Djokovic vs Murray: the new rivalry in men's tennis

Something special would have to come along to replace the Rafael Nadal v Roger Federer contest as the number one rivalry in men’s tennis. But something special has arrived.

Federer, the purist and Nadal, the brute, have undoubtedly re-energised tennis and created some of the best sporting theatre over the last decade.

Their individual talents are obvious to any watcher of the game – but it’s their personal rivalry, which has so often taken place on the game’s biggest stages – that has captured the imagination of the tennis public.

Their countless grand slam final battles have provided scenes of a sprawled victor lying supine in red dirt and the loser shedding uncontrollable tears on the shoulders of past heroes – let alone the brilliance of the matches themselves.

But now, two new challengers have emerged in the battle for the top – Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Both are so worthy of the honour that you almost feel they were hand-picked.

These two are currently ranked one and three respectively and have played each other ten times in the past two years – which incidentally, is four more times than Federer and Nadal have met in the same period.

This burgeoning duel announced itself more broadly at last year’s U.S Open, London Olympics and prior to those during in an epic semi final in Melbourne – where Murray had shown he could take it to the Serb in the grandest arenas the game can showcase.

The marathon final in New York in September announced Murray as the Serbian’s new public enemy number one, when he took the reigning champ down in five brutal sets. You can’t help but feel this victory, the first slam win in his career, sets Murray up for more success and give him a new wave of confidence to ride into 2013.

What makes this rivalry so mouth-watering is how evenly their games match-up on the court. In fact, you get the feeling that this is as close each will ever get to playing against themselves, coming up against a punishing baseline grinder and rubbery defence every point.

They also match-up evenly in age and experience, separated in years by merely one week. There’s no limit as to how many times they could clash in the next five years if they maintain fitness.

Djokovic has been at the peak of his powers for some time now, but thankfully for tennis watchers, Murray too has now discovered what his “A game” is.

He has eliminated the cat and mouse game plan built around counter punching and has become far more proactive – setting up points with pounding ground strokes combined with arguably the best defence on tour.

The evenness of the battle is where this duo promises so much. For all their glamour, the Federer/Nadal clashes have been historically one sided.

The Spaniard has dominated on clay and bullies the Swiss maestro’s one-handed backhand with military precision. Murray and Djokovic, both double-handers, have met 17 times and the honours are with the Serbian, but it’s close and getting closer.

No longer the tour’s perennial bridesmaids, the new kids on top of the pile have announced themselves as the match everyone wants to see – and there’s a very good chance we will see edition 18 of the stoush in a few week’s time.

If it eventuates, expect it to be a close one, and have an excuse ready for your boss when you sleep in on Monday.