Murray is Public Favorite; Djokovic Disapproves

Melbourne, Australia – This time, it all comes down to rankings. As the bookies rank Andy Murray in the same level as Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Djokovic in terms of popularity among the public, Novak Djokovic speaks up in disagreement, saying that Murray cannot be mentioned in the same breath with the three top players in the world rankings.

Djokovic says rankings greatly matter in predicting the outcome of the Australian Open, and in his opinion, Murray’s time to win tournaments is yet to come. “What’s his ranking and my ranking?” Djokovic explains; “The thing is that you cannot put somebody, I mean, all the respect to Andy, I like him as a person and as a player. He’s done a lot in the last couple months, and he’s a very talented player and we can expect him to win some Grand Slams in the future. But you cannot put him as the favorites next to Roger and Rafa and myself here at Australian Open.” Murray’s ranking points total 7,190, while Djokovic remains way on top with 10,650 points.

Earlier, Djokovic displayed his brilliant playing prowess by defeating Frenchman Jeremy Chardy with three straight sets, 7-5, 6-1, 6-3.

However, the Australian Open seems to have room for surprise triumphs as American Amer Delic snatches the win from Paul-Henri Mathieu, ranked no. 28, and gets a second shot to compete against Djokovic. “Nobody is easy on this tournament. I don’t want underestimate anybody; Delic deserves to be in the third round. If he came there, of course, he has a lot of qualities. He’s a big server. We played in Wimbledon in 2007 and we had a really close match, so I expect the same in this third round.” Djokovic says.