Djokovic beats Nadal, wins Australian Open 2012 for 5th Grand Slam

In the longest Australian Open men's singles final in history, world #1 Novak Djokovic stamped his mastery over his closest challenger, #2 Rafael Nadal, by winning a memorable fifth set battle that lasted beyond midnight. His 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 victory is his third consecutive Grand Slam final win over his Spanish rival. It was also Djokovic's seventh consecutive victory over Nadal since January 2011 and has now edged closer in their head-to-head match-up by winning 14 of the 30 matches. Djokovic showed unmatched mental fortitude during the five hour battle even when Nadal conjured a scintillating fourth set comeback after losing decisively in the second and third sets. Djokovic celebrated his fifth grand slam title and third Australian Open title by ripping his shirt in front of a boisterous and adoring crowd.

There were a total of 369 points in the match with Djokovic winning 193 of them. Nadal was better in first serve accuracy by putting 67% of his first serves in while Djokovic served 59%. Nadal had 10 aces against Djokovic's 9 aces, but Nadal had 4 double faults while Djokovic had 2. Djokovic had a faster average serve for both his first and second serves. Djokovic came out on top on the number of winners with 57 while Nadal had 44. Nadal and Djokovic almost had the same number of unforced errors with Nadal's count at 71 while Djokovic had 69. Watch the Australian Open 2012 singles final highlights.

Rafael Nadal interview quote: "I think we played a great tennis match. It was I think a very good show, my opinion. I enjoyed being part of this event and this match. That's the true, no?

I wanted to win, but I am happy about how I did. I had my chances against the best player of the world today. I played one against one. For a long time I didn't felt that I was playing in less advantage than him, you know.

I didn't play at lower level than him for a long time, so that's a very positive thing for me. I am very happy about my mentality tonight, the mentality worked like in my best moments."

Novak Djokovic interview quote: 'I'm very proud just to be part of this history, part of the elite of the players that have won this tournament for several times, and I was very flattered to be playing in front of Rod Laver, in front of the alltime greats, and in front of 15,000 people that stayed until 1:30 a.m.

It's incredible, really."

Novak Djokovic on preparing for the French Open 2012: "I'm prioritizing Grand Slams this year, as every year, and Olympic Games. I think that's one of my highest goals.

That doesn't mean of course that I'm not gonna prepare well and perform my best on the other tournaments. It's just that, you know, the Grand Slams matter the most.

So I want to do well and I want to get the first final at least in Paris, you know. I have never been in finals there, and I have a feeling that I'm ready this year to achieve that."