5 and a half hours to become the first person to win 21 championships! Nadal taught Medvedev a lesson with a stunning comeback

On January 30, Beijing time, the Australian Open men's singles final was staged, and the 36-year-old Nadal played against the 26-year-old Medvedev. The encounter lasted five hours and 24 minutes, and in the end, Nadal achieved a big comeback after falling behind two sets to win the trophy at the Australian Open with a 3-2 victory over Medvedev. This title also allowed him to surpass Federer and Djokovic to become the "first person" to win the 21st Grand Slam title first.

As the three greatest players in tennis history, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have all won 20 Grand Slam titles. Both Federer and Djokovic had been one step away from their 21st crown, but both had passed by the 21st. Whether Nadal can become the first Grand Slam 21st title winner in men's tennis in Melbourne is something to look forward to.

Looking back, 13 of Nadal's 20 Grand Slam championships came from the French Open, and of the remaining 7, 4 at the U.S. Open, 2 at Wimbledon and only 1 at the Australian Open.

In recent seasons, as he has grown older and injured, Nadal has begun to compete selectively, with a focus on winning. Nadal's 2021 Australian Open quarter-finals were reversed by Tsitsipas, and it was only after the clay season that he played again, winning barcelona and Roma, but the most important French Open was unbeaten in the semi-finals and was broken by Djokovic. Since then, Nadal has played only two games for the remainder of the 2021 season, and has been in a long period of injury cultivation until the end of 2021, when he returned to the Abu Dhabi exhibition match.

But Nadal's new season has not been smooth sailing, he first recovered from a foot injury, and then unfortunately was diagnosed with the new crown. "Two months ago, I had no idea if I would be able to go back to the tour and now I'm able to play here again and it seems to me like a gift from life. Fortunately, I'm back. ”

And Medvedev's peak performance is now at the end of 2020, paris and the finals unbeaten record has won consecutive titles, into 2021, he reached the final at the Australian Open and won 20 consecutive games across the season. After a slight uptick in the middle of the season, Medvedev broke out again in the North American season, with the Rogers Cup winning the fourth Title of the Masters and the US Open ushering in his third Grand Slam final. After the US Open, Medvedev's footsteps did not stop, successively played in paris and the finals but lost successively, davis cup final is to lead Russia to win the cup, into the 2022 Medvedev Australian Open before playing in the ATP Cup, personal singles record 3 wins and 1 loss.

Some people say that this time at the Australian Open, Djokovic's absence because of the "vaccine incident" gave Nadal a golden opportunity, and he is indeed the biggest beneficiary of Djokovic's absence. In the semi-finals, Nadal fought hard for 5 sets, and he relied on a stubborn breath to eliminate Shapovalov and advance to the final four of the Australian Open for the seventh time. After that, he continued to beat the seventh seed Berrettini and entered the final as he wished.

But this year's Australian Open is not Nadal's best form. Nadal's coach and former world number one star Moya revealed that in the match against Shapovalov, Nadal lost 8 pounds of weight in one game and his body was in a state of complete dehydration. Although Nadal reached the final, his opponent Medvedev was 10 years younger than him, and he himself said that "I am not 21 years old, and I do not believe that I can reach the final". In that match, Nadal developed a stomach upset because the weather was too hot, and then took painkillers to relieve his symptoms before continuing the game.

In the final, the two men played half-court good goals with their own technical characteristics: Medvedev is a typical new generation of men's tennis players, reaching 1.98 meters tall but not clumsy, with excellent serve and lateral movement ability. He rarely takes the initiative to attack in front of the net, the counterattack under the defense is his main means of scoring, and Medvedev has super physical strength in the game, known as the "king of multiple shots" on the tour, once he enters the long multi-shot, he has a total of mistakes by his opponents through stable shots and so on. And this is exactly the same as the "undead" Nadal.

In the first two sets, Medvedev firmly suppressed Nadal, who did not show much advantage in front of his juniors. In the first half of the game, his unforced errors were twice as many as Medvedev's, and his proud serve failed to "win with one goal".

At his peak, Nadal was known for his ability to run, and the crossing ball under extreme pressure became his symbol. Now, as he grew older, Nadal improved his ability to intercept in front of the net and gradually shifted from defensive to more physically efficient offensive play. From the third set, Nadal's tactics worked in the face of a huge physical exertion: after successfully winning the third set, Nadal once again embodied the tenacity of the "God of War". In the fourth set, he struggled to win the seventh break point, which finally destroyed Medvedev's momentum and brought the game into the fourth hour of the decider. The 10-year gap in physical fitness no longer exists at this moment. On the contrary, it was the experience and tenacity of the 10-year-old that gave Nadal the courage to break through in the decisive set.

In the decider, Nadal took the lead in the break and took advantage of the serve to firmly occupy the initiative on the field, and finally won the final victory 6-3. His never-say-die spirit also taught Medvedev a lesson in the opposite net - at any time, there will always be a chance to create miracles, as long as you are diligent, hardworking, and never give up.

Column Editor-in-Chief: Chen Hua Text Editor: Gong Jieyun

Source: Author: Gong Jieyun