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It ended with the primal scream of the man laying flat on his back as Novak Djokovic produced a career defining performance in overcoming Rafael Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-5 in a magnificent finale to the 100^th edition of the Australian Open. In a match that was definitely a slow burner, it exploded into incandescence at the end as the world’s best tennis players produced a gladiatorial contest that kept us engrossed for an exhausting 5hours 53minutes – the longest slam final ever. If we ever needed proof that Novak Djokovic has the heart, desire and willingness to give everything he’s got, we got all that and more as the Serb running on fumes overcame the greatest challenge he’s ever faced to win his 3^rd slam in a row. Equally, any doubts about Rafael Nadal were laid to rest as he threw the kitchen sink at Djokovic but came up just short in a 7^th consecutive loss to his rival.

It was a match of undulating fortunes as Novak’s sluggish start gave Nadal the early advantage before some vintage Djokovic tennis allowed him to dominate the middle portion of the match upto the brink of a four set win. Rafa however willed himself on in a display of bullishness characteristic of the man, and took control of a classic tie break to take the match into a decider. And what a scintillating decider it was! Rafa racing around like an Energiser bunny drew first blood breaking a seemingly exhausted Djokovic to take a 4-2 lead. But the Serb who moved like a wrapped up mummy between points, put in a reasonable impersonation of Superman during them, digging deep and finding a way to mount a comeback to take a famous victory. The emotions at the end were evident as the World No.1 took off his shirt and walked deliberately to his box letting loose a roar of glory right through. It isn’t very often that the cliché “tennis is the winner” is appropriately used, but this was most definitely living embodiment of that statement.

Earlier, Nadal began the match with plenty of intensity taking on Djokovic in the baseline rallies and unleashing the forehand down the line early leaving Djokovic standing. On his own serve he began with the perfect ace and dropped the solitary point in his first couple of service games. Djokovic on the other hand while far from ragged was not quite his new found precise self. With the distinct thought process of ending points early, he went for the early strike making quite a few errors in the process. The Serb seemed slightly distracted and that lack of focus resulted in missing a simple backhand to hand Nadal the first break going down 2-3. That mistake prompted a violent response from Djokovic as he whipped off his shirt and sent his racquet crashing to the floor. The new shirt and racquet did calm the Djoker down somewhat and for the first time made inroads into the Nadal serve, but Nadal digging deep came up with the big serves on the big points held on to vitally consolidate his lead. Djokovic though was just beginning to find his feet – the movement that was sluggish to begin with was more fluent even if the timing & control on his groundstrokes especially the big inside out forehand was not what we’ve come to expect it to be. Despite the troubles, Djokovic was not allowing Nadal to convert his advantage into great scoreboard distance. And against the run of play, Nadal inexplicably made a rash of errors to hand the break back to Djokovic in the 8^th game restoring parity in the set and seemingly the moment that Djokovic would seize as he has done in the past year or so. But the Djokovic today was a shadow of that self and another backhand flying long gave Nadal the opportunity to serve for the set at 6-5. Rafa this time seized the chance and using the body serve and holding on despite a late Djokovic charge took the crucial first set 7-5.

The second set started off on much better level and both players held serve in the opening stages. Djokovic was easing into it and setup breakpoints early which Nadal staved off in the second game but couldn’t in the 4^th as Djokovic broke with a low volley that skipped off the baseline eluding the desperate Nadal. Djokovic’s serve and follow up game were now getting into a rhythm, as he setup the short replies and began pounding them into the corner. Nadal remained defiant, refusing to let Djokovic get the insurance break forcing the Serb to serve out the set at 5-3. It looked straightforward as he setup multiple set points at 40-15 but a spate of errors capped by a double fault handed the break to Nadal keeping him in the set at 4/5. It was a match that refused to settle down as fortunes swung one way and the next and just as Nadal seemed to be making a comeback, Djokovic clipped it with some brilliant returning to set up break point. With all that pressure on his shoulders, Nadal caved double faulting to hand Nole the set 6-4. The third set was a potentially pivotal one and both men came out knowing that fully well and played the way it demanded. In a sequence of games reminiscent of their brutal US Open final less than 6 months ago, the pillar to post rallies began with Djokovic dominating but Nadal unleashing the forehand down the line often enough to keep the Serb at bay. In the 4^th game though Djokovic stepped around a Nadal slice pinging a forehand winner to set up break point and after another rally of ferocious hitting, Rafa drifted a backhand wide to hand Djokovic the vital break. Djokovic consolidated the break and soon went up 5-2 courtesy an irrepressible series of forcing strokes. Nadal’s balloon had been slowly deflating over the last hour or so, and the air was now was fairly whistling out - Much like Djokovic’s set winning forehand that left a beaten Nadal rooted to the spot as fell behind a set 2-6.

