Numbers Game: How Murray beat Djokovic and made history at Wimbledon

It was in many ways - the battle of the clones. Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have a similar style of play – good groundstrokes, great returns, solid serves, amazing court coverage. They can play all the shots in the book too. So anytime they get on court, the winner is decided by percentages and mental toughness. Here’s a look at a few numbers that illustrate just how Murray dominated Djokovic’s serve and made history. - Djokovic’s serve was broken 7 times by Murray, after he was broken a total of 6 times entering the final. - Entering the final, Djokovic had held serve 94 percent of the time (95 of 101). Murray won almost half of Djokovic’s service games (7 of 16) and won more than 40 percent of Djokovic’s first-serve points. - Djokovic hit 31 winners, five fewer than Murray (36) but made 40 unforced errors. Murray, on the other hand, made just 21 unforced errors. - In the first set alone, Murray earned eight break points. In the entire match, Murray earned 17 break points. In the entire Australian Open final these two contested back in January, Murray earned just four break points. Yes, Djokovic’s serve let him down badly. [caption id=“attachment_937909” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Murray cracked Djokovic’s serve and that was the key. Getty Images[/caption] - Murray Joins Federer (17), Nadal (12), Djokovic (6) and Lleyton Hewitt (2) as fifth active player with multiple Grand Slam titles. - This is the 6th straight year that the No. 1 seed did not win Wimbledon (last was Roger Federer in 2007). - Andy Murray has now won 2 of the last 3 Grand Slams he’s played (2012 US Open, 2013 Wimbledon). - Murray is 79-1 in Grand Slam matches when winning the first two sets. Only defeat: vs Nalbandian at #Wimbledon 2005 (3rd round). - Djokovic has now lost three of his last four Grand Slam Finals (6-5 overall in Grand Slam Finals). - This marked the first time that Djokovic lost a Grand Slam match in straight sets since the 2010 Wimbledon semis against Tomas Berdych. - The “Big 4” (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray) have now won 33 of the last 34 Grand Slams (only other winner in that span: Juan Martin del Potro at 2009 US Open). - It took Murray eight appearances at Wimbledon to win his first title. The only mens’ player to take longer was Goran Ivanisevic, who won in his 14th appearance in 2001. Some of the stats are via @ESPNStatsInfo