2012 Australian Open final

Novak Djokovic d. Rafael Nadal

5–7 6–4 6–2 6–7(5) 7–5

29 January 20125 h 53 minLongest Grand Slam final

How it unfolded

Fourth set, 4–3
Djokovic had three break points in a row at 0–40. Nadal saved them all, then came back from 3–5 in the tiebreak to win it 7–5.
BBC; ESPN
Fifth set, 4–2, 30–15
With Djokovic stranded, Nadal missed an open backhand wide. 'It's true I had big mistake with 30–15,' he said. Djokovic broke back that game.
AP; BBC
Fifth set, 5–5
Djokovic broke again and served it out, saving the 26th break point of the match in the final game.
BBC

The stat sheet

DjokovicNadal

Aces

Double faults

59%

First serves in

67%

68%

First-serve points won

65%

63%

Second-serve points won

47%

7/20

Break points won

4/6

193

Total points won

176

Share of points by rally length, this final against the other classic finals.

1–3 shots4–67–910+

Match Charting Project. Rally length counts every shot, including the serve.

Half the points lasted three shots or fewer and 19 % lasted ten or more, the longest rally profile of any of our classic finals. Nadal won 35 of the 68 long rallies.
Match Charting Project
The longest rally was 31 shots, at 4–4 in the fifth with Nadal serving.
Australian Open; Match Charting Project
Djokovic won 63 % of his second-serve points to Nadal's 47 %, the clearest gap in the stat sheet.
tennis-db; Wikipedia

What a club player can take from it

Nadal's early plan was to break predictable cross-court patterns with flat balls down the line. When he drifted back into defence, he got pinned back.
ESPN live breakdown

The 2012 Australian Open final, Djokovic against Nadal: 5 hours 53 minutes.

31 shots by the tournament's count and the charting, at 4–4 in the fifth set. ESPN counted 32.

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