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MELBOURNE, Australia – Fabulous Friday at the Australian Open, with a pair of five-setters with drama, intrigue and Novak Djokovic once again turning back the stubborn interference of Father Time, will be remembered for a long time.

Given how the first 12 days of the tournament went staggeringly and undramatically to form, this was a tournament waiting for its “AHA, NOW WE HAVE A TOURNAMENT” match much longer than most.

And it came, with the five hour, 27-minute epic between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev that lacked for absolutely nothing.

Another stunning Slam disappointment for Zverev, as Alcaraz prevails

And then, once the Rod Laver Arena full house was cleared out and the second full house that had been waiting patiently outside for what had been a 7:30 p.m. start (it ended up being nearly two hours later), you had to think it would be a hard act to follow.

It was. But Djokovic and Jannik Sinner were up to it.

Djokovic, 39 in May, had gotten quite testy at any suggestion that he wasn’t the legend he is, or that the current “Big Two” were more than even he could battle.

The man has shown over and over again that if you give him ANY grist for his fighting mill, even if sometimes he has to create it himself, he’s a force to be reckoned with even beyond what his illustrious resumé already proves.

“I never stopped doubting. I never stopped believing in myself, you know. There’s a lot of people that doubt me. I see there is a lot of experts all of a sudden that wanted to retire me or have retired me many times the last couple of years. I want to thank them all, because they gave me strength. They gave me motivation to prove them wrong, which I have tonight,” Djokovic said, early Saturday morning.

And somehow, against a Sinner who once again showed that he still struggles in five-setters and against the very best players in those five-setters, he prevailed. Sinner has lost his last eight matches lasting over four hours, granted that all were against the best in the world.

And Djokovic, who hadn’t played a fifth set since winning two of them back to back at Roland Garros nearly two years ago against Lorenzo Musetti and Francisco Cerundolo, showed how masterful he still is when they go into the wee hours.

That he stayed with Sinner and bested him in many of the key rallies was an impressive feat at any age. But even more so at his age.

Because as much as he doesn’t particularly love that being pointed out unless he himself brings it up, it’s a truth. Quite properly, he uses that as fuel, too.

That said, if you just look at Sinner’s numbers, you’d be hard-pressed to figure out how he lost.

Sinner had a high first-serve percentage (which can mean a lot of things, including that he didn’t go for enough, often enough, against one of the best returners in tennis history), 14 more aces, 26 more winners, won far more of the short points than Djokovic did, and 12 more points overall. And still lost.

But tennis’s genius scoring system strikes again. It’s not how many points you win. But which points you win and when you win them.

Djokovic, on Friday night, was the master of “when”.

Stepping out of his comfort zone

Djokovic won with his tennis, and with his will and willingness to step out of his clinical percentage mode to let loose when he needed it most.

The forehand down the line, ripped again and again to devasting effect, was the signature shot for this one.

The stars aligned to allow the man to save some energy in the leadup, with the retirement by Lorenzo Musetti (who was in the process of mercilessly sending him home) and before that, the walkover from Jakub Mensik. It was a factor, of course. He fired a ball during the match against Botic Van de Zandschulp that barely missed a ballkid and could have resulted in his disqualification.

Sometimes the best make their own luck. Sometimes it just happens.

But this luck doesn’t help you when you’re into the fourth hour of a match, your sixth in less than two weeks after having played very little tennis in months. And it doesn’t help you when you face 18 break points – and somehow find a way to save 16 of them. That’s about being clutch.

“I know he’s won 24 Grand Slams. We know each other very well, how we play. I always said, you know, never surprised, because I feel like he’s the greatest player for many, many years. Of course, he’s playing less tournaments because of his age and everything, but we also know how important Grand Slams are for me, for him, for Carlos, and everyone,” Sinner said.

“You know, there is this small extra motivation, and he played great tennis. Hopefully I can see some, take it also kind of as a lesson maybe to see what I can improve on,” he added.

Sinner won’t be happy with this one, and not just because he was beaten by a 38-year-old. He seemed slightly off-kilter for most of the tournament – not just that extreme-heat day when, cramping like a boss, the heat stress scale hitting “five” and the roof closing basically saved him.

Whether he felt the effects from that cramping going forward will probably never be known. And it’s hard to judge how much of Djokovic getting on top of those key rallies was Djokovic’s determination, or Sinner’s lack of aggression in those moments. Some of both, in truth.

A historically significant final

“One thing is to imagine how you want to play, and the other thing is to deliver it and execute it on the court against Sinner, that we all know is playing an extremely high level. I’m just thrilled to be able to experience something like this tonight,” Djokovic said.

It sets up a final with historical implications.

Djokovic is going (once again) for a history 25th career major title.

Alcaraz, at 22, is bidding to be the youngest ever to complete the career Grand Slam.

One will win. Either way, if you cheer for the story rather than any specific rooting interest, it’s a great story. Which is great for tennis.

Djokovic actually leads their head-to-head 5-4, with Alcaraz leading 3-2 in Grand Slams.

Only that surprise 2023 final at Wimbledon, won in five sets by Alcaraz, was a barn-burner of a clash.

A year ago in Melbourne, in the quarterfinals, Djokovic won in four sets.

(Screenshots from Channel 9 Australia)