Australian Open: Rafael Nadal won a record grand slam title – ŠPORT.sk

In the five-hour five-hour final, he defeated the number two of the Russian Daniil Medvedev in the position of the tournament six after a great turnover of 2: 6, 6: 7 (5), 6: 4, 6: 4, 7: 5. At the head of the historical tables, the Spaniard disengaged from Swiss Roger Federer and Serb Novak Djokovic, who have 20 grand slam trophies.

Nadal triumphed in Melbourne for the first time in 2009, four times in the final. The Spaniard is the fourth player to succeed at least twice in each Big Four event. He raised the Musketeers’ Cup at Roland Garros in Paris thirteen times, won the US Open four times and Wimbledon twice. Thanks to Sunday’s victory, he will collect a pre-tax bonus of A $ 2.875 million, adding 1,500 points to the ATP world rankings.

Medvedev did not take the chance to win a second grand slam title, but did not find a winner at the US Open last September. The Russian lost the second final of the Australian Open in a row. Last year, he did not even play a set against the Serb Novak Djokovic, who was deported from Australia before the start of this year’s tournament and could not defend the title.

Medvedev got to two breakballs in the third game of the final duel. Nadal turned them away and kept his service, but the Russian was not taken aback. At 2: 2, he broke through the opponent’s pass with a clean game and got on the horse. The Spaniard was nervous, he lost his service again at 2: 4 and due to two double mistakes, and Medvedev clearly won the first set in his favor after confirming the break. The Russian read the game very well, he managed to deal with Nadal’s backhand tears and push him in long exchanges.

However, the Spaniard did not intend to sell the leather cheaply and had a long time in the second set. At 2: 1, after a thrilling exchange, which ended with a demonstration backhand stop volley, he developed his first breakball in the match. He also converted and subsequently increased to 4: 1. Medvedev reduced to 3: 4 in the next minutes, but in the eighth game he hesitated to serve again and Nadal went to serve for the victory in the set.

After averting four breakball balls, he worked his way up to the setball, but did not convert it, and Medvedev finally managed to reduce it to 4: 5. The fate of the second set was finally decided by the secretary, in whom Nadal led 5: 3, but Medvedev immediately scored four points in a row. During the setball, he shone with a sample backhand throw.

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In the third act, Medvedev had three breakballs at 3: 2, but Nadal turned all three away, which kicked him, due to his great fighting spirit. At 4: 4, he took Medvedev’s serve and the third set was completed with a clean game. The Russian became frustrated that the fans were showing too much sympathy for Nadal at his mistakes, and he applauded them ironically several times.

At the beginning of the fourth set, Medvedev lost twice and the Spaniard took the lead 4: 2. The Russian often tried to stopballs, but they did not work for him and Nadal punished him uncompromisingly. Spaniel’s backhand worked well and he managed to force his fifth set.

Right in his introduction, Nadal did not use breakball, but at 2: 2, after a great forehand, he took Medvedev’s service again and was close to winning a record grand slam title. At 5: 4 and 30: 0, two balls separated him from the victory, the Russian won four fittings in a row and equalized to 5: 5, but in the eleventh game he was betrayed again and Nadal did not let go of another opportunity.

During his own service, he converted the first swordball and adjusted the mutual balance with Medvedev to 4: 1. In Melbourne, he followed the triumph over the Russian from the 2019 US Open final, which was also five sets. He has not yet experienced the bitterness of losing, winning the ATP tournament in Melbourne in early January. On Sunday, he won his 90th single trophy at the highest professional level.

Rafael Nadal played tennis with a 97-year-old: