Rafael Nadal has always had a flair for the dramatic, with his fist pumps and “Vamos!” rallying cries and the way he always flops onto his back the moment another Grand Slam tennis title is secure. But he outdid himself on Sunday — and into Monday — in Melbourne, taking a five-set, 5½-hour victory over the favored Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final.
This was a stunner, even by the 35-year-old’s standards. His 21st Slam win, the most ever in modern men’s tennis, was the most unexpected of his career. Even with Novak Djokovic having his visa revoked, Nadal began the tournament with just a 1.7% chance of winning it, per Tennis Abstract’s Elo rankings. He had completed only five matches since last year’s French Open due to a nagging foot injury, one he feared might end his career.
Nadal dropped a set to Karen Khachanov in the third round in Melbourne and survived an epic first-set tiebreaker against veteran Adrian Mannarino in the fourth before seizing control. Nadal’s body nearly betrayed him in a five-set quarterfinal win over Denis Shapovalov, and he needed four sets to get past Matteo Berrettini in the semifinal.
Nadal put in serious work even before finding himself down two sets to Medvedev, who is maybe the best hard-court player in the world at the moment. But from 2-3 and love-40 down in the third set, Nadal fought his way back the only way he knew how: by grinding. He won 28 of 43 points with nine-plus shots in the last three sets, and when Medvedev got his legs back underneath him in the fifth set and mounted a charge, Nadal conjured up enough magic to finish the job. Nadal saved an epic service game at 3-2, and when he got broken at 5-4 after leading 30-0, he immediately broke back. When Medvedev couldn’t return his net approach on match point, Nadal didn’t even collapse; he just laughed and stared in disbelief at those in his player box.
With Djokovic’s status uncertain for the coming Slams and fellow 20-time winner Roger Federer still…
Source : espn
