In case you missed it (and if you were in the US, you did) Novak Djokovic just outslugged Rafael Nadal in a six hour record-setting Australian Open final. When these two get together in a Grand Slam final, and they have now three times in a row stretching back to last year's Wimbeldon and US Open, some of the best tennis in history has been made.
Djokovic proved once again why he's the world number 1, as he's beaten Nadal now seven straight times to win a tournament final. But this relationship has already eclipsed Courier-Sampras, Agassi-Becker and Roddick-Federer and I dare say the two of them are now well-ensconced in McEnroe-Connors territory, mainly because McEnroe and Connors played their best matches not against each other (but Bjorn Borg and Ivan Lendl, respectively.) These two prove time and time again when they meet in a Grand Slam that magic will happen.
What really gives these two the staying power in Great Men's Tennis Rivalry History is compared to the rest of men's tennis right now, the two of them are on a level utterly dominant and by themselves. We've come to expect Djokovic-Nadal in the finals now, and we expect Djokovic to win. To really take this to the next level however, Rafa is going to have to get the better of the Djoker one of these days.
It'll happen one day. But it may take until the French Open, where Nadal has been dominant on clay. We'll see.
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