On January 28, Beijing time, the Australian Open men's singles semifinals competition began, and the No. 6 seed Nadal and the No. 7 seed Berrettini met. The two sides fought fiercely in four sets in this match, and Nadal won 3-1 to advance to the final of this year's Australian Open.
After the victory of this match, Nadal ushered in a personal career milestone, his 500th victory on the Tour hardcourt. It was Nadal's 29th career grand slam final, finishing 3rd after Federer and Djokovic. This is the sixth time Nadal has reached the final at the Australian Open, and it is also his second time in three years since the 2019 Australian Open.
After defeating Berrettini, Nadal could not hide his tears of excitement. After a long period of recovery from injury last season, no one could have imagined that the 35-year-old would be able to reach the final again at the Australian Open. After unloading the pressure, Nadal could not hide his tears, only he himself understood how hard it was to come to this final.
After reaching the australian open final, Nadal was just one step away from the unprecedented Grand Slam 21 titles in men's tennis, but after the game, Nadal refused to talk about the 21st crown. When Correll asked him about the 21st crown, Nadal completely avoided talking about it. He said he never expected to reach the final of the Australian Open in 2022 and have the opportunity to compete for the Australian Open title.
Nadal said after the match that the most important thing for him was the Australian Open itself. I've been unlucky in the Australian Open finals a few times in the past. He mentioned the final with Djokovic in 2012 and the fierce battle with Federer in 2017, who was originally very close to the final title.
Nadal will still face the winner between Medvedev and Tsitsipas in Sunday's final, and no matter who he faces in the final, no matter what the outcome of the final, it has been a very successful Australian Open for Nadal.