The new king

Rafael Nadal accepted his Australian Open trophy from the legendary Rod Laver on Sunday night – and is well on the way to becoming a giant of the game himself.

He won the Australian Open, becoming the first Spaniard to do so. He joined an elite group of just 12 men who have managed to win three Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces since the Open Era began.

He took his tally of major titles to six and his record of Grand Slam final appearances to eight – and all of that achieved in just 20 visits to the four major championships. In the Open Era, only Bjorn Borg has been more clinical in collecting the important trophies (he won six Grand Slam titles in only 18 attempts).

But all this was as nothing compared to Rafael Nadal's most startling achievement of the evening. He made his friend cry. He did not mean to do it and he wasn't quite sure what to do when it happened, but the new Australian Open champion had broken Roger Federer's heart.

Nadal had somehow conjured up the heart and the physical puff to go toe to toe with Federer for four hours and 23 minutes and then, with the clock standing at 12.14am, Nadal won 7-5 3-6 7-6(3) 3-6 6-2 and was crowned as the new king of Melbourne Park.

How he had managed to do it was beyond anyone's comprehension. Less than 48 hours earlier, he had staggered off court at well after 1am at the end of a five hour 14 minute epic with Fernando Verdasco. At the very same time, Federer had been sound asleep after getting an extra day off. Yet here was Nadal again, winning the battle of the muscles, the tactics and, most crucially of all, the nerves to beat Federer again, his 13th victory in 19 meetings and his fifth victory over the Swiss in seven meetings in Grand Slam finals.

To be fair to Nadal, it was not entirely his fault that Federer burst into tears during the presentation ceremony. This year is the 40th anniversary of Rod Laver's second Grand Slam, and the ‘Rockhampton Rocket’ was at Melbourne Park to present the prizes.

Standing alongside the great man were the four men he beat in the four major finals that year – Andreas Gimeno, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe and Tony Roche. A bigger collection of legends you could not hope to find late on a Sunday night, and the fact that Federer wanted so dearly to be one of them, to win that magical 14th Grand Slam title and match Pete Sampras' record, was his emotional undoing.

But as Federer sobbed and gulped and tried to control himself, 15,000 spectators stood and applauded. It was 15,001, to be precise, as Nadal joined in with the ovation and bit his lip nervously.

When his moment came to step forward to the podium, he looked almost sheepish. Federer patted him on the shoulder as he passed and Nadal, in turn, took the trophy quietly, held it aloft very briefly, and then went to put his arm around his pal and console him.

"I'm sorry for today," he said to Federer as he accepted his AUD$2 million winner's cheque. "I really know how you feel. But remember – you are one of the best players of the history and you are going to improve the 14 of Sampras. It is always a pleasure to play you and best of luck for the rest of the year."

Such kindness from his conqueror almost set Federer off again, but as his lower lip quivered, the significance of the evening's events began to sink in. Federer will need all the luck he can get if he is to get to grips with the challenge of Nadal.

On paper, this was one of the best chances Federer would have to beat Nadal – the Spaniard ought to have been tired, he ought to have been on the back foot on the hardcourt surface, and he ought to have been tense in his first Australian Open final. But there was not a bit of it.

If Federer had hoped that Nadal's tank would run dry after such an energy-sapping semifinal, he was to be sorely disappointed – the Spaniard can run on fumes if necessary, and the thought of a fifth set appeared to hold no fears for him. As for his nerves, they are armour-plated, while his mind is reinforced with steel. It was Federer who was overcome by the enormity of the moment while Nadal simply put his head down and forced his way to the finish.

When Nadal first started chasing Federer around the Grand Slam circuit, the Swiss was happy to concede the French Open to his young rival. But in the past three years, Nadal has proved himself to be the unstoppable force on clay, on grass and now on a hardcourt. Federer has nowhere left to hide.

"To have the trophy presented to me by a legend like Rod Laver is a dream for me," Nadal said. The legends had come to see Federer become one of their number but, instead, they stayed to applaud Nadal. With only the US Open left to conquer, it will not be long before Nadal becomes a legend himself. And that really will make Federer cry.