By Jay Sekulow
The left's outrage over the IRS turns to a plea to 'move on'
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
The seven-time champion twice let a lead slip away in the fourth set Friday, then came from behind in the fifth to beat the No. 1-ranked Djokovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7 (3), 9-7.
Djokovic, the winner of six major titles, seeks to become the eighth man to complete a career Grand Slam, but he'll have to get past seven-time French Open champion Nadal first.
Djokovic will next play 35-year-old Tommy Haas, who became the oldest French Open men's quarterfinalist since 1971 by beating Mikhail Youzhny 6-1, 6-1, 6-3. Haas is also the oldest man to reach the quarters at any major event since Andre Agassi at the 2005 U.S. Open.
There were moments, as recently as last year, when a body that would not stay healthy and on-court results prompted Bethanie Mattek-Sands to wonder whether it was simply time to call it a career after more than a decade as a professional tennis player.
The 2010 runner-up swept the first nine games Tuesday and drubbed 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-0, 6-2.
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have played in the last two Grand Slam finals, and it's easy to imagine their rivalry overshadowing an aging Roger Federer and an injury-plagued Rafael Nadal in the years to come.
Nadal lost both the singles and doubles finals in the space of a few hours Sunday at the VTR Open in Chile. And Horacio Zeballos, who earned the first title of his career by beating Nadal in three sets, repeated what Nadal has been saying. "Not playing has hurt him," Zeballos said.
After seven months away treating a left knee injury, Rafael Nadal left many questions unanswered in his comeback tournament.
Rafael Nadal wants to stop talking about the aching left knee that kept him away from the ATP Tour for just over seven months until his doubles victory Tuesday with Juan Monaco at a little-known clay court tournament in Chile.
In years past, Novak Djokovic marked his victories at the Australian Open with rowdy late-night celebrations and bleary-eyed photo shoots the next morning in downtown Melbourne.
Novak Djokovic became the first man in the Open era to win three consecutive Australian titles when he beat Andy Murray 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-2 in Sunday's final.
The top-ranked Djokovic is the first man in the Open era to win three straight Australian titles — nine others have won back-to-back but were unable to win three in a row.
Andy Murray looks like a one-hit wonder.
Azarenka won her second consecutive Australian Open title, beating Li 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a dramatic final that contained a break for fireworks, two medical timeouts and a nasty fall to the court by Li.
Four-time winner Roger Federer and top-ranked Victoria Azarenka will defend their titles at the BNP Paribas Open in March, with the deep fields also including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova.
"An unbelievable match to be part of, but all I can feel now is disappointment. That's it," said Djokovic, who lost to Nadal in last year's final and still needs a French Open title to complete a career Grand Slam. "He showed the courage in the right moments and went for his shots. ... I congratulate him, because that's why he's a champion."
French Open 2013: Rafael Nadal ousts Novak Djokovic to reach final →
"I knew that both of us would give everything we've got, physically and mentally, in order to win," said Djokovic, who was determined to win his first French Open title to honor his childhood coach, Jelena Gencic, who died last weekend in Serbia. "I gave my best. I really did."
French Open 2013: Rafael Nadal ousts Novak Djokovic to reach final →
