A superhuman effort wiped out Djokovic and Nadal. Emptiness and bleeding fingers

The picture right after the game shows how devastating it was. Traditionally, before competitors receive their trophies, they must listen to what the organizers and sponsors have to say. While officials talked about passion and determination, Djoković and Nadal were just staggering on their feet.

The chairs turned out to be salvation

he stood with folded arms, with a blank stare, he gave the impression of completely oblivious to the speakers. Novak Djoković shifted from foot to foot, stretched, waved his arms, sighed and looked around, flexed his legs. After a minute, both tennis players, as if in sync, bent down, grabbed their knees, and the Serb smiled in helplessness after a while. When the audience applauded, they both did it too, but as if out of necessity, because that’s the way it should be. And if you asked one of them to repeat one of the speakers’ sentences, they would probably have a huge problem with it.

As Steve Healy began his speech, Nadal turned and leaned against the net. Djokovic bent forward, grabbed his ankles and looked around. As if he was looking for an answer to the question: when would he finally stop speaking? After a moment he waved towards one of the organizers who was carrying two chairs. He and Nadal sat down and breathed a sigh of relief. They also got a bottle of cold water. Their nightmare is over.

It was close to not reaching the finals in this ranking at all. In the semi-finals, Djoković had a difficult match against a Scot who was in great shape. He lost to the two-time finalist of the event (in 2010 and 2011) already 1: 2 in sets. He won the fourth game 6: 1, but the decisive set five was again amazing. Djoković was leading in it 5: 2, but Murray showed his character once again in his career, he made up for the losses and led to a draw. In the eleventh game, Serb defended two break-points. A moment later he broke the Brit and won the match.

They broke the Grand Slam record

In the final, Djokovic faced an even more difficult task – a clash with the winner of Roland Garros 2011 and Wimbledon and US Open finalist of the same year – Rafael Nadal. The Serb with the Spaniard played a legendary duel, one of the most dramatic Grand Slam finals, the longest final in history. After five hours and 53 minutes of tennis war, Djoković defeated Rafael Nadal 5: 7, 6: 4, 6: 2, 6: 7 (5: 7), 7: 5 for the seventh time in a row. Tennis players broke the previous record of the AO final by 39 minutes (Nadal from Verdasco in 2009).

Not only that, it was also the longest Grand Slam final. They broke a record that was 24 years old. In 1988, the famous Swedish tennis player won the Czech Ivan Lendl in New York in four hours and 54 minutes.

However, they had a long way to break the record for the match in the Grand Slam tournament. In 2010, at Wimbledon, the French Nicolas Mahut and the American John Isner fought an amazing duel in the first round. After four sets, played in less than three hours, the match was interrupted by the referee due to the falling darkness. The tennis players went out on the court again the next day to play the decisive fifth set. They didn’t finish it! After seven hours of fighting, the referee had to stop the match again due to darkness. Back then it was 59:59 on the scoreboard. It was only on the third day that the duel, which lasted a total of eleven hours and five minutes, was completed. John Isner won 6: 4, 3: 6, 6: 7, 7: 6, 70:68!

Let’s go back to the Djoković – Nadal match. In the fifth set, the Spaniard was leading 4: 2 and it seemed that he would win the trophy. However, the Serb was able to lead to a draw. In the eleventh game, Djoko broke his opponent and served to victory. At 30:15 he broke a straight smash, and a moment later the Spaniard had a break-point. He did not use it, and after a while Djoković fell on the court and torn his shirt with happiness.

“Everything hurt, my toes were bleeding”

– Good morning! – in this way, jokingly, tennis players began their speeches, because in Australia it was already hours. 2 am. 15 thousand people responded with cheers and smiles. – Today everything hurt, my toes were bleeding, but as long as the game is on, I still enjoy the pain. We both physically took the last drops of energy from our bodies. I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired in my life – added the Serb.

He also praised the rival. – Rafa, you are one of the best tennis players in the world, most respected on the tour and you deserve a bow. We both made history today, but unfortunately there could only be one winner. I hope that there are many such meetings ahead of us – said Djoković, who then won his fifth Grand Slam title in his career, and the third one in Melbourne. He also won the third Grand Slam tournament in a row after triumphs at the US Open.

Djoković was also asked if this was the most important victory in his career. “I think it comes out on top of these wins because the mere fact that we’ve been playing for almost six hours is amazing.” I am proud to be in the elite of tennis players who have won this tournament several times. I was very flattered to play in front of Rod Laver, in front of the greatest players of all time, and in front of 15,000 people who stayed until around 2 am, ” added the Serb.

During previous meetings of this tournament, he had problems with breathing, allergies, quadriceps and arm. There was a lot of exaggeration and acting in it, but serious resentments paralyzed him at the end of the previous season.

– Djoković was tired. If he had been rested, he would have won three sets. He is still famous for his mental strength, but after six defeats he has a Djokovic complex. He fought, but he felt constant fear, he could not strike as if he wanted to. Federer has the same complexity when he plays Nadal. The Spaniard’s only chance of victory was to tire Novak. It seemed that the Serb would not be able to play two 5-cents in a row, but even in such circumstances he did. It is also an analogy with Federer, because in 2009 Nadal, tired after five sets in the semi-final against Verdasco, defeated a rested Federer. T.

It’s an easy backhand shot

– I’m very tired. Physically, it was the hardest game I have ever played. We played a great duel. I wanted to win, but I’m happy with what I did anyway. I had my chances with the best player in the world. For a long time I haven’t played at a lower level than he is, so that’s a very positive thing for me – said Nadal.

He also did not hide that he missed a great chance in a decisive set. At the score of 4: 2 and with his service, he was leading 30:15. In the fourth ball of this game, Djoković ran to the net and played badly with a volley. He still made it easily to the ball, but in a simple situation, from backhand to open court, he threw the ball over the sideline. He couldn’t believe he missed, asked for a challenge, but the replay was painful for him.

– I had a good chance to lead 5: 2, it’s an easy backhand. I think about it, but on the other hand in the fourth set I was losing 3: 4 and 0:40. Anything could have happened then, Nadal admitted.

Since then, both tennis players have dominated the world of tennis. Rafael Nadal then won ten Grand Slam tournaments (seven times Roland Garros and three times the US Open), and Novak Djoković as many as fifteen (six times the Australian Open, five times Wimbledon and two times each and the US Open). They have both played 58 times so far. Djoković (30-28) is slightly better.

They both have, along with Roger Federer, 20 Grand Slam tournament victories each. Only Nadal, who defeated Matteo Berrettini 6: 3, 6: 2, 3: 6, 6: 3 in the semi-finals, has a chance to lead himself in the ongoing Australian Open. And in the final, he will face the runner-up of the world ranking, Russian Daniil Medvedev. The Russian defeated Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (4th ATP) 7: 6 (7: 5), 4: 6, 6: 4, 6: 1 in the semi-final.