Australian Open
Rafael Nadal crowns himself the winner and creates historic
Rafael Nadal has won the Australian Open for the second time since 2009.
© Aaron Francis / AFP
He was two sets behind and in the end he shone as the winner: Rafael Nadal won a spectacular final at the Australian Open. For the Spaniard, it was the 21st Grand Slam title that makes him the sole record holder.
What a triumph for Rafael Nadal! The Spanish tennis star celebrated one of his most unlikely titles and became the sole record Grand Slam winner with the Australian Open success. In a historic and gripping final over five sets against the Russian US Open winner Daniil Medvedev, the 35-year-old Spaniard turned a 0:2 set deficit with an impressive feat on Monday night and secured the 21st Grand Slam -Title. 2: 6, 6: 7 (5: 7), 6: 4, 6: 4, 7: 5 it was after 5:24 hours for Nadal. 13 years earlier he had won his only trophy so far at the Australian Open.
Exactly two weeks to the day after Novak Djokovic was forced to leave Australia, Nadal took the lead in this fascinating Grand Slam race ahead of the Serb and Swiss Roger Federer. His two rivals have collected 20 trophies of this most important category – like Nadal until this crazy final day.
Rafael Nadal uses Djokovic’s end
Djokovic had been traded highest for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year before the start and wanted to achieve what Nadal was now able to do. The unvaccinated Serb had lost the appeal against his canceled visa in Australia’s federal court. Nadal took advantage of the fact that the outstanding player in Melbourne history was missing.
Impressive how Nadal struggled against Medvedev, who was ten years his junior, and how he won the battle of attrition in the fifth set. The result did not reflect the drama of the match: In the fifth set, Nadal was already leading with a break. However, when he served at 5-4 to tennis history, he lost his service game. But he immediately took the lead again.
He made a fairytale comeback. The Mallorcan only played two games between mid-June and early January due to his complicated foot injury. He discussed with his family whether it was time to say goodbye to tennis if the problems did not improve.
Nadal fights back into the game
As only the fourth player – alongside Djokovic, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson – the clay court dominator has now won every Grand Slam event at least twice. He triumphed in a similar fashion to Federer’s 2017 surprise win Down Under after a knee injury and long layoff.
In the final match of the tournament, it didn’t matter that Nadal made too many unforced errors in the first two sets. Medvedev initially looked like the better player for a long time. It seemed as if he could spoil the show for one of the stars of the tennis scene again. Just over four months ago, at the US Open in New York, Medvedev prevented Djokovic from winning his 21st title and historic Grand Slam with all four major titles in one year. Cool and defensively strong, the Russian defied the atmosphere in the Rod Laver Arena for a long time, because the sympathies were clearly with Nadal, who was ten years his senior.
In the second set, a person protesting against Australia’s refugee policy briefly disrupted the game, but was quickly stopped by security guards. It wasn’t because Nadal couldn’t equalize the set despite a 5:3 lead. Even if the Spaniard, in his own words, did not want to make his luck dependent on the Grand Slam record, the importance of the match may have played a role. “It’s a battle of nerves,” said Boris Becker as a Eurosport expert.
Medvedev loses the line
From the end of the third set, Nadal turned up and generated more power. Medvedev, on the other hand, deviated a little from his line and also lost his rip-off. In the meantime, the Russian also discussed with the referee John Blom about spectators being disturbed by shouts and had his thigh treated. The US Open final in 2019 had already developed into an exciting duel over five sets between the two, at that time Nadal had led by two sets and in the end only won in the decisive set.
This time the Australian chair umpire followed up on Medvedev’s request at the beginning of the fifth set: He warned the spectators not to disturb between the first and second serve, otherwise he would have to call security. The spectators, his will and his mental strength finally carried Nadal to the memorable victory.