Rafael Nadal delighted to register yet another record in the Australian Open final – Tennis News
Runners-up in the Australian Open tournament on Sunday, Rafael Nadal, is delighted to register a historical Grand Slam final to his tally of outstanding achievements. The marathon five-setter, which lasted for 5 hours 56 minutes,
is officially proclaimed to be the longest final match ever in the history of Grand Slam tournaments. Although he lost the match to the reigning world number one and the defending champion, Novak Djokovic, he is happy about the fact that he played the best
tennis of his career and fought till the last drop of energy.
Their stamina was completely drained during the fifth set and Djokovic was even noted to have said a figurative statement that ‘my toes were bleeding during the sixth hour’; that shows the level of commitment both men put forth
during the encounter. Nadal thought this match would last forever and no one would be chosen as a winner.
Every inch of ground covered for a particular return was depleting the condition of the player but no one was willing to give up or surrender till the end. Match swung both ways during the last set but finally Djokovic broke his
opponent’s serve in the eleventh game of the fifth set and successfully held the next serve game to register an emphatic triumph.
There couldn’t be two winners otherwise the trophy would have been shared between both arch rivals. Nadal had his chances to gobble up the fifth set win when he broke serve first and was 30-15 up in the seventh game but the Serb
fought back into the contest and successfully defended his title. A mammoth crowd was present at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne to witness this marathon contest of almost six hours. No one moved an inch from their seat because no one wanted to miss a second
of this stupendous encounter. The match started at 8pm local time and went on till 2am. There was equal support for both players and people were mesmerized to witness such an epic encounter.
With this win, Novak Djokovic closes on the head-to-head scores with 14-16. It’s the seventh successive final loss for Nadal at the hands of the Serb but his passionate interview at the end delighted his fans. He was out there
to perform his best and he gave his best shot. No one can accuse him of anything. It was just the matter of luck at the end because there was absolutely nothing at all between the two players that could distinguish themselves from one another.
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