N Djokovic d R Nadal 6-3 6-2 6-3
Defying gravity, Novak Djokovic is rising to new heights. At Rod Laver arena on Sunday night, he obliterated great rival Rafael Nadal to win a record seventh Australian Open, his third major in a row, to consolidate himself at No 1 and put a gap between himself and No 2 Nadal, on the night and in the rankings. For now, he is the best of the rest.
This was Djokovic's 15th major championship. At 32, and with the one lull in his career now squarely in the past, he has power and disposition to add. He has beaten Roger Federer to the Australian record; who would dare to say that he won't surpass Federer’s overall record? He trails only by five. Incidentally, his record in Melbourne is seven finals for seven wins.
Belligerent: Novak Djokovic wins a key point as he steamrolls Rafael Nadal on centre court.Credit:Eddie Jim
Austere and earnest, Djokovic is not cherished as are Federer and Nadal, but he must now command universal and unconditional admiration.
The final was an anti-climax, but the performance was a pinnacle for Djokovic. He had described his tennis in his semi as "divine", not unreasonably. Now he broke earthly shackles altogether. In the first set, he dropped one point on serve. In the second, he made one unforced error. He did not face a break point until the third set, and it would remain one. These figures would add up against a qualifier in the first round, but this was Nadal in a final. Que?
Higher vision: Djokovic holds up the Australian Open trophy.Credit:AP
Prospectively, the best way to address this match was to read through the wealth of statistics and then shred them. As Djokovic noted, they were synthesised from and applied to only matches against quantitatively and qualitatively lesser opposition, not each other.
For instance, Nadal had not lost a set in the tournament, and not lost a service game since the first round (take a bow, James Duckworth). It took five minutes for the serve stat to become redundant, just more than half an hour for him to lose a set, two hours to lose all three. This was the scale of Djokovic's domination.
Until they meet again: The two titans shake hands at the net.Credit:AP
Pace Djokovic, pre-match: "It's quite different playing against me, me against him. I think it adds more maybe pressure on his serve and my serve, as well, because we return well. I'm going to get out there and obviously try to dictate the play. But it's easier said than done against Nadal." This night, it was done, easily.
When mined, the data showed that as a rule, Nadal worked harder, spent more kiloujoules, sprinted more and made more sharp changes of direction than Djokovic, who at his best rules as a great squash player rules, by somehow keeping the ball always within range. But that was the rule, and this match-up was in every sense the exception. One factor could not be ignored, though. Djokovic had won their previous seven clashes on hard courts. He was on home ground. Small wonder that when it was done, he went on hands and knees and kissed it.
Proud moment: Djokovic swathed in the Serbian flag.Credit:AAP
From semi to final, this was now the divine to the sublime, the sublime subjugating a divine. So supreme was Djokovic that he dropped only one point on serve for the set, in the last game. So confident was he that he played repeatedly to Nadal's forehand, his legendary strength, but so cleanly and precisely that Nadal found himself stranded behind the baseline, time and time again, and even there, he was often defenceless. Almost literally, Djokovic drove Nadal off the court.
There can be nothing they do not know about each other's games, even with recent modifications, but they also know that anything is possible for either. For Nadal, here was a rueful reminder.
Nadal did his damnedest to chisel an opening back into the match. One feathery drop shot prompted a thumb's up from Djokovic. Grace prevailed along with Djokovic; triumphalism could wait for home. But he was unstoppable, sealing off the second set with three successive aces. At that point, his unforced error count was a negligible five. In the third set, Nadal's merest gain was to stretch out the points. For Djokovic, though, they became more rope.
Out of sorts: Rafael Nadal was stretched to breaking point in the men’s singles final against Novak Djokovic.Credit:Eddie Jim
Federer's place in immortality is assured, taking into consideration his trophy tally and the indefinables without which sport is merely accounting. But both Djokvoic and Nadal have his measure in major finals, and have five or six years grace on him, and it is now probable that one or both will surpass Federer soon enough.
The unknown the ageing process. Here, each seemed to demonstrate that they have found ways of dealing with it. Both live virtuously anyway, and each has refined his courtcraft. It would be a stretch to say that they are better than seven years ago when they played an all-time great final here, but they are wiser, and that makes them at least as effective.
Then there is their rivalry, the forever unfinished business. At times, Djokovic's great rival was said to be his contemporary, Andy Murray, but in fact Djokovic dominated it. It was also said that Nadal's first order opposition was Federer, but in fact Nadal dominated him. Djokovic and Nadal have played each other more often than any pair in history, and beaten each other more often in majors than any other player, and still there is a hair's breadth between them, Sunday night's night's crunching notwithstanding. In major finals, they lie 4-4, and the next major is the French Open, Nadal's fiefdom.
They are Ali and Foreman, but at arm's length. And Djokovic is Ali.
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