Moment 6: At 1:37 a.m., Djokovic topples Nadal in grandiose, grunt-filled Australian Open epic

WATCH: Novak Djokovic sits at the Tennis Channel desk after his record-setting 23rd Grand Slam title.

Is the Big 3’s Grand Slam title race finally over? It appears so. Now that we (probably) know the winner, we’re looking back at the times when this two-decade marathon might have gone a different way.

For more on GOAT Race, a 10-part series leading up to Wimbledon, read...

• Moment 1: 2007 Wimbledon final: Nadal “seizes up” with break points in the fifth
• Moment 2: 2008 Wimbledon final: Federer’s four-hour comeback comes up one break point short
• Moment 3: 2010 US Open semifinal: Djokovic “closes his eyes” and hits two huge, match-saving forehands against Federer
• Moment 4: 2011 Roland Garros semifinal: Federer stops a 41-match win streak, and wags a finger
• Moment 5: 2011 US Open semifinal: Djokovic's all-or-nothing forehand return heard 'round the world

2012 Australian Open final: A six-hour saga turns when Rafa's pass misses by an inch

Can we have too much of a great thing? That was the question that the 2012 Australian Open final seemed to beg when it ended at 1:37 a.m. on Monday, January 30th. At 5 hours and 53 minutes, it was the longest Grand Slam final in history, and the longest in a series of marathons between the top players of that period.

Watching it now, we can see that both players would improve. Djokovic would get better at finishing at net, while Nadal wouldn’t settle back and retrieve as much as he did here. Yet this was a true, grandiose, grunt-filled epic between two guys pushing themselves to the limit, and it makes for a fittingly over-the-top monument to the brilliance and excess of the Big 3 era. Djokovic called it his best win, and Nadal called it his toughest match.

They were the top two seeds that year, and had met in the previous two Slam finals, at Wimbledon and the US Open. Djokovic won both of those in four sets, and came into this match having won seven straight against Rafa, dating back to 2010.

Nadal was determined to to end that run of futility on this night, and he won the opening set. But by the four-hour mark, Djokovic’s winning patterns had reemerged. When he took a 5-3 lead in the fourth-set tiebreaker, Nadal was left slump-shouldered, and seemingly doomed to defeat, again.

But he never stopped criss-crossing the baseline. Hanging on by a thread, he won four straight points to force a fifth set. When Djokovic’s last forehand landed wide, Rafa dropped to his knees as if he had won the title.

For the next six games, it looked like he had. Nadal broke Djokovic to go up 4-2 in the fifth, then led 30-15 on his serve. On the next point, Djokovic popped up a forehand volley, giving Nadal a wide-open court for a short backhand pass. Somehow, Nadal sent the ball an inch wide of the sideline. A revived Djokovic began to hit with more force. He broke serve, and won five of the last six games for the title.

Nadal rued that backhand miss, but also credited Djokovic.

“It’s true that I had a big mistake with 30-15, but it’s not a moment to think about that,” he said. “Is something unbelievable how he returns, no? I never played against a player who’s able to return like this, almost every time.”

For Djokovic, the win made him realize his place in the game.

“It’s probably the longest final in the history of all Grand Slams, and just to hear that fact is making me cry, really,” he said. “I’m very proud just to be part of that history.”

Djokovic’s win and Nadal’s loss were part of their own, very different Australian Open histories. The Serb has won the title 10 times (and counting), while the Spaniard suffered a similar five-set defeat to Roger Federer in 2017, before triumphing over Daniil Medvedev in yet another epic in 2022. This loss surely made that final hurrah that much sweeter for him.