Andy Murray plots Novak Djokovic's downfall in Australian Open
Sunday 17 January 2016 11:39, UK
Andy Murray admits he spent much of his off-season planning ways to defeat Novak Djokovic ahead of the Australian Open, which gets underway on Monday.
Murray has lost four finals already in Melbourne and three of those came at the hands of the Serb, who is now looking to secure his sixth Australian title.
Djokovic has dominated his recent rivalry with Murray, winning 10 of their last 11 matches and beating his friend at both the Australian and French Opens last year.
Rafael Nadal has also found it hard to compete with Djokovic, winning just three games against the world No 1 as he lost to him in the final of the Qatar Open last week, while Roger Federer has lost all of their grand slam encounters.
Djokovic begins 2016 as holder of all four majors and Murray admits much of his time off was spent thinking up ways to overcome his trickiest opponent.
"I think that's always really the case in the off-season," said Murray. "This off-season, maybe a little bit more.
"But it's not just him you have to win against. Roger last year, I didn't have a good record against him either.
"Yes, in practices there's things you'd look to do for matches against them.
"But also it's about looking at matches that you've played against them and understanding tactics and things that are happening in the match that you can maybe change as well.
"In practice, you're always trying to improve your overall game. It's about maybe looking at the videos of the matches and going, 'Oh, I could improve my serve here or improve my return'.
"It's not just for against them, it's against all the other players, as well."
We will bring you all the news, views and reaction from the Australian Open starting on Monday 18th January.
