Top Aussie matches: No. 2, Federer def. Nadal

After a jaw-dropping start to the year at the Australian Open, the rest of the Grand Slam season has a lot to live up to. Part of the reason that the tournament maintained its intensity was the play throughout the entire fortnight, with some matches leaving behind memories for years to come.

See No. 3 here.

2

Roger Federer def. Rafael Nadal, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3

Once the top two seeds in the men’s draw, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, lost early, all eyes waited impatiently in hopes of seeing a 35th match in the classic Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal rivalry, perhaps the greatest in the history of tennis.

Under the circumstances, the duo delivered a back and forth match in which both men saved some of their best tennis for the most important moment: the fifth set. Nadal fended off four break point opportunities in his first two service games of the decider, hanging onto a break advantage for a 3-1 lead.

But in their ninth meeting in a Grand Slam final (the most major finals between two men in history), Federer reversed the momentum to earn his 18th major title. Could this have been the match that sealed Federer’s status as the greatest of all time?

Check out No. 1.