You had to see him, his head in his bag, tears in his eyes. Rafael Nadal had just won, on Friday January 28, against the Italian Matteo Berrettini, a Grand Slam semi-final for the 29th time in his career. Expressing junior joy, it was as if none of his past great feats existed. At the end of the final, Sunday January 30, against Daniil Medvedev, the emotion and the smile were again there. The quest for a 21st Grand Slam title, a new record, inevitably helps to see life on the bright side. But on the Rod Laver Arena, for the past two weeks, Nadal has lived much bigger than a new trophy for his personal showcase. The public witnessed a renaissance, a magic trick.
In this incredible quest for historic heights, the Novak Djokovic-Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal trio filled us with fantastic adventures, with great moments and more complicated ones. However, despite the injuries of some or the soap operas of others, neither the Serb nor the Swiss have perhaps experienced the fear of the end so closely. Federer still refuses to do so, and Djokovic, still dashing at 34, has shown in recent months that he is undoubtedly stronger than he has ever been. Before playing this Australian Open, Rafael Nadal no longer associated tennis with the future and barely with the present.
You had to see him, his foot bandaged, unable to give the fullness of his means during the fourth set of the semi-final of Roland-Garros on June 11, after having offered, with Novak Djokovic, what tennis has done more beautiful in 2021 for three rounds. A few weeks later, the shock of the defeat now had a name: Muller-Weiss, a degenerative syndrome of a foot bone comparable to osteoarthritis. The kind of dirt that never heals completely, but that you have to live with.
Illness made him miss Wimbledon, the Olympics, then the US Open. “My body has made the decision“, he then explained. At 35, Rafael Nadal had once again become a mere mortal, a legend with feet of clay, to the point of wondering if he could even one day be “Rafa” again, a tireless worker and ruthless competitor. After all, the Mallorcan had been living with this nagging pain and chronic pain since 2005.
You had to see him, on crutches, on September 11, after receiving mysterious treatment in Barcelona. The hope of seeing him again on a tennis court was there. That of seeing him competitive from the first major tournament of 2022 after a time trial against his own body, much less. “Not long ago I was not able to trainexplained the fifth player in the world on Friday at Eurosport. Sometimes I was on the court for 20 minutes, 45 minutes, sometimes zero, other times 2 hours… Every day was a problem. Every day made me doubt. At the end of the day, to be very honest, just being able to play tennis again is more important than winning the 21st Grand Slam.”
As if that were not enough, the happiness of his future presence in Australia at the end of December had been tarnished by contamination with Covid-19, further limiting his preparation. Far from ideal before considering the day after, the one who would show if he could still face the sizes.
Nevertheless, Nadal was quickly able to reassure himself a little, with a first title in Melbourne at the beginning of January. While Novak Djokovic saw the doors of the country closing on his fingers, the Spaniard once again became a credible client for the title at the Australian Open.
You had to see him on Sunday in an unusual posture in many respects. Rarely, if ever, has Rafael Nadal approached a Grand Slam final with so few certainties and an outsider label. A status all the more incongruous for someone on the way to the top of the annals of his sport. The fit man, however, was well and truly on the other side of the net. Daniil Medvedev had his first Major final a year and a half ago against the Spaniard at the US Open, in an epic clash, which had already hinted at the Russian as the player most likely to disrupt the hegemony of the three legends.
“It’s hard to believe for people on the outside, but even for those who have followed me on a daily basis for the past six months, it’s hard to understand how I can play at this level today”explained, almost incredulous, Nadal. Being able to play at this level but even just playing against the best players in the world is incredible for me..“ “20 titles, 21, I don’t think it will change my life” he insisted just before the final for the official website of the Australian Open (content in English).
This life is bigger than the history of his sport itself. This unexpected coronation is not that of the Taurus of Manacor, beast of the land thirsty for victories. It is that of a conjurer, who has transformed an almost announced end of career into an unlikely happy ending, the end of which no one really knows yet. “It was almost impossible, but I couldn’t have forgiven myself for not fighting until the end, he admitted on the court after the final. Daniil can beat me, I can lose the game, but I can’t quit.“
In the end, a 22nd triumph in his lair at Porte d’Auteuil, where his legend is already written, might not change his existence that much.