Key Biscayne: While Great Britain hope Andy Murray was swimming laps at the University of Miami pool and lifting weights with Hurricane football players in December, Novak Djokovic was hitting the trails of an Austrian mountain.
Whether Djokovic was taking photos of deer or running is not clear. Either way, a much fitter Murray ran the heat-sapped Serb into the ground in a 6-2, 7-5 victory on Sunday in the men's final at the Sony Ericsson Open.
"Yet again, I was the biggest enemy to myself," said Djokovic, 21, who has retired in three of the four majors, including the Australian Open this year from a variety of breathing or heat-related ailments. "I was struggling again and adjusting to the heat. ... I can't fight it."
Murray, the first Brit to win this 25-year event, improved to a tour-best 26-2. He won $605,000 and 1,000 ranking points to close within 170 points of Djokovic for No. 3 behind a fading Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Murray sports a high tennis I.Q., lulling his opponents into complacency with his change-of-pace ground strokes and defensive guile. He wields his racket like a protractor, finding acute angles on pinpoint passing shots that repeatedly left a desperate Djokovic swinging at air as he converted 17-of-33 net rushes to go with 43 errors.
"A lot of people might not necessarily think my game looks the most aggressive or offensive, but very few times will I sort of not have the points played how I like them to be played," said Murray, 21, who won his tour-leading third title this year. "I don't often get guys sort of hitting through me."
Djokovic was listless from the start in a lopsided first set in which he had 16 unforced errors to four for Murray, who left the winded Serb breathless after one of his patented sharp-angled backhand passes.
"The switch of defensive to offensive tennis in the points ... 1/8he's3/8 one of the best in the world," Djokovic said. "That makes him a much better player than he used to be."
A wicked crosscourt forehand earned Murray a quick break to start the second set. For the second consecutive match, Djokovic summoned the trainer because of fatigue in the 91-degree heat index conditions. Djokovic was asked if he's had medical tests to find the cause of his ongoing physical problems.
"I can't do medical examination in the heat," Djokovic said. "Only the Sahara. I can just go there and examine myself."
The long delay derailed Murray's momentum, and with the sun-baked fans chanting, 'No-Le', for Djokovic to make a match of it, he did by rushing the net in an energy-conserving move that paid off in a flurry of uncharacteristic errors by Murray.
Suddenly an energized Djokovic was serving at 5-3, but he frittered away two set points, the latter coming on a double fault.
Now it was Murray with a break point that came on a rocket forehand by Djokovic that missed the sideline by a strand of ball fuzz.
On the ensuing Hawk-Eye challenge, Djokovic kneeled down to watch the bad news unfold on the video scoreboard. He should've stayed down because he then melted down, losing 10 of the final 11 points, most coming on half-hearted strolls to the net that resulted in volley errors, including match point.
Not since Gentleman Tim Henman was in his prime has a British player been more primed to become the first countryman to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936. However, clay court season is next.
"I'm competing on the world stage," said Murray, who won his third Masters title, all in the past eight months. "I want to try and improve my world ranking and win the biggest tournaments in the world. It's not so much about what's happened in the past."
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