Australian Open | Nadal wins record 21st Grand Slam title by beating Medvedev

(Melbourne) Rafael Nadal is a monster: Trailing two sets to nil, the 35-year-old Spaniard, who didn’t play for six months last year and was recovering from COVID-19, beat Daniil Medvedev on Sunday in the Australian Open final to clinch a historic 21^and Grand Slam title.

He perfectly exploited the absence of Novak Djokovic, not vaccinated against the coronavirus and expelled before the start of the tournament, to take alone the record of trophies in the most prestigious tennis tournaments, with a length now ahead of Roger Federer and the Serbian.

“This trophy will forever remain in my heart,” commented the champion. ” It’s crazy ! A month and a half ago, I didn’t know if I would play again. And there, I raise this trophy. You can’t imagine all the work it took to get there,” Nadal told the audience, holding back tears.

“It’s one of the matches that gave me the most emotions in my career and, to share it with you (Daniil Medvedev, editor’s note), it’s an honor”, he said, promising the Russian that he would “without a doubt lift this trophy several times in (his) career”.

For a historic event, an exceptional match: Nadal delivered one of his greatest fights to defeat the world No.2, ten years younger and who was starting as the tournament favorite in the absence of world No.1 Djokovic.

“Not a little tired?” »

Nearly five and a half hours (5:24 precisely), winning moves in all directions (69 for Nadal, 76 for Medvedev), a huge reversal of the situation, suspense until the end of the night (the match is over around 1:15 a.m. Monday in Melbourne) and a stratospheric level of play until the conclusion…

“The level was crazy… During the match, I was playing, but afterwards I asked him: “Aren’t you a little tired? Medvedev revealed.

This final in Melbourne was a rematch of the one won in five sets by the Spaniard at the US Open in 2019.

It was, at the time, the first time the Russian had made it to the title match at a Grand Slam and, despite heroic resistance, he gave in in five sets and allowed Nadal to win his 19^and Major.

This year, Medvedev could take advantage of the experience of two additional major finals played in 2021: one lost on the Australian Rod Laver court against Djokovic and one won on the New York Arthur-Ashe against the same Serb.

But, on Sunday, he could do nothing against the determination of Nadal (5^and world), who reversed a match that seemed to have to slip away irretrievably between the strings of the racket and which finally won 2-6 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 .

broken tv

The Mallorcan also becomes the second player in the Open era, the fourth in history, to have won each of the Majors at least twice, having played 63 of them. A feat achieved by Djokovic last year, when he won Roland-Garros for the second time.

For the first time in his career, he passes Federer in the number of Grand Slam titles. The Swiss won his first Major at Wimbledon in 2003 and was only joined by Nadal after his 13^and title at Roland-Garros on 20^and in total, in 2020.

In terms of matches won, the Australian Open is his second best Major (behind Roland-Garros), but the least successful for the Spaniard in terms of number of titles. He has only won two (2009 and 2022) in six finals, while Djokovic has won all nine finals he has played.

The two men played there in 2012 the longest final in the history of Grand Slam tournaments, the Serb winning after 5 hours and 53 minutes.

For his part, although very disappointed, Medvedev ended his sometimes tense face-to-face with the Australian public on a humorous note: “Usually, my wife is in the box… there, I think what time it is our television must be broken! »