Beijing time, January 25, 2022: The 2022 Australian Open men's singles ended the second quarter-final battle, and although the No. 6 seed Spanish king Nadal suffered stomach pain in the third set and was tied in the first two sets, he finally beat Canadian rising star Shapovalov in five sets of 6-3/6-4/4/3-6/6-6-3, and returned to the australian open men's singles final four after three years.
Before the start of the season, it is estimated that few people will put Nadal in the Australian Open to win the hot spot, after all, he has just returned from injury and his performance in the Abu Dhabi exhibition match is not satisfactory. In the Australian Open, this hard ground venue, melbourne king Djokovic is undoubtedly the biggest favorite to win the championship, Medvedev and little Zverev two big 95 small kings are also highly sought after, coupled with a group of very impactful post-95s and post-00s young people, who only won the australian open once before, and then infected with the new crown at the end of last year, Nadal, how to see it will not be a favorite to win the championship.
However, after the start of the new season, Nadal made a good start in Melbourne, breaking his own hard-court championship drought in the Melbourne 250 tournament, although it was only an ATP 250 tournament and did not meet any strong opponents, but this undoubtedly made the Spanish king gain a lot of confidence. After the end of the farce of the Djokovic Australian Open, the Serbian king finally missed the Australian Open, without the signing table of the 9 champions of the tournament, which suddenly increased everyone's chances of winning the championship, everyone wanted to seize the opportunity, and we know how strong Nadal's ability to seize the opportunity is.
In the first two rounds, Nadal easily swept his opponents without bloodshed and reached the round of 32. In the third round, he faced Russian fighter Kachalov, overcame physical fluctuations, and successfully passed the four sets. 16-in-8, facing the French veteran Manarino, Nadal saved 4 sets in the first set, won the super seven with a score of 16-14, and finally swept to the quarterfinals. In comparison, being listed as the hot snow to win the championship, Zverev Jr. was once again disappointing, and the fourth round was swept by Shapovalov, and the Canadian star also became the opponent of the Spanish king's quarter-finals.
At the Abu Dhabi Exhibition Match late last year, Nadal and Shapo just met once, when he won the decisive set and lost ten times, but this is a Grand Slam match, and the Spanish king's fighting power is definitely different from a month ago. Sure enough, after the opening, Nadal achieved a break advantage and successfully played the first two sets. However, Shapovalov proved that his defeat of Zvi Jr. was no accident, and he was swept by Djokovic in the Wimbledon semi-final last year, this time facing the giants to chase two sets in a row, dragging the game into a five-set battle.
In last year's quarter-finals, Nadal was completed by Tsitsipas in three consecutive sets with the first two sets. Now that the set has once again been tied, and Nadal has a stomach upset in the fourth set (as he said after the game), the decisive set is difficult for a 35-year-old veteran like him. But throughout his career, Nadal has been telling us how to face the ordeal, and in the decider he once again became the god of war, grabbed the break advantage at the beginning, and persevered until the end, winning the decider 6-3 and returning to the Australian Open final four after three years.
"Throughout my career, I've learned to enjoy tribulations, which mean accepting, accepting things as they are, not the way you expect them to be, and then looking forward and not looking back." This is Nadal, who is proving his words and deeds with practical actions. After reaching the final four, Nadal has proven himself in his current form, and in the semi-finals, whether against Berrettini or Monfils, the Spanish king is the more favored side. And once you reach the final, everything is possible, even against the championship-winning hot Medvedev, Nadal will definitely use all his strength to get closer to the 21st crown.
At the Australian Open five years ago, the 35-year-old Federer snatched up five sets of the battle, defeated Nadal in the final, and finally completed the miracle of returning to win the championship. At that time, people were lamenting the magic of 35-year-old Federer, and now Nadal is also 35 years old, a full-fledged veteran. And this time, can he complete the miracle of his old rival five years ago? The 21st crown is really getting closer