Novak Djokovic has overcome injury to become Serbia's first Grand Slam singles champion, claiming the Australian Open men's crown with a four-set win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Melbourne Park.
Having not dropped a set en route to the final, the world No.3 had to do it the hard way, firstly rallying from a set down and then also battling a hamstring strain that he suffered early in the fourth set to beat unseeded Frenchman Tsonga 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7-2).
With Djokovic's movement restricted after he sustained the injury, the decider looked headed for a fifth set for the first time since Melbourne Park's first men's final 20 years ago when Mats Wilander beat Pat Cash.
But while Tsonga tried hard throughout, he was unable to capitalise on Djokovic's ailment despite enjoying more support from the packed centre-court crowd, with the 20-year-old Belgrade native digging deep to capture the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.
Both players began the match nervously, with Tsonga dropping his serve after his opening salvo went long by about a metre, only for Djokovic to likewise surrender his own first service game.
Both players came close to dropping their serves again, firstly Djokovic in the fourth game and then Tsonga in the fifth, before Tsonga served three straight aces to hold in the ninth game and then broke in the 10th to win the set with a forehand winner and then a lob.
Games went with serve early in the second set until the seventh game when a couple of errors from the Frenchman and then a reflex, defensive return from Djokovic for a winner led to the break that eventually gave Djokovic the set.
With Tsonga's unforced errors piling up Djokovic upped the ante with another break in the third game of the third set and then finally broke again in the ninth game after Tsonga had saved six set points.
The momentum looked to have changed early in the fourth set though when Djokovic injured himself stretching for a volley, and he called for treatment while leading 3-2.
With Djokovic trying to keep the points shorter in an attempt to win the match in four sets, Tsonga was nonetheless unable to make the most of the changed circumstances as his own weariness kicked in.
The set eventually went to a tie-breaker after Tsonga held in the 12th game soon after calling for the crowd to make some noise, but it was Djokovic who raced away with it by winning five of the first six points and he fell to his back in delight when he sealed victory.
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