Novak Djokovic v Andy Murray_ The Beginning of the Rivalry

Here is the 19-year-old from Serbia, Montenegro, born in Belgrade, still lives there, 6'2", he stands. He's won two titles. They were in Amersfoort and Met both this year, so he opened his account the same age as his opponent, 19. He turned pro last year in that singles title I described earlier in San Jose. So, like Murray, constructing a good rally. Just over-hitting a bit in his early stages. Murray allowed a 2-1 lead. Good rally. That's another of his favourites, the drop shot, which sometimes he tends to overplay. Well, you said it, facing soaking up pressure and it's paid dividends, it's brought the area, you were speaking of. Oh, what a lovely finish to the rally. David Beckham has stayed to support Murray. Yes, the moment Murray got a good hit on his return of serve, he was always likely to win the rally. Soft hand skill. An ace to complete the job. Really inside the baseline or anywhere near it. Give him the angle, but what a shot. You can see the confusion. Even more confusion in the mind of Djokovic now, losing his serve to Love at a crucial stage of this second set. It's a 4-3 Murray. Here's another of those situations that we've seen rather all too frequently this year. Two break points. He could have stopped and challenged and didn't, and he's now wondering whether he should have done. A lead. There's the set. Wrong choice of shot. Not the stop volley at that stage and Marian Vajda urging his man on. A great scrap. Djokovic has levelled after an hour and 32 minutes. Well, that may be signalling the end of the match. Well, he believes all right, doesn't he? Djokovic. It's all over. Well, I don't know why. It was way out, surely, wasn't it? On his last shot. Oh, it just clipped the line. It looked so far out to the naked eye. Look at that. A millimetre has saved him. Well, that has done it. He won't challenge that one. So there it is. A very disappointing result for Murray but a very encouraging one for Djokovic who showed us what a tough match player he is. A point we made at the very start. Never gave up hope, even though his forehand had totally deserted him. His big shot. And it came good in the end along with some good serving, particularly in that last game.