Australian Open champion says win is a career best
Novak Djokovic said he was proud to be part of history after winning the longest Grand Slam final ever.
The Serb overcame Rafael Nadal in a gruelling five hours and 53 minutes, also surpassing the record for the longest match in Australian Open history Nadal set when beating Fernando Verdasco in Melbourne three years ago.
In a see-saw encounter Djokovic came out on top 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-7 7-5 and immediately pronounced it the best win of his career.
"Wimbledon is right up there because it was the tournament I always wanted to win but this comes out on top because we played for almost six hours, it was incredible," he said.
"It was the longest grand slam final of all time. Just hearing that fact makes me cry. I am very proud to be a part of history, to be among the elite group of players who have won this trophy several times.
"I had a lot of chances to win it in four sets but he deserved to prolong it and then really both of us could have won the match, it could have gone either way."
Djokovic looked to be on the brink of exhaustion when Nadal led 4-2 in the deciding set, only to dig deep and somehow find a way to win.
"I overcame everything, and that's the most important thing for me," he said. "And to be able to mentally hang in there and physically, it was obvious on the court for everybody who has watched the match that both of us, physically, we took the last drop of energy that we had from our bodies.
"You know, I think it was just the matter of maybe luck in some moments and matter of wanting this more than maybe other player in the certain point.
"It's just an incredible effort."
