by Lisa-Marie Burrows, Special for Tennis Grandstand
World No.1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic was victorious once again on Rod Laver Arena in a spectacular Australian Open Final to win his third straight major championship after defeating Rafael Nadal 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 at Melbourne Park.
Novak Djokovic captures his third Australian Open title
The two current greatest players in the world locked horns for an epic 5 hours and 53-minutes in a match that had more twists and turns than a rollercoaster, finishing at 1:37am local time. It was a war of attrition, physicality and mental strength between the rivals, but it was the defending champion, Djokovic, (who won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open last year) that was victorious and retained his title in a marathon match.
The fitness of Novak Djokovic was questionable at the start of the match, as he needed almost five hours to fend off Andy Murray in the semifinals, but the Serb refused to give in to any achi...
Original Story:
