The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually over the last fortnight of January in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. The following history of the development of the Open was taken from a current Wikepedia article, and is copied here for the information of readers.
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually over the last fortnight of January in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open,Wimbledon and the US Open. It features men’s and women’s singles; men’s, women’s and mixed doubles and junior’s championships; as well as wheelchair, legends and exhibition events. Prior to 1988 it was played on grass courts, but since then two types of hardcourt surfaces have been used at Melbourne Park – green coloured Rebound Ace up to 2007 and, afterwards, blue Plexicushion.
First held in 1905, the Australian Open is now the largest annual sporting event in the Southern Hemisphere. The tournament holds the record for the highest attendance at a Grand Slam event, with 743,667 people attending the 2018 Australian Open. It was also the first Grand Slam tournament to feature indoor play during wet weather or extreme heat with its three primary courts, the Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Arena and the refurbished Margaret Court Arena equipped with retractable roofs.
he Australian Open is managed by Tennis Australia, formerly the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia (LTAA), and was first played at the Warehouseman’s Cricket Ground in Melbourne in November 1905. This facility is now known as the Albert Reserve Tennis Centre.
The tournament was first known as the Australasian Championships and then became the Australian Championships in 1927 and the Australian Open in 1969. Since 1905, the Australian Open has been staged in five Australian and two New Zealand cities: Melbourne (55 times), Sydney (17 times),Adelaide (14 times), Brisbane (7 times), Perth (3 times), Christchurch (1906) and Hastings (1912). Though started in 1905, the tournament was not designated as being a major championship until 1924, by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) at a 1923 meeting. The tournament committee changed the structure of the tournament to include seeding at that time. In 1972, it was decided to stage the tournament in Melbourne each year because it attracted the biggest patronage of any Australian city. The tournament was played at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club from 1972 until the move to the new Melbourne Park complex in 1988.
The new facilities at Melbourne Park (formerly Flinders Park) were envisaged to meet the demands of a tournament that had outgrown Kooyong’s capacity. The move to Melbourne Park was an immediate success, with a 90 per cent increase in attendance in 1988 (266,436) on the previous year at Kooyong (140,000).
Because of Australia’s geographic remoteness, very few foreign players entered this tournament in the early 20th century. In the 1920s, the trip by ship from Europe to Australia took about 45 days. The first tennis players who came by boats were the US Davis Cup players in November 1946. Even inside the country, many players could not travel easily. When the tournament was held in Perth, no one from Victoria or New South Wales crossed by train, a distance of about 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) between the east and west coasts. In Christchurch in 1906, of a small field of 10 players, only two Australians attended and the tournament was won by a New Zealander.
The first tournaments of the Australasian Championships suffered from the competition of the other Australasian tournaments. Before 1905, all Australian states and New Zealand had their own championships, the first organised in 1880 in Melbourne and called the Championship of the Colony of Victoria (later the Championship of Victoria). In those years, the best two players – Australian Norman Brookes (whose name is now written on the men’s singles cup) and New Zealander Anthony Wilding – almost did not play this tournament. Brookes came once and won in 1911, and Wilding entered and won the competition twice (1906 and 1909). Their meetings in the Victorian Championships (or at Wimbledon) helped to determine the best Australasian players. Even when the Australasian Championships were held in Hastings, New Zealand, in 1912, Wilding, though three times Wimbledon champion, did not come back to his home country. It was a recurring problem for all players of the era. Brookes went to Europe only three times, where he reached the Wimbledon Challenge Round once and then won Wimbledon twice. Thus, many players had never played the Austral(as)ian amateur or open championships: the Doherty brothers, William Larned, Maurice McLoughlin, Beals Wright, Bill Johnston, Bill Tilden,Rene Lacoste, Henri Cochet, Bobby Riggs, Jack Kramer, Ted Schroeder, Pancho Gonzales, Budge Patty, and others, while Brookes, Ellsworth Vines, Jaroslav Drobný, came just once. Even in the 1960s and 1970s, when travel was less difficult, leading players such as Manuel Santana, Jan Kodeš, Manuel Orantes, Ilie Năstase (who only came once, when 35 years old) and Björn Borg came rarely or not at all.
