Djokovic Defeats Nadal to Win Australian Open in Longest Final in Open-Era
It took five sets over five hours and fifty-three minutes, but when it ended, Novak Djokovic had defeated Rafael Nadal (for the seventh straight time in a final) 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 to claim his third Australian Open title, fifth Grand Slam title and third consecutive
Grand Slam title. For Djokovic, who had beaten Andy Murray in an epic five set almost five hour semifinal marathon less than two days earlier, it was an exhausting and thrilling finale to the tournament. For Nadal, who had fallen to his knees after winning the fourth set tie-breaker to send the match into the decisive fifth set, it was another heart-breaking loss. At the age of twenty-four, Djokovic joins the elite group of Rod Lave, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal as the only men in the Open-era who have won three consecutive Grand Slam titles and Nadal was the loser in all three of those finals.
The match, which featured many long, grueling baseline rallies, was quite reminiscent of the Djokovic-Nadal matches from 2011 in which Djokovic controlled most of the baseline rallies with Nadal often seeming to be “on a string”. Djokovic won 63% of his second serve points while Nadal only won 45%. Djokovic also had twenty chances to break Nadal’s serve, only converting 35% of the time while Nadal only had six break point chances, but won 67% of them. Overall, Djokovic hit 57 winners, along with 69 unforced errors while Nadal had 44 winners and committed 71 unforced errors. In the end, aggressive tennis wins and Nadal needs to find a way to dominate the baseline rallies against Djokovic (again) or he won’t win the big matches.
The match, which featured many long, grueling baseline rallies, was quite reminiscent of the Djokovic-Nadal matches from 2011 in which Djokovic controlled most of the baseline rallies with Nadal often seeming to be “on a string”. Djokovic won 63% of his second serve points while Nadal only won 45%. Djokovic also had twenty chances to break Nadal’s serve, only converting 35% of the time while Nadal only had six break point chances, but won 67% of them. Overall, Djokovic hit 57 winners, along with 69 unforced errors while Nadal had 44 winners and committed 71 unforced errors. In the end, aggressive tennis wins and Nadal needs to find a way to dominate the baseline rallies against Djokovic (again) or he won’t win the big matches.
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