Novak Djokovic is not usually used to losing five-set matches, but the Serbian was gracious in defeat after going down to Andy Murray 7-6 (10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 in a memorable final of the U.S. Open.
"I had a great opponent today," said Djokovic, who had won eight of his previous five-setters, including the semi-final at the Australian Open against Murray. "He deserved to win this Grand Slam more than anybody, I'm sure, because over the years he's been a top player.
"He's been so close; lost four finals. Now he has won it, so I would like to congratulate him. Definitely, you know, happy that he won it.
"There is no doubt that he deserves to win the Grand Slam. I mean, playing so consistently well and winning against the top players for many times on many surfaces. He has proven today that he's a champ and he deserves to be where he is, no question about it."
Djokovic clawed his way back from two sets down to force a decider, but fatigue and an inspired Murray stopped the world number two from defending his U.S. Open crown.
"I think we both did a lot of running," Djokovic said. "It was unfortunate really to not be able to come up with big shots at the right time. It forced me to go for winners or mistakes. Unfortunately I did a lot of mistakes on the 2‑4 in the fifth and lost the crucial break.
"I had matches to this similar in my career, especially in the last two years," Djokovic added. "We had a long around five-hour match in Australia as well earlier this year.
"I really tried mentally to be out there and physically always push myself over the limits. It's a Grand Slam final and you want to win. There is no question about it. We both wanted this trophy.
"We were very hungry for it. "If I won that first set and had some chances maybe the match would go a different way. But look there is no reason to go back and say, What if? What if? He's a Grand Slam winner and he deserves to be there."
Djokovic lost his world number one spot to Roger Federer after the Swiss great won Wimbledon, and now the Serbian faces further competition from Murray, who will move to the No. 3 spot, taking the place of the injured Rafael Nadal, who will always be right up there once he returns from injury. Djokovic, however, feels he is still capable of ending the year as the world number one. "My approach is always the same," he said.
"I'm going to continue on to do what I've done so far. I have a great team of people around me. Being No. 1 of the world this year, end of this year is, yes, one of the objectives. I'm going to try to recover from this and move on.
"I'm not sure what's going to happen next couple of years. Obviously nothing is predictable. I'm trying to think about myself.
"It's a privilege to be part of this era. It's obvious that the four of us we get to the later stages of every single Grand Slam. Andy winning tonight makes it even more competitive and more interesting for people to watch it."