Beginning in 1969, when the first Australian Open was held on the Milton Courts at Brisbane, the tournament was open to all players, including professionals who were not allowed to play the traditional circuit. Nevertheless, except for the 1969 and 1971 tournaments, many of the best players missed this championship until 1982, because of the remoteness, the inconvenient dates (around Christmas and New Year’s Day) and the low prize money. In 1970, George MacCalls National Tennis League, which employed Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Andrés Gimeno, Pancho Gonzales, Roy Emerson and Fred Stolle, prevented its players from entering the tournament because the guarantees were insufficient. The tournament was won by Arthur Ashe
In 1983, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe and Mats Wilander entered the tournament. Wilander won the singles title and both his Davis Cup singles rubbers in the Swedish loss to Australia at Kooyong shortly after. Following the 1983 Australian Open, the International Tennis Federation prompted the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia to change the site of the tournament, because the Kooyong stadium was then inappropriate to serve such a big event. In 1988 the tournament was first held at Flinders Park (later renamed Melbourne Park). The change of the venue also led to a change of the court surface from grass to a hard court surface known as Rebound Ace.. Mats Wilander was the only player to win the tournament on both grass and hard courts. In 2008, after being used for 20 years, the Rebound Ace was replaced by a cushioned, medium-paced acrylic surface known as Plexicushion Prestige. Roger Federer and Serena Williams are the only players to win the Australian Open on both Rebound Ace and Plexicushion Prestige. The main benefits of the new surface are better consistency and less retention of heat because of a thinner top layer. This change was accompanied by changes in the surfaces of all lead-up tournaments to the Australian Open. The change was controversial because of the new surface’s similarity to DecoTurf, the surface used by the US Open.
Before the Melbourne Park stadium era, tournament dates fluctuated as well, in particular in the early years because of the climate of each site or exceptional events. For example, the 1919 tournament was held in January 1920 (the 1920 tournament was played in March) and the 1923 tournament in Brisbane took place in August when the weather was not too hot and wet. After a first 1977 tournament was held in December 1976 – January 1977, the organisers chose to move the next tournament forward a few days, then a second 1977 tournament was played (ended on 31 December), but this failed to attract the best players. From 1982 to 1985, the tournament was played in mid-December. Then it was decided to move the next tournament to mid-January (January 1987), which meant there was no tournament in 1986. Since 1987, the Australian Open date has not changed. However, some top players, including Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, have said that the tournament is held too soon after the Christmas and New Year holidays, thus preventing players from reaching their best form, and expressed a desire to shift it to February. Such a change, however, would move the tournament outside the summer school holiday period, potentially impacting attendance figures.
In 2008 New South Wales authorities made clear their desire to bid for hosting rights to the tournament once Melbourne’s contract expired in 2016. The proposal met a scathing response from Wayne Kayler-Thomson, the head of the Victorian Events Industry Council, who labelled it “disappointing that NSW cannot be original and seek their own events instead of trying to cannibalise other Australian cities”. The prospect of moving the tournament is unlikely as over the following years the precinct was upgraded with enhanced facilities for players and spectators. Notably a retractable roof was placed over Margaret Court Arena, making the Open the first of the four Grand Slams to have retractable roofs available on three of their show courts.[19] The player and administrative facilities, as well as access points for spectators, were improved and the tournament site expanded its footprint out of Melbourne Park into nearby Birrarung Marr. A fourth major show court, seating 5,000 people is expected to be completed in the coming years.
In December 2018, tournament organisers announced the Australian Open would follow the examples set by Wimbledon and the US Open and introduce tie-breaks in the final sets of men’s and women’s singles matches. Unlike Wimbledon and the US Open, which initiate conventional tie-breaks at 12-12 games and 6-6 games respectively, the Australian Open utilises a first to 10 points breaker at 6 games all.
The Australian Open is played at Melbourne Park, which is located in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct; the event moved to this site in 1988. Currently 3 of the courts used have retractable roofs, allowing play to continue during rain and extreme heat. As of 2017 spectators can also observe play at show courts 2 and 3, which have capacities of 3,000 each,as well as at Courts 7–15, 19 and 20 from small accessible viewing positions. Construction of a new 5,000 seat capacity stadium will start in 2019 as part of a $271 million redevelopment of the precinct. Since 2008, all of the courts used during the Australian Open are hard courts with Plexicushion acrylic surfaces (though Melbourne Park does have 8 clay courts not used for the tournament). This replaced the Rebound Ace surface used from the opening of Melbourne Park. The ITF rates the surface’s speed as medium.
