If you weren’t watching what could be the greatest match in the history of tennis, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic took each other to the extreme in one of the wildest Grand Slam finals.

While Nadal may have lost, there is no shame in the battle that these two men engaged in and it will be just the latest chapter in a storied rivalry that is far from over.

The 2012 Australian Open was setting up to be another epic matchup between this duo, but none could have predicted just how long and just how amazing the final would become.

With both men still very young, this has all the makings of the best feud in all of sports over the next few years.

From the way twitter has reacted, this is something that tennis fans and sports fan in general can get behind. Tennis just made plenty of skeptics into hardcore believers.

 

UPDATE: Sunday, Jan. 29, 10:10 a.m. ET by Donald Wood

ABC’s Josh Elliott shows proves that the fun we saw today is not over by a long shot:

Some fans knew just exactly the right thing to say at that moment, and this is a perfect example of the collective sentiment after seeing this match:

Actor Jonah Hill expressed his feelings on the matchup as well:

While some loved the action during the match, the postmatch activities had some fans even more excited:

It was at those postmatch activities that the two competitors were made to stand on the court until they were finally relieved by a duo of chairs. There were better ideas out there:

While this has all been fun because of the amazing match, we can’t forget just how much history we just witnessed:

Even once all was said and done, both men showed the amazing class that they carry themselves with. Tennis should be proud:

 

Initial Reaction

With the match running longer than any other in Grand Slam Final history, many fans are comparing what they see to playing Wii Tennis:

So long in fact, that some felt it lasted longer that a celebrity trainwreck marriage:

For the casual fans, ESPN baseball insider Buster Olney compared what the boys did at the Aussie Open to a pitcher in MLB:

With all of the extra time, some athletes got their workouts in and came back to a still unfinished event:

While I may not be the biggest tennis expert on Bleacher Report, I know magic when I see it. What Nadal and Djokovic did in the Finals of the 2012 Aussie Open is something that I will never forget.

We witnessed history folks, enjoy it!

 

Check back for more on Tennis as it comes, and check out Bleacher Report’s Tennis Page to get your fill of all things tennis.

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