Newly-crowned Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic has described his record-breaking final victory over Rafael Nadal as the best win of his career.
The Serb confirmed his position as world number one with an epic 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-7 (5/7) 7-5 triumph in five hours and 53 minutes, the longest grand slam final in history and the longest match ever at the Australian Open.
The victory means that Djokovic is just the fifth man to win three successive grand slam crowns following his triumphs at Wimbledon and the US Open last year. It also maintained his domination over Nadal as he has now won their last seven meetings in a row.
Speaking after the match, Djokovic said: "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. 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."
Nadal said: "It was one of the toughest matches of my career. But we played a nice tennis match, it was a very good show and I enjoyed being a part of it. "I wanted to win but I am happy with how I did."
When asked if he would watch a re-run of the match, Nadal joked: "No, it's too long. Just the highlights."