Its 3rd time unlucky for Murray as the Scot makes it a hat-trick of Grand Slam defeats.

Andy Murray failed in his 3rd attempt at winning a Grand Slam title, when he lost the Australian Open final in straight sets to Serbian Novak Djokovic. In front a capacity 15,000 crowd in the Rod Laver Arena, Murray played poorly and was in truth dominated by his good friend. He has now failed to win a single set in all his 3 finals as his game and trusted first serve fell apart as the match progressed.

In the first Grand Slam final for 3 years not to feature Federer or Nadal, Murray was trying to become the first Britain since Fred Perry in 1936 to win a Grand Slam event. Unfortunately, in the end he never really got going and at one stage lost seven games in a row along the way to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 defeat.

Though Djokovic never really hit the kind of form that knocked out Federer in the semi-final, it was Murray’s numerous unforced errors that was to be his downfall. In the first few games of the contest Djokovic missed an easy smash and played a few dubious drop shots that indicated he was a bag of nerves. Unfortunately, Murray never capitalised on this and missed an early breakpoint in only the 3rd game. This was to come back to haunt him as at 4-5 down he was serving to stay in the set, he started with a double fault, eventually he was trying to save 2 set points which he lost with a groundstroke that went just long.

The second set was a total disaster for Murray as he was unable to keep the errors to a minimum, in what was a very poor period of tennis for the Scot. All of a sudden he was 5-0 down and looking to lose the set without winning a single game. A glimmer of hope began when Murray won 2 games in a row, but having just broke Djokovic’s serve to love, he then lost his serve and the second set which lasted just 40 minutes.

To his credit Murray never gave up, and desperately tried to rally himself back into the contest as he broke in the first game of the 3rd set. But his first serve which never failed him in his semi-final against the Spaniard David Ferrer fell apart when he most needed it as Djokovic sailed to a 3-1 lead.

Murray then broke back, then saved break points to claw it back to 3-3, with the crowd hoping for a revival the Serbian held his serve then broke Murray’s to go 5-3 up, Murray looked a beaten man by this point, and a look of inevitability clouded his usually determined face. Djokovic served it out to claim his second Australian Open crown leaving Murray still awaiting his first Grand Slam win.

After tossing his trainers into the crowd, Murray held it together in the post-match interview, there were no tears unlike his loss to Federer last January saying “ its going to be tough for a few days. I want to try and win one, course but if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. I enjoy my life off the court”. He also went on to praise Djokovic saying he played “unbelievably well”.

Murray will now have to wait until the French open in late May to try and break his Grand Slam duck. As history shows, all is not lost and he need not feel too down hearted as players such as Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi also lost their first 3 Grand Slam finals before going on to claim a first win.