The 2019 Tournament – 14th to the 27th January – the results
The most recent Australian winners of the Australian Open were:
- Men: 1976: Mark Edmondson;
- Women: 1978: Chris O’Neill
The 2019 tournament has hopeful [for Australia] entries in the Singles competition of 128 Men and 128 Women, and is played as an Elimination process over 7 rounds, the 7th Round representing the respective Finals in each case, which are played over the final weekend of the two week event.
As this document is prepared from an Australian perspective, I have only included the respective Australian competitors results up until the Quarter Final, at which point, all results will be indicated.
Round of 128
Men
Rafael Nadal [Spain] defeated John Duckworth [Australia] 6-4,6-3, 7-5
Thomas Fabbiano [Italy] defeated Jason Kubler [Australia] 6-4,7-6,2-6,6-3
Rafael Nadal [Spain] defeated John Duckworth [Australia] 6-4,6-3, 7-5
Alex de Minaur [Australia] defeated Pedro Sousa [Portugal] 6-4,7-5,6-4.
Marin Cilic [Croatia] defeated Bernard Tomic [Australia] 6-2,6-4,7-6
John Millman [Australia] defeated Frederico Delbonis [Argentine] 6-3,3-6,7-6,6-2.
Jordan Thompson [Australia] defeated Feliciano Lopeza [Spain] 6-1,7-6,6-3
Denis Kudia [USA] defeated Marc Polmans [Australia] 5-7,1-6,6-2,6-3,6-2
Matthew Ebden [Australia] defeated Jan-Lennard Struff [Germany] 1-6,6-4,6-3,6-4.
Taro Daniel [Japan] defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis [Australia] [retired injured] 5-7,4-2
Alex Bolt [Australia] defeated Jack Sock [USA} 4-6,6-3,6-2,6-2.
Milos Raonic [Canada] defeated Nick Kyrgios [Australia] 6-4,7-6,6-4.
Alexei Popyrin [Australia] defeated Mischa Zverev [Germany] 7-5,7-6,6-4.
Women
Astra Sharma [Australia] defeated Priscilla Hon [Australia] 7-5,4-6,6-1.
Zoe Hives [Australia] defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands [USA] 6-1,6-2.
Ashleigh Barty [Australia] defeated Luksika Kumkhum [Thailand] 6-2,6-2.
Yafan Wang [China] defeated Ellen Perez [Australia 6-4,6-0.
Kimberly Birrell [Australia] defeated Paula Badosa Gilbert [Spain] 6-4,6-2.
Dayana Yastremska [Ukraine] defeated Samantha Stosur [Australia] 7-5,6-2
Johanna Konta [Great Britain] defeated Alja Tomljanovic [Australia] 7-6,2-6,7-6.
Madison Keys [USA] defeated Destanee Alava [Australia] 6-2,6-2.
Tamara Zidansek [Slovania] defeated Daria Gavrilova [Australia] 7-5,6-3.
Australian Open – Round of 64 [Day 3] [the Aussies]
Men
Andreas Seppi [Italy] defeated Jordan Thompson [Australia] 6-3,6-4,6-4
Roberto Bautista Agut [Spain] defeated John Millman [Australia] 6-3,61,3-6,6-7, 6-4
Alex de Minaur [Australia] defeated Henri Laaksonen {Switzerland] 6-4,6-2,6-7,4-6,6-3.
Rafael Nadal [Spain] defeated Matthew Ebden [Australia] 6-3,6-2,6-2.
Alex Bolt [Australia] defeated Gilles Simon [France] 2-6,6-4,4-6,7-6,6-4
Alexei Popyrin [Australia] defeated Dominic Thiem [Austria] 7-5,6-4,2-0 [Thiem retired]
Women
Caroline Garcia [France] defeated Zoe Hives [Australia] 6-3,6-3
Ashleigh Barty [Australia] defeated Yafan Wang [China] 6-2,6-3.
Maria Sakkari [Greece] defeated Astra Sharma [Australia] 6-1,6-4.
