Novak Djokovic has won a seventh Australian Open, routing Rafael Nadal in a largely uncompetitive straight sets victory 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
His 15th grand slam title in total, Djokovic played a stunningly high level for just over two hours on court, with Nadal simply having no answers.
Djokovic only made nine unforced errors throughout the match, compared to 34 winners, and it told on Nadal, who didn’t seem to be on his game from the opening points.
Nadal was broken during his first service game, and it set the tempo for the entire three sets, with the Spaniard never able to get back into it.
Nadal fought but couldn’t overcome the depth and defence from around the back of the court from Djokovic, who turned into a brick wall and just wouldn’t miss anything.
Compared to nine unforced errors from Djokovic, Nadal made 28 throughout the match as things went from bad to worse.
Djokovic hung onto his single break during the first set, then rammed home the advantage to take out the second set with a double break.
At one point early in the second set it looked like Nadal was slowly fighting back into the match, but then he was broken again, and again before the second set was rounded out in dominant fashion by the Serbian.
The rout was effectively complete when Djokovic took a break early in the third set. Despite facing a little bit of pressure on two of his last three service games for the first time in the match, he pulled them both out of the fire with enormous hitting and great depth, before polishing the match off.
The victory means Djokovic has now won three straight grand slams, following his success at Wimbledon and the US Open last year, giving the world No.1 a chance to hold all four at the same time when the French Open rolls around later this year.
Novak Djokovic 6 6 6
Rafael Nadal 3 2 3
clipper
Roar Rookie
Pity Del Potro keeps breaking down and Warwinka isn't fully fit, but the big worry is no challenging players at the moment - it seems the next generation just wasn't up to it and the up and comers like Zverev can't put a run of good results on.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
That display was simply an awesome...
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
'Want more money defensive game of Novak' Huh? Also, I think Novak actually plays more aggressively than Nadal.
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
At this age he could be hit by injury tomorrow. He looked like this the last time he was really dominant too, but it changed quickly. Or a next gen fluid rapidly improve. I doubt Djok will be dominant in 2-3 years, let alone 5.
malibu77
Roar Rookie
Djokovic’s dominance is ridiculous and barring injury may well continue for the next 5 years. 25 major titles and $200m prizemoney is not out of the question. And I actually fear for the men’s game as total dominance by one player is not healthy or good for the game.
Simoc
Guest
Great to see Djokovic win over the snarly Nadal. I stopped watching Nadal a while back. Such a bore. Djokovic came to Perth at the very start of his career for the Hopman Cup and was hilarious. He's turned more serious since but so much more entertaining than Nadal.
anon
Roar Pro
Nadal played a good tournament considering he's had the least success in Australia of the four majors. He didn't look 100% to me, but he was never beating Djokovic tonight.
Brian
Guest
Disappointing Nadal looked so good in the lead up. Hopefully Nadal can recover and win the French, The race to 21 Slams is wide open, I hope the record ends up with Federer or Nadal, such classy guys compared to the want more money defensive game Novak.
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
Personally, I think Fed in 06-07 was. And the standard was higher then. Federer and Rafa both closer to or even in their primes, and a better second tier of players (Hewitt, Roddick, Nalbandian, Safin, Haas, etc > Zverev and co at this point).
Stuckbetweenindopak
Roar Rookie
Would like to say kudos to australia for the way they are raising the bar each year in terms of presenting all kinds of sports!
Stuckbetweenindopak
Roar Rookie
That was a walkover over great nadal! I ll still give nadal benefit of doubt for his recent injuries going by which he has done good enough to still get the runner up trophy. A note on untouchable djokovic, don't think federer or even nadal have been that ahead of the rest ever in their primes.
Aw
Guest
Hope nadal plays and smashes djokovic in the french open!!!