Novak Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal: Early Action from the 2012 Australian Open Men’s Final [PHOTOS]

The 2012 Australian Open Men's Singles championships have seen some entertaining matches and some fantastic tennis. At the end of the day, however, it came down to just two players - Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Spain's Rafael Nadal - a rivalry that is talked about almost as much as that of Nadal's with Swiss master Roger Federer.

Incidentally, the Spaniard beat his longtime rival in the semi-finals of the tournament, to earn the right to play Djokovic, the No. 1 men's singles player in the world.

Rafael Nadal has lost his last six games against Djokovic; two of those were in the finals of Grand Slam tournaments in 2011 - Wimbledon and the U.S. Open - Nadal lost both.

I am trying to play a bit more aggressive and hit more winners. The improvement I want is not complete so I need time to play with this plan, Nadal, a former World No. 1 said, of his rivalry with Djokovic.

Nadal, currently World No. 2, has played Djokovic 29 times in his career, of which the former has triumphed 19 times. However, the truth is also that apart from Federer, the Serbian is the only man to have ever beaten Nadal in the finals of a Grand Slam.

Check out photographs of the opening sets of the 2012 Australian Open Men's Singles final here...