Djokovic rips shirt off
The result was less than impressive.
The Serbian world No.1 attempted to tear his shirt from around the collar to celebrate advancing to the quarter-finals, but only succeeded in making a small rip.
He eventually removed the sweat-soaked garment by lifting it above his head and then paraded his buff physique to the remaining tennis fans who had stayed at Melbourne Park until nearly 2am this morning, when the epic encounter finally came to an end.
Djokovic kept his bid for an Australian Open hat-trick on course but the top seed's vulnerability at stages of the 1-6 7-5 6-4 6-7(5-7) 12-10 fourth-round win and the energy-sapping nature of the marathon encounter will give his rivals - including quarter-final opponent, fifth seed Tomas Berdych - renewed hope that the Serb is beatable in Melbourne.
Rank underdog Wawrinka will also have won a legion of new fans for his lion-hearted performance, pushing Djokovic all the way in a match that stretched two minutes past the five-hour mark.
Djokovic counts himself as one of those fans, saying Wawrinka would have been an equally deserving winner.
"It's really hard to find the words to describe the feeling we had tonight, especially in the fifth set," Djokovic said.
"He deserved equally to be the winner of this match ... he showed his quality; he was the aggressive player on the court.
"I was just hanging in there trying to fight."