Kimberly Birrell [Australia] defeated Donna Vekic [Croatia] 6-4,4-6,6-1
- Highlight of the day – Kimberley Birrell [World ranking of 240] and her wonderful win over her more fancied Croation opponent [ranked 29 in the World]
- Brave effort by Zoe, the young farm girl from down Ballarat way, she might have lost the match, but I’m sure the $100,000 Round 2 earnings won’t go astray!!
- Highlight of the night – massive five set battles for two of the Aussies, for one winner, and a loser who got close;
- Quote of the day [nothing negative about this one] – “I’m enjoying my game – but if I lose, the sun still comes up tomorrow, it’s all good” [Ash Barty]
Australian Open – Round of 32 [Day 5 and 6] [the Aussies]
Men
Rafael Nadal [Spain] defeated Alex de Minaur [Australia 6-1,6-2,6-4.
[Alex is only one of two teenagers currently in the top 100 male players in the World].
Men
Alexander Zverev [Germany] defeated Alex Bolt [Australia] 6-3,6-3,6-2.
Lucas Pouille [France] defeated Alexie Popyrin [Australia] 7-6,6-3,6-7,4-6,6-3.
Women
Ashleigh Barty [Australia] defeated Maria Sakkari [Greece] 7-5,6-1.
Angelique Kerber [Germany] defeated Kimberly Birrell [Australia] 6-1,6-0.
Australian Open – Round of 16 [Day 7 – the Aussies]
From a starting list of 22 players, the Aussies have just Ash Barty left in the Singles competition – she will play her 4th round match early this afternoon against the ‘screamer’ – Maria Sharapova – who has won this tournament on two occasions a decade ago.
Ashleigh Barty [Australia] defeated Maria Sharapova [Russia] 4-6,6-1,6-4
From ABC News: Ashleigh Barty has made the quarter-finals of a major for the first time in her promising career after coming from a set down to beat former champion Maria Sharapova in a gripping encounter at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Key points:
- Ashleigh Barty is the first Australian in the women’s quarter-finals since 2009
- She will play Petra Kvitova in the last eight
- Sharapova was booed by the Rod Laver Arena crowd after taking a lengthy bathroom break
Barty, who went into the match under an injury cloud due to an abdominal strain, dropped the first set but fought back in convincing fashion to defeat the 2008 winner Sharapova 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena.
She had four match points before sealing victory and becomes the first Australian through to the last eight of the women’s draw since Jelena Dokic’s run at Melbourne Park 10 years ago.
The match had the potential to spill over into controversy when Sharapova took a seven-minute bathroom break after the second set, which drew a chorus of boos from the crowd once she returned to the court.
If it was designed to put Barty off her game it did not work, as Barty broke the five-time major winner immediately and then added a second service break.
Sharapova grabbed a break back and almost another when Barty was serving at 4-3, but the Queenslander held and then pushed through to claim the three-set triumph in two hours and 22 minutes.
The Quarter Final Matches – 2019 Australian Open
Stefanos Tsitsipas returns to action on day nine of the Australian Ope on Tuesday. After eliminating defending champion Roger Federer, the Greek prodigy takes on Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut with a possible semi-final against Rafael Nadal on the horizon. Nadal must first overcome American youngster Frances Tiafoe, who he takes on his last eight match.
Petra Kvitova meanwhile is in action against Australia’s own Ashleigh Barty.
The Quarter Finals line up
Men:
Tuesday
Stefanos Tsitsipas [Greece] defeated Roberto Bautista Agut [Spain] 7-5,4-6,6-4,7-6
Rafael Nadal [Spain] defeated Frances Tiafoe [USA} 6-3,6-4,6-2.
Women:
Tuesday
Danielle Rose Collins [USA] defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova [Russia] 2-6,7-5,6-1.
- My Face Book note this evening – Good luck to Ash Barty tonight vs Petra Kvitova, in her quarterfinal game, thankfully her expectations are not over the top, in comparison to the media, commentators and ‘experts’ who already have her playing next Saturday night!! Talk about adding extra pressure on the girl. Win or lose, Ash is our first woman to get this far in 10 years (last one was current Open commentator Jelena Dokic, whose recent book revealed much of what she had to go through, at the hands of her father) and if Ash wins tonight, she will be the first Australian women into the semi-finals since Wendy Turnbull in 1984!!.
