Nadal remains ‘King of the Clay’ at Australian Open

Melbourne, Jan 30 (UNI) Rafael Nadal etched his name in the history books on Sunday after thrashing Daniil Medvedev in an epic Australian Open summit clash to become the first player to win 21 Grand Slam titles. Nadal fought back from two sets down, which he has never done before in his entire career at a Grand Slam in 15 years. With this resilient victory, Nadal wrote an extraordinary chapter in his exceptional career, leaping him one yard ahead of Roger Federer and Novak Djocovic in Grand Slam stakes. A staggering 2-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win after a sweat-spilling five hours and 24 minutes battle was his second victory at Melbourne Park. He had won the coveted trophy in 2009. This win also made Nadal after Djokovic to bag every Grand Slam title at least twice since the sport turned professional in 1968. Appearing in his 29th Grand Slam final, the Spaniard was under the pump early on by the big-serving Medvedev, who was in pursuit of his fourth major title win. In one of the four face-offs, Medvedev had defeated the Spaniard in a thrilling US Open final in 2019. In the first set, Nadal displayed phenomenal resilience to forge ahead following an extraordinary third game but the Russian broke his resistance. He pocketed a total of five games in a row to win the first set, leaving Nadal pondering how to deal with the feisty Russian Czar. While Nadal was putting up a show, he produced a perfect sliced backhand winner after a marathon 40-shot rally en-route to breaking through for a 3-1 lead in an head-over-heals second set. Though the momentum was in his favor, Nadal’s first serve percentage was below par, which was not enough to keep Medevdev at a distance from forging ahead of him. There were ugly scenes with Nadal facing breakpoint serving for the second set at 5-3 when an intruder ran onto the court with a flag. He rushed near Medevedev, but the security officials hauled him up. After the match resumed, Medevedev saved a set point before breaking back and pushing the contest into an inevitable tiebreak situation. Nadal led 5-3, but Medvedev consecutively earned next four points to win a savage set lasting an hour and 24 minutes and went into the third set with supreme confidence to lay his hands on the trophy. Since thrashing Mikhail Youzhny at 2007 Wimbledon, Nadal had not won any contest after being two sets down, but the Spaniard, as usual, did not give up, notwithstanding the odds against him when he had lost to Denis Shapovalov and Matteo Berrettini at the Rod Laver arena from this similar stage. After fighting back from 0-40 at 2-3 in the third set, Nadal clawed to 4-4 with a blazing backhand down the line before winning the third set to keep his hopes alive in the match. In the fourth set, Nadal raced ahead early after Medevdev sketched a double fault but the Russian prodded his way back for 2-2. Soon, Nadal consolidated his lead for a 4-2 advantage with Medvedev looking tired, who allowed the booing spectators to take a toll on him and appealed to umpire John Blom to control them. Nadal created a set point on the Russian’s serve at 5-3, which Medvedev saved, but the Spaniard took it 6-4 on his own serve to level up an incredible final. And after four hours and 40 minutes of extravaganza, Nadal broke his resistance to push his nose in the front at 3-2 in the decider before he walked in to serve to register his name in history books at 5-4. In yet another twist, Medvedev broke Nadal for 5-5, but in spectacular scenes, the Spaniard returned in the bounce to serve for the title. This time, the sixth seed delivered to finish the Russian quest. Nadal is now on the verge of extending his Grand Slam tally to 22 later this year at the French Open. He is the best player on the planet, and for nothing he is called “The King of Clay.”