Rafa went into the fourth set knowing that he needed to play with a level of desperation akin to the third set of the US Open if he was to stop the juggernaut that is Djokovic. Djokovic now was in a perfect place in his service games holding with ease which allowed him to pile the pressure on the Nadal delivery. Nadal though was able to exert his considerable will to stay with the Djoker in the early part of the fourth. The games continued on serve as Nole kept his nose in front to 4-3 allowing the scoreboard a chance to place its pressure on his opponent and give himself the chance to make that final decisive strike. And chances he did create going up 0-40 on the Rafa serve only for Nadal to make a spirited response to somehow hold on by the skin of his teeth. And then, down came the rain to halt the flow of the match taking the players off for 15min or so. Resuming after the roof was closed on Rod Laver Arena, Djokovic took off where he left off holding to love leaving Nadal the unenviable challenge of serving to stay in the match. It was a challenge he rose to not once but twice as the set elevated to a nice crescendo in the tie-break. And it was a breaker that Rafa took by the scruff of the neck. Hitting his serve with authority and ripping his forehand, he signalled clearly to Nole that he wasn’t rolling over and that Djokovic would have to produce something special to beat him. At 3-3 Djokovic produced a series of unbelievable forehands to go up 5-3, only for Rafa to scrap with everything he had to claw his way back to 5-5. A fantastic serve out wide gave Rafa set point and a Djokovic forehand wide meant that after over 4 and a half hours of tenacious tennis we were left with the final decider – a 5^th set.

The decider was clearly going to be a battle of wills and heart – attributes that Rafa has proven to us many times over. For Novak though this was new territory, never before had he been stretched to 5 sets in the final before and never before against a Nadal as buoyant as this. The Spaniard was playing each point with the intensity of a match point while the Serb was just showing signs of exhaustion. And in the 6^th game, he finally broke - The Serbanator, the man who had owned 2011 for the first time in memory looked frail. But if we ever needed proof of Djokovic’s new found ability to put mind over matter, we got it in the next two games as he stretched himself to his limits to find a way back to 4-4. The first point of the 9^th game was a 32 shot rally that prompted Djokovic to end it flat on his back in exhaustion. He picked himself up with difficulty and even set up a break point which Nadal staved off with a magnificent wide serve enroute to an important hold. The Djoker now though had his second, maybe third wind and was beginning to regain his old level of movement and play. He held to 5-5 and then keeping his head stretched Rafa once again to incredibly break him a second time in 3 service games to give himself the chance to serve for the championships. He would have loved an easy hold instead he had to dig even deeper to overcome a break point before a final forehand winner gave Djokovic the match and the championships

The final was the third consecutive contested between the duo and Djokovic's third consecutive triumph left Nadal holding the wooden spoon as the only player to have lost 3 consecutive slam finals. Djokovic buttressed his position as the World's best player with his 3rd slam in a row and 5th overall moving just one shy of such legends as Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker. It was also his 3rd Australian open overall joining the illustrious company of Federer, Agassi & Wilander as the only players to have triumphed thrice here in the open era. For Nadal it was his 4th straight appearance in the final at a slam, with Federer the last man to do so.  

Final Score:

[1] N.Djokovic (SRB) d [2] R. Nadal (ESP) 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-5

File Photograph Copyright: Dubai Open