“After the first game, it was impossible for me to win.” This confession is not signed by just anyone, it is from Toni Nadal, uncle and for many years coach of the best tennis player of all time, to whom he refers in his words. Rafael Nadal has not only won the Australian Open , a cursed Grand Slam for him, in a historic match in which he came back two sets from Daniil Medvedev. That is just the end of the story-miracle of an example of improvement that in recent months flirted with retirement due to a chronic injury and in his reappearance, with a lesson that goes beyond sports, has exceeded his own ceiling to reach the sky.
Nadal closed at the Australian Open, with the title under his arm, a circle that began with the ordeal caused by his chronic injury to his foot. The Müller-Weiss illness came back to visit him forcefully in the summer of 2021, after weeks of mild discomfort that turned into the obligation to stop and see if Rafa could turn his situation around to remain competitive.
On August 20, 2021, after a near comeback in the Washington tournament, Nadal set off all the alarms by announcing his long-term withdrawal, until the end of the season. At that time, neither he nor his team even knew if he would be able to compete as a professional again, but if he did, it had to be in optimal conditions to continue fighting at the highest level.
Weeks of specific training and treatment in search of the solution led to the long-awaited announcement. Nadal would reappear before the end of the year at the Abu Dhabi Exhibition , his first test to measure his possibilities, especially physical, in the face of an important 2022 in which he would meet the not inconsiderable figure of 36 years.
Positive after injury
The two defeats in the desert paled into nothing – they really weren’t serious – compared to a new setback. Rafa tested positive for coronavirus on December 20, after dining with King Juan Carlos I in the Emirates. His participation in the Australian mini-tour was at serious risk, despite being enrolled in the Melbourne tournaments and the Australian Open, his main goal to start in 2022.
Luckily – finally – Nadal got the long-awaited negative on time and with the complete vaccination schedule he traveled to the state of Victoria, where he would debut against Berankis at the ATP 250 in Melbourne , before defeating Griekspoor – without playing – in the quarterfinals and Ruusuvuori in semifinals. Solid encounters and far from their best level, but with the incentive of victory. Against Cressy and his serve-volley, Rafa also triumphed, taking the first title of the season.
Nadal’s path in Australia
The decision to go to the Summer Set in Melbourne and not to the ATP Cup , a priori more competitive, was explained from the filming obtained by Nadal, who reached the Australian Open in progression and clearly beat Marcos Giron, an American, in the first round. . The sensations were good but as Toni Nadal admitted, they did not seem enough to have Rafa as a candidate for the title.
Opening cracks in the forecasts, including his own, Nadal was advancing firmly in the table thanks to two victories against the German Hanfmann and the always dangerous Karen Khachanov, a finalist at the Tokyo Olympics. There, Rafa left his first set but also great feelings for the future. He could compete and win against one of the best tennis players in the world.
Then came Mannarino and a tie-break of almost half an hour in which Nadal sealed the pass to the quarterfinals, where instead of Zverev , feared by all, he was waiting for a Shapovalov who forced him to five sets and was about to ally himself with a stomach problem. to send Rafa back to Mallorca. He avoided it, with tenacity, courage and a lot of tennis, the then champion of 20 Grand Slams and opponent of the best tennis player in history.
Miracle of the best in history
Already in the semifinals, Matteo Berrettini would be a worthy rival but not enough to eliminate a Nadal, already, at his best level and with a single step ahead to complete the miracle and become the best ever. The big problem is that the opponent for the title was Daniil Medvedev , the villain of the tour and recent US Open and Davis Cup champion.
Rafa got very complicated in a match that saw the first set fly towards the Russian side and the second, with a similar path although with a much greater dispute. Nadal needed his most epic victory and found it after five hours and 24 minutes of play, coming back set by set until reaching the fifth, a true ode to tennis, where he knocked down the giant Medvedev and completed the miracle that began months ago after an injury that threatened with the withdrawal of the largest.
