What has been whispered in tennis for a little while could emerge as a loud statement of fact at the Australian Open starting here on Sunday: the game's new rivalry is between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic is reaching for his third straight Australian title, a feat not accomplished since Roy Emerson completed his run of five championships 46 years ago. Murray is trying to become the first player in the Open era to add a second slam title to his record immediately after winning his first, last achieved by another Australian legend, Lew Hoad, who claimed a hat-trick of championships in his opening run, in the black-and-white days of 1956.
Those statistics underscore where they stand in a game that has moved on considerably not just over the past half-century but in recent months. As reluctant as Murray was to embrace the notion that he and Djokovic are in the process of cementing a rivalry to supersede that which dominated the first decade of the millennium – between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal – the evidence mounts by the tournament.
Murray, who lost to Djokovic in last year's semi-finals and beat him to win the US Open, both titanic struggles, said: "I have no idea, it's not worth making predictions [of a new rivalry] but, when I play him, it's a match I enjoy. If I get to play Novak here, that would mean it would be in the final – but I know how hard it is to get to the latter stages of these events."
Murray's coach, Ivan Lendl, was more confident that Murray and Djokovic are capable of taking over from Federer and Nadal at the top of the game. "There are a lot of factors," he said. "Health, somebody else coming up, Roger staying around, Rafa coming back – all those things. I am not saying it is going to happen but I can see it happening."
While there is respect between Federer and Nadal, there has not always been unreserved warmth. Murray and Djokovic, who were born a week apart and have known each other since they were 11, are undeniably closer.
"We've never had any issues with each other in the whole time we've been on the tour," Murray said. "You see it in boxing. I find it amazing watching guys punch each other for 12 rounds, then hug each other at the end. Matches we've played over the last year or so have been incredibly physical, tough. It has been pretty painful at times. But our respect for one another has grown over the last 18 months."
Murray welcomed the arrival in the tournament for the first time of his fellow Scot Jamie Baker, who qualified by beating the American Donald Young 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Baker, Britain's No2 but 246 in the world, has endured injury, illness and waves of self-doubt to survive on tour and, at 26, was beginning to wonder how long he could continue. He plays Lukas Rosol, the outsider who beat Nadal at Wimbledon. "This gives me another year on the Tour," Baker said. "I need to establish foundations for the future. I don't want to stop playing at 32 or 33 with no money in the bank. I'm not a massively confident person but this also shows me that I could have a bit of a career, not just getting to the next tournament. I feel like I've got tennis in me that can achieve a top 100 ranking."
Baker revealed how he suffered depression in 2008 after spending three days in intensive care in Florida recovering from a rare blood complaint that threatened his life. "For a couple of years I was carrying baggage of feeling I was hard done by. I suffered quite badly from depression afterwards. Tennis had been my whole life, and I couldn't figure out my priorities. There was a distinct moment where I stopped thinking that. After a match in Thailand, I came off the court and said to Keith [Reynolds, his long-time coach]: 'I feel normal again.' It was like somebody had lifted a concrete building off my shoulders."
