Roger Federer

So how was it for you? Has there ever been a match so painfully pleasurable? Five hours and 53 minutes of blistering tension that seemed like it would never end.

Such raw emotion, such unpredictablity, such effort, such athleticism and such heroism. Such beauty yet such brutality. It truly was something to behold.

The 2012 Australian Open tennis final will be remembered as an item of real drama that is unlikely to be easily upended in the cluttered world of professional sport. Certainly not this year.

Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic all feature in the Top 10 of the Bloomberg Businessweek/Horrow Sports Ventures Power 100 rankings.

Despite losing to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open semi-finals on Thursday, Roger Federer says, "Don't feel too sorry for me. You look at that I haven't lost in five months or something - it's not that bad.

"Obviously I would have loved to have come through and gotten a crack, a chance, at winning the title here again. It's been one of the most successful tournaments in my life here. It's the ninth [straight] time I am in the semi-finals.

Rafael Nadal, who beat Roger Federer at the Australian Open on Thursday, says that reaching his 15th Grand Slam championship final is a fantastic way to the start the new season.

"[To] start the season with the final here is a fantastic start and that gives me a lot of confidence," said World No. 2 Nadal, who has now reached four straight major finals. "At the same time, [it] gives me confidence about how I [am] working.

One wonders if Roger Federer will ever look at fireworks in the same way again. The world No.3, four times a champion on Rod Laver Arena, was a set up against his greatest rival, Rafael Nadal, a break down, admittedly, but working his way back into the second set with every skip inside the baseline. Until the fireworks.

With queries over his form, fitness and motivation dogging him in the runup to the Australian Open, Rafa Nadal did not dream he would make the final.

After a thrilling 6-7 6-2 7-6 6-4 win over his great rival Roger Federer at a tension-charged Rod Laver arena on Thursday the Spaniard credited his ability to defy the "impossible" for reaching a fourth consecutive final.

"I think he started playing aggressive, very, very high level at the beginning of the match," Nadal told reporters after defeating the Swiss maestro.