Following 5 hours and 53 minutes of unbelievably high level tennis, Novak Djokovic was finally able to knock off his rival Rafael Nadal in the finals of the Australian Open 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5.
In an epic final in Melbourne, Djokovic and Nadal fought it out in the longest Grand Slam final of all-time surpassing the previous longest match in major final history of 4 hours and 27 minutes when Mats Wilander beat Pat Cash in the 1988 Australian Open championship. It was also the longest match ever in Australian Open history breaking the previous longest match in the tournament's history when Rafael Nadal knocked off Fernando Verdasco in the 2009 semifinals in a 5 hour and 14 minute match. Only John Isner and Nicolas Mahut's 11 hour and 5 minute match in the first round of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships and Arnaud Clements and Fabrice Santoro's 6 hour and 33 minute match in the first round of the 2004 French Open were longer Grand Slam matches than Djokovic and Nadal's final.
The top two ranked players in the world put on an incredible display of tennis for nearly 6 hours. Just when you thought that one of them was down and out, they would fight back and keep the match alive.
In the fourth set, it appeared that Djokovic would run away with the match. The world number 1 had gone up on Nadal 2 sets to 1 after dominating the Spaniard in the third set 6-2. Although Djokovic was all over Nadal's serve in the fourth set, he was unable to convert a break point, as he was 0 for 3 in the set. Despite not having a sniff of a break point on Djokvoic's serve, Nadal was able to scrap and fight and win the set in a tiebreak 7-5.
After pulling out the fourth set much to the dismay of Djokvoic, Nadal looked like he was going to take the decisive fifth set. At 3-2, Nadal broke Djokovic for the first time on his first break point opportunity since the second set and was up 4-2. However, much like how Nadal refused to quit in the fourth set, Djokovic was able to fight back and break Nadal in the next game to bring the match back on serve. With the Djokovic and Nadal tied at 5 in the fifth, Djokovic was able to convert his second break point opportunity of the game and served out the match to win the Australian Open title.
The Djokovic and Nadal final is now in the discussion with the Nadal and Federer 2008 Wimbledon final and the Borg and McEnroe 1980 Wimbledon final as the greatest Grand Slam final matches of all-time.
Novak Djokovic also proved that he will be at the top of the men's game for a very long time and his incredible season last year wasn't a one year fluke. Djokovic looks like he will one day be in the discussion of the greatest tennis players of all-time. Djokovic's 2011 season is up there with
Nole's 2011 year will go down in history as one of the greatest single seasons in men's tennis history.
His overall record was an astounding 70-6 and before Djokovic lost some matches at the end of the year because he was slowed down by injuries, his record was an unprecedented 64-1. Djokovic's 2011 season is up there with Rod Laver's 1969 year when he won all four grand slams, Roger Federer's 2006 season when he was 92-5, and John McEnroe's 1984 year when he was 82-3 as the greaest single seasons of all-time.
The Joker began the 2011 season sizzling hot, as he won his first seven tournaments including the year's first major at the Australian Open. Djokovic's first loss didn't come until the semifinals of the French Open when he fell to Roger Federer in a very tight match 6-7 (5-7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7).
His 41-match win streak to begin 2011 was just one win shy of John McEnroe's record of 42 straight victories to begin a season, which he did in 1984 before losing to Ivan Lendl in the 1984 French Open finals. Djokovic's 43 straight match victories dating back to 2010 were just 3 shy of Guillermo Villas's record of 46 straight victories, which he did in 1977 before losing to Ilie Nastase in the final of the Aix-en-Provence final. Djokovic also was just one tournament victory shy of joining Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe as the only players to ever win 8 singles titles in a row. Nole's loss to Federer was his first loss against a top 10 player since he lost to Federer in the 2010 ATP World Tour semifinals. His 13 match win streak against top 10 players was the third longest in ATP history only trailing Federer's 17 match win streak against top ten players from 2006 to 2007 and Federer's 26 match win streak against top ten players from 2003 to 2005.
Djokovic's 5 ATP Masters series titles were the most ever in a single season and he had a 35-match hard court win streak before he fell to Andy Murray in the finals of Cincinnati. His 35 straight victories on a hard court were the third most of all-time only trailing Federer's 36 hard court match streak from 2006 to 2007 and Federer's 56 match win streak from 2005 to 2006.
The most impressive part of Djokovic's season was his performances at the Grand Slams, where he had an incredible record of 25-1 and won the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open. Djokovic joined Rod Laver (1969), Jimmy Connors (1974), Mats Wilander (1988), Roger Federer (2004, 2006, 2007) and Rafael Nadal (2010) as the only players to win at least three Grand Slams in a single season since the open era began in 1968. Djokovic also joined Ivan Lendl (1987), Roger Federer (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009), Rafael Nadal (2008), and Andy Murray (2011) as the only players to reach all four Grand Slam semifinals in a single season since 1972.
Djokovic's overall prize money for the 2011 season was over 12 million dollars, which is the most by a player in one season.
With his victory at the Australian Open this year, Djokovic is already amongst the all-time greats. He has won 5 Grand Slams thus far, which to put that in perspective, is just one shy of greats like Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker and two behind John McEnroe and Mats Wilander.
Djokovic now has won three Australian Opens, which is tied with Mats Wilander for the third most all-time in the open era and is only behind Roger Federer and Andre Agassi's 4 Australian Open titles.
Nole has also won a Wimbledon title and a U.S. Open title, and just needs to win the French Open to complete the career Grand Slam. If he is able to win the French Open, he would join Fred Perry, Don Budge, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal as the only players to win the career Grand Slam.
The future is encouraging as well for the Serbian, as he has a lot of years of tennis left to play. Djokovic is just 24 years old and is just in his 8th year on the ATP tour.
Also, Nole is very solid and can play on every surface. Although he has never won the French Open, he has made the semifinals of the major three times and he also had two quarterfinal appearances since 2006.
Also, Djokovic's rivals can't figure out how to beat him. Dating back to last year in their last 7 matches, Nadal is 0-7 against Djokovic and all of their match-ups have been in finals including at three major finals. Although Federer has been on the brink of cracking the Joker, he is just 1-4 against him in their last 5 matches including losses at the Australian Open last year as well as the U.S. Open when he had 2 match points in the fifth set but failed to convert either one. Djokovic is also 3-1 against Andy Murray.
The future is very bright for the Serbian star and Djokovic may one day be atop the list of the men's all-time great tennis players.
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