“We made history tonight,” said Djokovic to Nadal. Five hours and 53 minutes, it wasn’t a match, it was a battle between the “Prince of Serbia and the King of Spain” as my brother aptly put it. As I was listening to the match, yes listening. Long story, I’ll get back to it later. Well, the Australian Open men’s final 2012 started at 2:30 pm IST, and I plugged in my earphones with my eyes on the scoreboard on my laptop. I should have guessed that a match between Rafa and Djoker would require more than the entire afternoon. My mistake, I postponed my grocery shopping for the evening, which eventually happened at night.
The match started and from then it was like a never ending marathon. Initially the match showed signs of Djokovic taking an easy lead despite getting just a day’s rest, but Nadal gradually climbed back post the rain delay and the result was a nail-biting third set. Nadal then also grasped the 4th set leaving the 5th set to be the decider. The clock seemed to go on hold, as neither of the two players was ready to give up. It was as if God was transferring a direct power supply of stamina to both the players. Spectators got tired of clocking their heads from one side to the other, commentators got tired of speaking, but Djoker and Rafa weren’t letting each other go! It came to a moment where Djokovic collapsed on the blue court once due to breathing difficulty, and Nadal had to change his shirts immense number of times as he drained in sweat. Never in my life had I listened to such a match where, it was nearing 1 in the morning and yet it was unclear as to who would win. Suddenly, it became clear. Djokovic clinched a break-point and two minutes later, he was flat on the court. The Djoker finally defended his title and didn’t let it go away from his hands. The 2012 Australian Open champion after a nearing six hour battle was finally taking the prestigious cup and the $2.3 million home. Nadal was dejected, but overall, he said it was a positive match for him where he pushed his limits and knew that mentally he didn’t let Djokovic scare him, and that he was sure that he would come back again and many times. Novak was gracious in his victory and said that it was just too bad that there couldn’t be two winners tonight and that he would never forget this match for its sheer brilliance.
I was stunned beyond belief at the levitating amount of energy on the court displayed by these two master players, and at their immense dedication for the game. There were two winners last night, and anyone who watched the match couldn’t deny it. It was plain magical to see these two legendary players display their skills on the court. I went hysterical at having witnessed such a master game. It was legendary in every sense of the word. Djokovic now joins the ranks of Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to win three consecutive Grand Slams in the consecutive Open year. He also retains the number 1 title, and with the Olympics taking place in July, this might just turn out be the Serb’s golden year.
As for the listening part, well I had no television connection in my apartment yesterday and the internet was too slow, so I listened to the entire match on the Australian Open radio for a continuous six hours. With all the adrenaline pumped in and with just the commentators’ voices to listen to, it turned out to be one of the best matches that I’ve followed till date. The excitement of listening to their strokes and a never letting go spirit made me experience the game that I wouldn’t have otherwise. I missed on doing a lot of things yesterday, including my deadline for internship work and college assignments. But believe me, it was all worth it.
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