Rafael Nadal was 30-0 up, serving for the championship at 5-4, when Daniil Medvedev found the extra strength to charge back and win the game. In that moment, as Nadal failed to close out the match, memories from the 2012 and 2017 finals came rushing back.
Memories of the turnaround when Novak Djokovic in 2012 and Roger Federer in 2017 went past Nadal despite the Spaniard being a break up in the deciding sets. Nadal feared an encore in the summit clash of the 2022 edition that took place at the Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.
"After that, I said 'f***, one more time I'm going to lose like in 2012 and 2017'... But I just kept fighting. I can lose, he can beat me, but I can't give up," Nadal said to Eurosport after the match.
Nadal was determined not to "give up". He broke back immediately before a service game to love completed a 2-6, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 win. This was just one of the many comebacks that the Spaniard scripted in the final and tournament to get to the record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title, which now puts him at the top in men's tennis, ahead of his greatest rivals Federer and Djokovic.
And one of the most crucial of the comebacks in that enthralling contest came in the third set!
The highest seed, Medvedev, started the match on the front foot, taking control of the contest early on. He was quick from the back and forced Nadal into making multiple unforced errors in the first set. The Russian's tenacity had Nadal rattled as he struggled with his groundstrokes and conceded five games in a row to lose the first set 2-6.
In the second set, Nadal rushed into an early lead at 4-1 but Medvedev, who denied Djokovic from number 21 in the US Open final last year, scripted his own comeback to recover to 3-5 and then saved a set point to force a tie-breaker. Medvedev's shots had more depth. Nadal's forehands were weak. The result of the tie-break: 7-5 in the Russian's favour.
By taking a two-set lead, Medvedev had put Nadal against history. No player in the Open Era had won the Australian Open after losing the first two sets in the final. The last person to do so was Roy Emerson, 57 years ago. The last time Nadal won a best-of-five match from two sets down was at Wimbledon 2007.
At 35, against an opponent 10 years younger, even the usual best would not have been enough for Nadal, And here he was operating well short of his usual best. The slice-shot strategy wasn't working. The backhand wasn't fluent. The forehands lacked punch. And Medvedev covered everything thrown at him.
To make matter worse, Medvedev made it 3-2 in the third set and had three break points on Nadal's serve. The Spaniard was put on the ropes, but for Nadal, it's never over till it's over. He saved the first break point as well as the second and then the third. He won a 19-shot rally and then a 21-shot rally to hold his serve. The tide had turned. He eventually broke and then fired three winners to hold to love to win the set 6-4.
Nadal was back!
The game that seemed like a three-set affair at one stage instead ended up going the full stretch. Nadal brought all his experience into the game in the fourth set, forcing Medvedev into baseline battles. Along with tactics and skills, it also became a fight between the fitness levels of the two players. And the Russian wasn't enjoying it, as Nadal made him run from side to side. The slice shots gave way for the drop shots, forcing Medvedev to reach for the net more than before.
To Medvedev's credit, he refused to go away, even though his movement was compromised. Medvedev responded strongly to an early break, but Nadal had another break with a crosscourt backhand. He then served out the set to force the match into the decider.
With time, Nadal grew stronger in his game but more importantly his superior fitness and higher tempo of tennis is what ultimately made the difference. Both were perhaps a product of his indomitable spirit.
Just last month he was struck down by COVID-19. His season came to an end in August 2021 due to a foot injury that made him think that he would never play again. He played just two matches in the second half of 2021.
"I was not ready physically for these kind of battles, honestly. I didn't practice enough to be ready for it," Nadal said after the match.
So from where did he find that fitness level, and from where did that tempo come? It's almost impossible to explain, but then again, so is Nadal.
Medvedev fought hard in the final set as both players missed break-point opportunities. With a forehand winner down the line, Nadal broke for a 3-2 lead. Medvedev hit back from 4-5, 0/30 behind to level. This was the last of Medvedev's fights on the night. Nadal broke back immediately and then served out to clinch a memorable victory after a brutal five hours and 24 minutes on the court.
“Tactically nothing changed. I feel like I was playing right, but Rafa stepped up,” Medvedev said in his post-match press conference explaining Nadal's comeback.
It was Nadal's second Australian Open title win, 13 years after his first in 2009. In these 13 years, he endured multiple heartbreaks in the finals at the first Slam of the year. In 2012 and 2017 he lost agonisingly despite being a break up in final sets. In 2014 final, he lost to Stanislas Wawrinka in four sets while struggling with a back injury. In 2019 final, he was swept aside by a far superior Djokovic in three sets.
Nadal has been putting his body on the line for over 20 years, but even by his own standards, among the many acts of defiance, the Australian Open 2022 success should stand the tallest.
“If we put everything together, the scenario, the momentum, what it means. Yeah, without a doubt probably have been the biggest comeback of my tennis career,” said Nadal in the post-match press conference.
Tallest because just when we thought we have seen everything from Rafa, Nadal went beyond the standards he has set, surprising not just the fans, but surely somewhere himself as well.
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