Soooooooooooooooooooooooo that's the end of another Australian open and what a tournament it has been, as there has been the usual mix of drama and excitement, and it also easily ranks as one of the best year's of the tournament's run. And the focus of this post is of course the men's singles final between the two best players in the world, Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal, as they faced off each other for the title.
And the final itself, intiailly was a slow burner but when it kicked it in it became one of the most exciting and thrilling matches in the Australian open era. It also made history as it was the longest grand slam final in the history of tennis, as Djokovic who easily defeated Rafa quite a few times in the past, especially at Rome, Madrid and Wimbledon, faced off a relentless opponent in Rafa who just refused to go away. Early on Rafa took the first set, but in the 2nd and 3rd, the match dipped in quality as Djokovic dominated the play, but in the 4th set after holding at 4-4 all, Rafa turned it around into one of the most thrilling contests seen in the sport, as he took the magnificent 4th set tiebreak, and the match went into a pulsating decider. In the 5th, Rafa seized the initiative and took the break at 4-2, however, against all the odds, Djokovic being the immovable object that he is (hence the title!) then broke back, and at 5-5 all, he made the vital break on Rafa's serve, where he then served it out, to win the title after an extremely gruelling and intense 5 hours and 53 minutes, ultimately winning in 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6(5)-7, 7-5.
This definitely will go down as one of the most memorable finals in the annals of the sport, and both players couldn't have given more, it even made their US Open final from last year look like a picnic, as the two players battled it out for almost two hours longer than that one! In fact you could almost say it was two matches, the first three sets being a bit lacklustre in places, and the second two sets being absolutely thrilling. Djokovic himself toward the end, despite having already played a brutal match against Andy Murray, looked at times both absolutely exhausted, especially at the start of the match, and near the end he look so done in, he could barely stand up! However he had moments where he was able to just muster whatever reserves he had in the crucial moments to come through. The fact that the man over the space of two days just spent 11 hours on court and still won is just utterly remarkable in itself as well as unbelievable. Although I have to say I was really gutted for Rafa when he lost, as I was really hoping he would have won the match after breaking in the 5th set, and he looked so determined at that point, but still Djokovic came back! I'm sure it will be a tough loss for Rafa to take, and its just as well he is taking Februrary off to recover, and if I were Djokovic, I would do the same! Although Rafa later on said that he took alot of positives out of the match, and that he felt that he no longer had the inner demons that haunted him from last year when to losing to Novak. In fact Rafa even looked happier standing alongside Djokovic with their respective trophies, as he turned to leave Djokovic to his photos, he gave a smile and winked at Djokovic afterwards. And I recall even last year at Wimbledon he looked almost indignant towards Djokovic after the final, but this year so far he seems to have gotten rid of that seeming animosity, which is a good thing.
So that's five majors now in the cabinet for Djokovic, so where do things go from here??? He can easily go on and win more this year, whether or not he can complete the career slam this year or not, remains to be seen. Djokovic has a new threat in Andy Murray emerging as he has really come into his own in the tournament despite his semi final loss. But it has to be said that Djokovic will certainly be the favourite going into the French Open when it comes, and who knows how big a winning streak he will go on this year. After 2011 we didn't know where Djokovic's game would be, but even he felt he could possibly carry on and repeat last year, and at this rate, he might just be right! One thing is for sure, Djokovic is the player to beat in 2012, and undoubtedly the world's best player. I also think that its possibly that Andy could move up in the rankings this year and usurp Roger to get to number 3, whether or not he does we shall find out as the year progresses. But it really says something about the top four guys in tennis, they really are that league above everyone else, and yeah ok you can say that its really the top 3 and Andy, but I think Andy as he said has closed that gap. And it also really says a lot about the other top three guys that they are the only ones to have managed to take Djokovic the distance in a grand slam match.
Anyway it was quite an encounter between the world's two best players and they both gave very fine speeches in the award ceremony, with Rafa joking about how early it was in the morning to the crowd, and they were also rightly given seats afterwards as well! It will certainly take a long time for both players to recover physically from this match and where it goes from here we will soon find out.
Right well that's enough tennis for now, more to follow soon, with the ladies next week coming from the Suez Open in Paris, where some of the top seeds will be playing such as Maria Sharapova, Marion Bartoli and Jelena Jankovic, so that should be good. And I will be going to Great Britain's Davis cup tie out at Braehead arena again next month, which unfortunately this time will not include Andy Murray as he is taking time off due to niggling injuries, he picked up in Australia. So that means GB will have a tough time against their next opponents, Slovakia, as they have a few players that are ranked inside the top 100, and with the absence of Andy, it will be tougher for them to come through. Fortunately the GB team still have James Ward, who is an excellent singles player, ranked around 160, and they also have the great doubles partnership of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins. Last time Hutchins himself played a singles rubber round match (a dead one) and he won the match, but this time they will be up against sterner opposition. But hopefully the GB team will be able to come through what should be a testing round robin.
So that's enough tennis for now. Till the next one, bye the now!
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