Petra Kvitova [Czech Republic] defeated Ashleigh Barty [Australia] 6-1,6-4.
- Well the Barty party is over, for the time being, our girl went down to a powerful player 6-1, 6-4 – Kvitora could go on and win this event!!
- No more Aussies remaining in this year’s Australian Open, not an unusual situation for many years now, sadly.
- From Fox Sports – After a day session featuring two surprise semi-finalists, it was a night for the favourites at the Australian Open. Rafael Nadal powered into the final four with a straight sets win over young American Frances Tiafoe, 6-3 6-4 6-2. While the unseeded Tiafoe did challenge the Spaniard at times, including saving three set points in the second set, he was ultimately no match for the 17-time slam champion. Nadal now sits just two wins away from being the first man to achieve a career double grand slam in the Open era………….Earlier, Ash Barty ran into a freight train named Petra Kvitova in her Australian Open quarter-final, as the Aussie was knocked out in straight sets. After a dominant first set by Kvitova, Barty looked much better in the second, but was still unable to overcome the powerful dual Wimbledon champion in a 1-6 4-6 loss. It took just 27 minutes for Kvitova to claim the opening set against Barty, with the Czech eighth seed hitting 12 winners to her opponent’s two. That took the partisan crowd out of the match early. In the second set, the Aussie battled back, earning a break point up 1-0 but being unable to convert it. Still, she held serve in her first four service games, before Kvitova finally broke through. Barty can hold her head high after making a grand slam quarter-final for the first time, becoming the first Aussie woman to do it at the Australian Open in a decade. Kvitova will now be a hot favourite to make the Australian Open final, as she will face unheralded American Danielle Collins in her semi-final. In a battle of unseeded players, Collins – who had never won a main draw grand slam match before this tournament – came back from a set down to defeat Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 2-6 7-5 6-1.
Wednesday
Women
Naomi Osaka [Japan] defeated Elina Svitolina [Ukraine] 6-4,6-1
Karolina Pliskova [Czech Republic] defeated Serena Williams [USA} 6-4,4-6,7-5
Men
Novak Djokovic [Serbia] defeated Kei Nishikori [Japan] 6-1,4-1 [retired injured]
Lucas Pouille [France] defeated Milos Raonic [Canada] 7-6,6-3,6-7,6-4
The Semi Finals on Thursday, 24 January; Friday 25th January
Men
Rafael Nadal [Spain] defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas [Greece] 6-2,6-4,6-0.
Novak Djokovic [Serbia] defeated Lucas Pouille [France] 6-0,6-2,6-2
Women
Petra Kvitova [Czech Republic] defeated Danielle Rose Collins [USA] 7-6,6-0
Naomi Osaka [Japan] defeated Karolina Pliskova [Czech Republic] 6-2,4-6,6-4
Earlier, Australia’s Samantha Stosur finally, after a decade, won another tournament in Australia [her first home title in 8 years, and just her second on home soil] – partnering with China’s Shuai Zhang, the pair defeated the defending champions in the Women’s Doubles Final – Timea Babos [Hungary] and Kristina Mladenovic [France] 6-3,6-4. This was Stosur’s 3rd win in this Grand Slam event, the others being at the 2005 US Open, and the 2006 French Open. She has won seven Grand Slam titles including the US Open Singles Title in 2011, and three Mixed Doubles titles {Australia 2005, and Wimbledon, 2008 and 2014].
Additional Finals were played over the last weekend of January
Saturday:
Women’s Final: Naomi Osaka [Japan] defeated Petra Kvitova [Czech Republic] 7-6,5-7,6-4
From Fox Sports – Naomi Osaka has overcome a mid-match meltdown to claim the 2019 Australian Open title.
The 21-year-old blew three championship points when she was up a set and a break in the second set, with Petra Kvitova stunning Rod Laver Arena with an enormous comeback to force a decider.
But instead of shrinking in the spotlight, Osaka showed great maturity to gather her thoughts and swing the momentum back in her favour. Osaka took out the title, 7-6(7-2), 5-7,6-4 in just under two and a half hours. It was the fourth seed’s second Grand Slam victory, after Osaka took out the 2018 US Open at Flushing Meadows in somewhat acrimonious circumstances.
