Rafael Nadal won a record 21st Grand Slam men’s title in the most stunning fashion, fighting back from two sets down to beat Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in a classic Australian Open final.
US Open champion Medvedev was going for his second successive major title.
Medvedev, 25, was in command before Nadal showed all of his renowned grit and fight to earn an extraordinary win.
The 35-year-old Spaniard has been at the center of some of the sport’s most incredible triumphs. But this surely goes down as the most amazing Grand Slam victory of his illustrious career.
Nadal’s achievement comes only a few months after he thought he would never be able to return to the tour because of a foot injury.
Nadal has moved one ahead of his great rivals in the race to finish with most major men’s singles titles.
It is the left-hander’s second Australian Open title and comes 13 years after his only previous success.
“Without a doubt, it is one of the most emotional wins of my career,” said Nadal. Nadal previously lost four Australian Open finals,.
Rafael Nadal winning celebrations
Chronic pain in Nadal’s left foot restricted him to only one tournament in the final seven months of 2021, while about of coronavirus in mid-December also left him “very sick with fever”.
Those setbacks meant the Australian Open was just his second competitive event in five months, having won a warm-up tournament at Melbourne Park earlier in January.
Nadal sealed victory against Medvedev after five hours 24 minutes – and at 01:11 local time in Melbourne – when the second seed could not return a net volley on the first of the Spaniard’s three match points.
Dropping his racquet to the floor, Nadal stood motionless with his hands on hips as his jaw dropped.
Nadal slowly walked over to his players’ box, hugging Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley, on his way to embrace his father Sebastian.
The intensity of his celebration illustrated the euphoria Nadal felt after the obstacles he had overcome – on the night and in the recent months – to win.
The victory came at the end of the second-longest Grand Slam final in history, just 30 minutes short of the 2012 final at Melbourne Park when Nadal lost to Djokovic.
“I’m physically destroyed,” Nadal said in his post-match news conference.
“Rafa played unreally and raised his level. I mean, two sets to love up, I wanted just to go for him, go for more. He was really strong, the way he played for four hours, I was even surprised,” said his opponent.
