After collapses comebacks and great wins 2012 is already proving a defining year of sport, with a pulsating Aussie Open Final the obvious highlight.
The Wimbledon final of ’08 was the benchmark, but after six-hours of physical, technical and mental majesty this one was even better.
Nadal is an enigma, a rampaging Majorcan matador whose recovery from 0-40 in the fourth set was world defining,
But unfortunately for him Djokovic belongs to a different world and it took super-human willpower for Nadal to even get close. After seven consecutive final defeats will he ever get a better chance?
The Serb matched the Spaniard mentally while out-serving and out-muscling him physically - a phenomenal competitor, athlete and man.
For those reasons Andy Murray should be mightily proud of his semi-final showing. The Lendl affect is already apparent and in many ways Murray’s tennis was closer to Djokovic’s than Nadal’s was.
The mental gap remains but it is closing, and that elusive Grand Slam will eventually come.
These matches were great adverts for the five set game and despite the greater variety of contenders after Azarenka’s triumph the Women’s game is struggling to compete.
After Djokovic’s heroics, Piers Morgan chose the occasion to lambast Footballers for struggling to play two matches in a week. Cheap shot it may have been but he does have a point...
England’s cricketers could also learn from these champions after a series ending defeat in Abu Dhabi.
Geoffrey Boycott called it “a load of rubbish”, yet while the Yorkshire-man speaks a lot of tosh this summery was bang on. Let’s hope he fulfils his promise to sell all three of his houses after England’s loss...
We all feigned anxiety before England’s sub-continent test but deep down thought that the boys would pull through. How wrong we were.
Strauss, Bell, Pietersen and Morgan (who must surely be dropped?) play spin with the deftness of Gordon Brown and are simply unsuited to these conditions, while even Graham Swann is struggling to back up his world-leading credentials.
And with grizzled warriors Ponting and Clarke back in form the Ashes next year suddenly look far less enticing...
Liverpool will also be approaching the future more positively after Cup wins over both halves of Manchester. League glory might be a long way off but a great knock-out team they remain.
It as a sad incitement on the current game that racism allegations at Anfield appeared inevitable, but with posted bullets and hand-shake refusals galore, events at Loftus Road lowered the bar further.
After his admission that he he cannot spell and writes like a two year old, Harry Redknapp restored some much needed 'pride' to the national game.
What does it matter when he has the brains to win a football match, I hear you cry. But is this man really capable of the demands of the nation’s second highest profile job?
England and Arsenal’s woes continued with Jack Wiltshire’s latest setback, while Alan Smith’s big loan move to MK Dons did little to excite the transfer damp squid.
It was also domestic-cup weekend end in Rugby, and League convert Joel Tomkins debuted with a brace of tries in Saracens 41-14 romp over Worcester.
And track star Mo Farah also thrived in unfamiliar territory as he won a thrilling race at the Kelvin Hall in a rare outing over 1,500m.
Farah is everywhere in the press in recent weeks, and his tale of dedication, maturity and attention to detail is of a sporting champion in the Djokoviccian mould.
Olympic sport success came also in Sailing and Hockey where Britain fought back to draw 2-2 with Olympic Champions Netherlands.
And in Golf Britain are as strong as ever as unheralded Robert Rock held off both Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods to win in Abu Dhabi, on the same day as 14 year old Lydia Ko won on the women’s tour.
It was another week of great sporting drama but, ahead of what could be a great career; Ko must look at Djokovic, Nadal and Farah for inspiration and not those feckless flops in Cricket and Football...
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