Throwback! Seven Year Anniversary of the Greatest Final the Tennis world has ever seen
The final of the most talked about Grand Slam between two modern greats was one for the ages in which Novak Djokovic outlasted Rafael Nadal to win his third Australian Open back in the day. The match went on for 5 hours 53 minutes in what is said to be the longest Australian Open final in the Tennis history which saw the Serbian beat Spaniard 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5.
As soon as the Serbian won his last point of the match he joined the elite list of Tennis superstars who have won 3 consecutive majors since the Open Era began in 1968, Nadal was unfortunate to be the Serbian's opponent in all the three finals. In a finale of long energy-gasping rallies, this 31 shot rally caught viewers eyes the most as Djokovic fell down after winning the point :
After the final, Serbian was caught saying: "It was obvious on the court for everybody who has watched the match that both of us, physically, we took the last drop of energy that we had from our bodies, We made history tonight and unfortunately there couldn't be two winners. I think it's probably the longest finals in the history of all Grand Slams, and just to hear that fact is making me cry, really."
One more incident which was heavily talked about after the match was both superstars not being able to find their will to stand during the trophy ceremony because of fatigue. Nadal leaning on the net and Djokovic flexing throughout the ceremony as he struggles through the pain was difficult to watch but showed how much energy they had put in to win the match. Thankfully, help finally arrived when some official took notice and offered them water and chairs to sit.
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As soon as Djokovic confirmed his place in this years' final against Nadal last week, memories of 2012 came rushing back to tennis fans all around the world who were hoping for yet another nail-biter. This time it wasn't meant to be as Djokovic did a clean chit on Nadal beating him in straight sets to everybody's disappointment. The match ended in Serbian's favour 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 which saw him winning his seventh Australian Open title.
The Serbian went past Pete Sampras' total of 14 slams which took him to the third spot in the all-time list only behind Roger Federer(20) and Rafael Nadal(17). Djoker would be eyeing to win the French Open title to become the first man in the modern era to complete a non-calendar Grand Slam for the second time after he did the same in 2016.
In the end, we can feel lucky to be alive during the tennis era of the supreme quality, all thanks to these two.