MELBOURNE, Australia — Nearly four years ago, Rafael Nadal was on the winning end of an epic major final — a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7 victory over Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2008.
Nadal said he ranks his five-set loss to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final alongside that Wimbledon match as two of the most memorable he has ever played.
Nadal came up short against Djokovic in a match that evoked memories of his Wimbledon final against Federer, which was equally dramatic and tense, though not nearly as long. The Spaniard finished off Federer in 4 hours, 48 minutes.
“For me it was a little bit more special, the 2008 (Wimbledon final),” Nadal said. “But I really understand that (tonight) was a really special match, and probably a match that gonna be in my mind not because I lost, no, because the way that we played.”
Just because it was special, though, doesn’t mean Nadal wants to ever sit through it again.
When asked if he’d ever watch the match on video, he replied: “Too long. Highlights only.”
Odds and ends
The previous longest men’s Grand Slam final was 4:54, when Mats Wilander defeated Ivan Lendl in five sets at the 1988 U.S. Open.
• The previous longest men’s final at the Australian Open was in 1988, when Wilander defeated Pat Cash in five sets in 4:27.
• The longest men’s match in history is American John Isner’s 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7) 7-6 (3), 70-68 first-round defeat of Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010, which lasted a whopping 11 hours, 5 minutes.
