It was nasty and valiant!

        The point to break Kokkinakis’s serve at 0-2 down in the third set really summed up Andy Murray’s entire career. He probably isn’t the most naturally talented player but he has made most of what god gave him. Always hanging onto whatever he could, Murray found a way to win tennis matches in his career more often than not. 2 sets & 2-5 down against the home favourite and any 35 year old, not named Federer, Nadal or Djokovic, would have doubted himself. If Murray hadn’t broken Thanasi’s serve in the match up until that point, I don’t think he would have believed in himself but Murray always breaks, doesn’t he? Only twice have there been matches in majors where Murray has failed to break serve, both at Wimbledon, first against Roger Federer in 2012 and second as recently as last year against John Isner. With just won the game away from the defeat, Murray was supposed to have very little business in winning that set, let alone the match. What we saw over the course of next two and half hours was pure passion and love for the sport. He knew that he had no realistic chance of winning this tournament even before it started and it would have been so easy to just throw in the towel. Murray was thinking about anything but that and he was to produce one of the most special performances in the history of this beautiful sport. It was defining, gritty and brave. Just being on the court for 5 hours and 45 minutes was courageous for a 35 year old with a glass hip and the victory obviously was the cherry on top. 

        First set was dominated by the Australian and his serve, giving Murray very little openings to break. Murray did break Kokkinakis when he was serving for the second set only to lose it in the tiebreaker. It wasn’t an auspicious start to the second set for Murray as he trailed immediately. Murray had started to get a read of Kokkinakis’ serve at the tail end of the second set. At 40-40 in the third game of the third set, Kokkinakis received a rather unfair time violation when he was waiting to serve due to a crowd interruption. It should have had very little impact on his game as he was leading by two sets and a break. Murray made a deep return off the first serve on the immediate point and had a break point. A decent return off serve and Murray was running the full width of the court to return the overheads. He played as many as four defensive lobs to finally draw an unforced error from Kokkinakis. That didn’t have much effect immediately as Kokkinakis broke back once again but it must have done a tremendous amount of good to Murray’s confidence. Kokkinakis was served for the match at 5-3 and got broken curtesy a great game from the Brit. From serving for the match to suddenly serving to save the set in the tiebreaker in the span of 30 minutes, Kokkinakis pushed the easiest of volley in the doubles lobby to hand Murray the 3rd set. That really broke him mentally and emotionally. Murray took the 4th set 6-3 with relative comfort and had three break points in the fifth set at 3-3. Kokkinakis saved all three with winners, two with forehand volleys and one with a spectacular cross court forehand at a very awkward angle. Murray refused to go away and had two more opportunities to break at 5-5, one of which he converted by going inside out with his forehand. Murray finished things off with a down the line backhand winner.

        Kokkinakis was shattered and on the other side of the court, there was Murray, a picture of solidity and fortitude. It was a very enjoyable match for the neutral fans but it was a brutal contest for the two involved. The match started at around 10 o’clock at night and went 4 hours into the next day. Whoever the winner was, he was already in his rest day and the two guys involved were not the fittest either, one has constantly had injuries and the other in the twilight of his career with a broken hip. Murray was coming into this match in the back of another 5 set victory against Matteo Berretini which had taken a lot out him. He was barely able to walk after the first round match and then to come and do this after just 40 hours of rest, incredible! Not to mention that he wasn’t only playing the opponent but almost the entire arena. The Margaret Court Arena was up on its feet whenever Kokkinakis ripped a forehand winner. The atmosphere inside the stadium was pandemonium as the match made its way into the fifth set. Andy Murray has definitely produced better performances than this but given the situation, given his fitness and age, given the duration of the match, this could be right up there amongst his greatest victories.