Kvitova can console herself with a career-best performance at Melbourne Park, where she did not drop a set on her way to the final. It was her first Grand Slam decider since a burglar slashed her racquet hand in a 2016 knife attack and the Czech has shown she is again a contender at the majors. “Thank you for sticking with me even when we didn’t know if I would able to hold a racquet again,” Kvitova told her team, with her voice cracking. “It’s crazy. I can hardly believe that I just played in a Grand Slam final again.”
Mixed Doubles Final: Barbara Krejcikova [Czech Republic] & Rajeev Ram [USA] defeated John-Patrick Smith & Astra Sharma [Australia] 7-6,6-1
From ninenews.com – The fairytale run of Australian wildcard pair Astra Sharma and John-Patrick Smith has come to an end in the Australian Open mixed doubles final. The wildcard entries have enjoyed a stellar fortnight at Melbourne Park but were outplayed in the decider on Saturday night, losing 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 to third seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Rajeev Ram.
Sunday,
Men’s Doubles Final: Nicholas Mahut & Pierre-Hugeus Herbert [France] defeated John Peers [Australia] & Henri Continen [Finland] 6-4,7-6
From the Brisbane Times: French duo Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert have defeated Australian John Peers and his Finnish partner Henri Kontinen in the men’s doubles final, emerging 6-4, 7-6 victors in a tightly-fought affair. Peers and Kontinen, the 2017 Australian Open champions who had reached this final as twelfth seeds without losing a set, were left to rue lapses in crucial moments. Speaking after the match, Herbert, 10 years the junior to his 37-year-old partner, enjoyed the sentimental win that nets the pair $750,000. “We started here in 2015 with our first tournament together – we went all the way to the final but missed out by one match. Now we’ve won all the grand slams together, and I don’t know what to say.”
In doing so the fifth-seeded Frenchmen, who played their first tournament together here in Melbourne in 2015, completed their career doubles Grand Slam
Men’s Final: Rafael Nadal [Spain] versus Novak Djokovic [Serbia]
From BBC Sport: Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will renew their long-standing rivalry in an Australian Open final where both can create new records. Djokovic is aiming for a record seventh men’s Melbourne title, while Nadal can become the first man in the Open era to win all the Grand Slams at least twice. Sunday’s match will be an ATP record-extending 53rd meeting between them. “It is the biggest rivalry we’ve seen in tennis history,” Australian former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash said. The top two seeds meet at Melbourne Park for the first time since their epic five-set final in 2012, which Djokovic won with almost six hours on the clock.
Djokovic, 31, leads their head-to-head 27-25, with eight victories in their past 10 matches – including their memorable 2018 Wimbledon semi-final five-setter which stretched over two days. “I’ve played so many matches against him, epic matches on this court,” said the Serb. “I’m sure we’re going to have a good final.”
Spaniard Nadal, 32, said he was happy to have shared “very special moments” on court with Djokovic.
Final Result. Men’s Singles Final: Novak Djokovic [Serbia] defeated Rafael Nadal [Spain] 6-3,6-2,6-3
From BBC Sport:
Novak Djokovic won a record seventh Australian Open title and a third successive Grand Slam as he swept aside Rafael Nadal in Melbourne. The Serb, rarely troubled on his serve, won 6-3 6-2 6-3 for his biggest victory in a major final over his great rival.Spanish second seed Nadal, 32, looked rattled by the world number one’s intensity and made 28 unforced errors.Djokovic, 31, won in two hours and four minutes to move clear of six-time men’s winners Roy Emerson and Roger Federer.A forehand winner down the line brought up two championship points, Djokovic taking the second when Nadal clubbed a backhand long. Djokovic, who was the top seed, fell to his knees after sealing another triumph on Rod Laver Arena, smacking the court with both hands and screaming towards the sky.
The reigning Wimbledon and US Open champion claimed his 15th Grand Slam title, moving him outright third ahead of American Pete Sampras in the all-time list, closing in on Switzerland’s Federer (20) and Nadal (17).
Djokovic has now won 13 of his past 16 meetings with Nadal, who has not beaten the Serb on a hard court since the US Open final in 2013.
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