Men's Tennis: 5 longest Australian Open matches

# Novak Djokovic vs Rafael Nadal – Final, 2012

Regarded by many to be the greatest Grand Slam match of all-time, the 2012 finals match-up between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal is not only the longest Australian Open match of all-time, it is also the longest Grand Slam final across all eras. going into the final, Djokovic had already spent 4 hours and 50 minutes on court in his semi-final win over Andy Murray. But Djokovic had gotten the better off Nadal on 6 of their previous meetings.

The match was simply a treat to watch and even in the 5th set, a 32 shot rally was produced by the two 'Iron Men' much to the amazement of the audience.

Nadal managed to break Djokovic twice in the first set and took the set 7-5 despite losing his own serve once. The second and third set saw a ruthless Djokovic find his groove on serve to take both sets comfortably. At 4-3 in the fourth set, Nadal was facing defeat at 0-40 on his own serve against the greatest returner of serve that tennis has ever had. It was then that Nadal found some extra reserve of energy and began hitting winners on his forehand from ridiculous angles. He saved the breakpoints and levelled the score at 4-4. He rapturously punched the air and was cheered by the Australian crowd who wanted a fifth set.

Nadal had the momentum and the crowd support and used it to level the match by taking the 4th set in a tiebreaker. The 5th set was a see-saw clash as Nadal raced to a 4-2 lead by breaking Djokovic. But the defending champion was gifted the break in the next game with an uncharacteristic forehand error from Nadal. Djokovic, the relentless warrior, broke Nadal again and saved a break point on his own serve with a thunderous inside-out forehand before finally winning the match. The final score read 5–7, 6–4, 6–2, 6–7 (5–7), 7–5 as the match lasted 5 hours and 53 minutes.