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Day: January 30, 2012
Thriller in the Arena? Marathon in Melbourne?

The game was way past the 3 hour mark when I said to Kiddo I needed to go to bed. Djokovic was 2-1 up and looking good in the fourth and it was about 11.30pm. When I was up at about 5.45am this morning I grabbed the iPad to check out the results…
What do you know – it was a thriller in the Rod Laver Arena, a super-human marathon in Melbourne! The nearly 6 hour 5-set match was almost 9 times as long as a Wimbledon final in 1936 (apparently – thanks to Wikipedia) when Fred Perry won it in 3, in 40 minutes! Djokovic has beaten Nadal so many times now, and has held the Australian Open title 2 years running. What a player he has turned out to be. I remember noticing him when he was making fun of Sharapova, mimicking her actions – hence the “Joker” moniker I guess.
For many people today is back to work day. What a way to finish off the summer holidays for these folks, being treated to a grand tennis match. Thank you Novak and Rafael…
Related articles
- Australian Open 2012: marathon match shows gap between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic is closing (telegraph.co.uk)
- Djokovic beats Murray in five-set thriller (thehimalayantimes.com)
- Nadal: Aussie marathon ranks alongside Wimbledon epic (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
- Novak Djokovic news: Serbian beats Rafael Nadal to retain the Australian Open title (thesun.co.uk)
- Djokovic defeats Nadal in 3rd straight major (cbc.ca)
- Straight Sets: Djokovic Tops Nadal in Five Sets to Win Title (straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com)
- Djokovic beats Nadal in marathon classic to win Australian Open (cnn.com)
- Jon Wertheim: Djokovic wins match for the ages (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
- Djokovic tops Nadal in marathon Australian final (abclocal.go.com)
- You: Djokovic wins Aussie final for the ages (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
- Bird strike ruffles Nadal, Djokovic at Aussie Open (sfgate.com)
- Nadal and Djokovic fire shots ahead of final (reuters.com)
- Nadal, Djokovic trade barbs ahead of final (sports.nationalpost.com)
- VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: Novak Djokovic Vs Rafael Nadal, longest Grand Slam final ever, Australian Open final 2012, (3news.co.nz)
- Djokovic Tops Nadal in Marathon Australian Final – ABC News (abcnews.go.com)