a huge pile of bricks and wood splintered, participating in the shop with him.

"Our thoughts and our prayers to those who lost their lives and their families," Mayor Michael Nutter said at a press conference in the afternoon in the evening where he announced the death toll. "At the same time, we pray that those who survive will recover not only physically, but mentally definitely by the trauma of living in a building and suddenly collapses."

The witnesses said that they heard a strong ROAR sound immediately before the collapse.

"I was there looking out my window, watching the men working in the building and the next thing I know I heard something go kaboom," said Veronica Haynes, who was on the fifth floor of a building across the street. "Then you saw the whole side of the fall of the wall down... in the other building."

Several witnesses said that they had been interrogated to tackling workers in demolition work.

Roofer Patrick Glynn said that he had been watching workers demolish the building in recent weeks, and told me that he suspected that a collapse was inevitable because of the way they were upon him.

"For weeks that have been standing at the edge, knocking bricks," he said. "Hardly noticed that he was ready to go at any time. I knew that it was going to happen."

Steve Cramer, who has been working as a washer of the window across the street, said the demolition team let up to 30 feet of a dividing wall is strapless and compromised the integrity of the building

"We have been calling for the last week, it will fall, it will fall," his co-worker, said Dan Gillis.

Officials said that the demolition contractor was Griffin Campbell construction in Philadelphia. Campbell messages were not returned.

Records show that Campbell was accused in 2005 of dealing crack cocaine near a children's playground. Charges were dismissed after prosecutors evidence out of place.

He pleaded guilty in a case in 2009 insurance fraud and was acquitted of aggravated assault and offenses in 2007.

Campbell has also filed for bankruptcy protection twice since 2010. The first bankruptcy was dismissed because he did not follow through a court-approved payment plan. A second petition in bankruptcy was filed in March.

There was no violation in the collapsed building, and Campbell had the proper permits for the work, according to Carlton Williams, from the Department of licenses and inspections of the city.

The city issued a permit for the demolition of the four-story structure on February 1. Records show the owner of the property as STB Investment Corp., a businessman linked to prominent company and developer Richard Basciano, who has been known as the owner of porn cinemas in the city of New York and Philadelphia.

Messages left at the offices of New York of the company were not immediately returned.

The accident occurred on the western edge of the city centre, between the business district and its train terminal, 30th Street station. The block had been a sordid link gleaming skyscrapers from the busy area around the station.

The collapse involved an empty building that once housed a sandwich shop floor and apartments above. The thrift shop was on one side. The other side was a library for adults and theatre that had fallen in recent months.

A demolition expert asked what precautions were taken to protect the store from the Salvation Army, especially since it remained open. Stephen Estrin, a contractor from Florida who has testified as an expert in several trials involving building collapses, also questioned whether the demolition was done by hand or with machinery. A piece of equipment with a claw device was seen amid the rubble Wednesday.

"This is a demolition of the center of the city of a masonry building, which would normally be done manually due to the inherent risk - predictable if certain things are not made very slowly and carefully — a collapse", said Estrin. "One of the problems with the work of the claw is set up a vibration in the walls."

Records show that the collapsed building was sold to STB in 1994 for $385.894. Plans call for tentatively as the block to be rebuilt in shops and apartments.

___

Rubinkam reported from Northeastern Pennsylvania. Associated with writers Ron Todt and Maryclaire Dale press also contributed to this story.

HuffPost related:

Get alerts