Great battle with a sad denouement: Medvedev lost to Nadal in the crazy final of the Australian Open

At the Australian Open, Daniil Medvedev once again proved that he is now rightfully considered one of the strongest tennis players on the planet.

If his triumph at the US Open 2021 allowed him to enter the limited pool of athletes who managed to win a trophy at the Grand Slam tournament in the era of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, then the second successive appearance in the final of the "major" confirmed that that success was not accidental. .

Finally, doubts about his status could be dispelled by a victory over the second representative of the Big Three and, in combination, one of the most inconvenient opponents in the ATP tour.

If we take into account opponents with whom Medvedev met at least four times, then only Luca Puy could boast a more impressive percentage of victories in duels with Medvedev (80%), and Nadal shared the second line with Adrian Mannarino (both - 75%).

The only difference is that the French were lucky to cross paths with Daniil at an early stage of his career - before the Russian won two Masters series tournaments in a row for the first time and made it to the final of the TBSh, declaring his claims to a place in the elite.

Their confrontation with the Spaniard, on the contrary, began precisely in the summer of 2019, when Rafa first upset him at the prestigious Rogers Cup, and then at the US Open.

But a lot has changed since then.

Although Medvedev lost to Nadal at the 2019 ATP Finals, a year later he took a convincing revenge and won the trophy.

And from that moment on, he constantly progressed, both in sports and in mental terms.

After the defeat in New York, he became much better at controlling his emotions and directing them in the right direction.

Suffice it to recall last year's match with Djokovic in New York, during which Daniil showed incredible calmness, or the recent meeting with Maxim Cressy in Melbourne.

Nadal, on the other hand, was mainly treated for old injuries, limiting himself only to victory at the Roland Garros that became his native.

And at the other "majors" he could not go beyond the semi-finals.

Perhaps it was for this reason that Medvedev was considered the favorite for the 2022 Australian Open final.

John McEnroe and Tim Henman gave preference to him, and Yevgeny Kafelnikov even expressed the opinion that the Spaniard would not be able to maintain a high pace for a long time and would lose a maximum of four games.

Medvedev understood that Nadal would be the most dangerous in the opening of the meeting, so he chose to do without the traditional buildup.

He immediately began to demonstrate tennis of the highest level and not let the enemy feel comfortable on the court.

This was very much helped by the serve, which worked almost flawlessly in the starting set.

Rafa could not do anything at the reception, winning only six of 22 points, and half of them - on the second ball.

On his pitch, Nadal felt extremely insecure.

The first game turned out to be difficult, and starting from the second, the 20-time TBS winner had to win back break points.

In two cases, this was successful, and not without luck.

At first, a randomly set racket helped him circle Medvedev, who rushed forward, and then, in his favor, completed an incredible “shootout” at the net in his favor.

But for a long time to create magic did not work.

The next two games on his pitch, he lost dry, and in one of them he performed two double faults.

Medvedev took advantage of the opponent's weakness and pulled ahead with a score of 5:2, and then completed the set in his favor without any problems.

A distinctive feature of the first game was not only the constant pressure of Medvedev, but also Nadal's attempts to force the course of the draws. Usually he preferred to provoke long exchanges of blows and wait for the opponent to miss, but this time he took a lot of risks. And under the pressure of Daniel, this did not work out in the best way, as evidenced by 16 unforced errors. Not to say that in the second set Rafael began to act more carefully, but in more comfortable conditions there were noticeably more accurate hits. The Russian loosened his grip and immediately got into a difficult situation. The Spaniard had two attempts to take the game at the reception and take the lead with a break.

Medvedev tried to restore parity, but for quite a long time he could not succeed.

With the score 2:4 at the reception, he waited for Nadal's mistakes and reduced the gap.

But in the very next game he allowed his opponent to return the favor.

And at the decisive moment, in an offensive way, he slipped on the back line and could not keep up with the shortened one.

However, the next game was the richest in events, during which Rafael went out to serve for the game.

Five break points, one setball and the detention of a fan who had escaped onto the court fit into it, but Daniel still put the squeeze on an uncompromising opponent.

In the end, everything was decided on an exciting tie-break.

Nadal started with a mini-break and even led 5-3, but at the key moment he again began to make mistakes over and over again.

Two misses helped Medvedev get out of a difficult situation, and two actively won draws helped him take the second game.

Nadal was on the verge of failure.

He last lost the first two sets in the 2019 TBS final.

Then he started unsuccessfully in the decisive match of the Australian Open and eventually lost to Djokovic without a fight.

And played much cleaner.

In that match, he made a total of 28 unforced errors, and this time he already had 40 in liabilities by the beginning of the third game segment.

But at the right moment, the legendary tennis player got together.

As a click, Nadal stopped making mistakes and began to confidently take his serve.

It was not easy for him only when the score was 2:3.

He again let the Russian earn three break points in a row, but won back all of them.

Medvedev reacted to this not in the best way - he gave away the initiative, and then the leadership in the party.

It took two tries for Rafael to make the break, and this time he did not allow a return call.

After that, Medvedev got nervous again. During the Australian Open, arguing with the judge on the tower became a common thing for him, he did not change traditions in the final. Previously, he was outraged by the coaching of his father Stefanos Tsitsipas, the untimely change of plan on the screen and the long pauses between Cressy's serves, but this time the fans fell under the hot hand. By the way, they really did not always behave properly, shouting under the arm of the Russian, and also reacting too joyfully to his mistakes. Therefore, Daniel, in a rather harsh form, demanded that the referee reassure the fans, calling them "empty-headed".

However, this did not have a positive effect.

Medvedev missed the threads of the game, and Nadal became more and more like himself in his best years.

Daniil desperately resisted, and although he took one of the games on the opponent's serve, he gave two on his own.

In the second of them, he won back six break points, but on the seventh attempt he still allowed Rafa to get ahead.

Medvedev did not give up and almost evened the situation, but suddenly began to make one wrong decision after another.

In particular, this concerned the frequent use of shortened ones.

Those became easy prey for Nadal, who over and over again converted them into actively won balls.

And when Daniel nevertheless acted a little more sharply, Rafael worked magic on the court and hit from the most difficult positions.

Thus, Nadal managed to win two games in a row and postpone the determination of the victor until the fifth set.

In fact, the plot of their duel in the finals of the US Open was repeated with the only difference that then the Russian was in the role of catching up.

From a record victory in the Grand Slam tournaments, Rafael was separated by one set and Daniil, who began to experience health problems.

He had convulsions, in connection with which he was forced to call a doctor.

If this helped, it was insignificant.

Medvedev with great difficulty began to move around the court, and he was saved by an exceptionally stable serve.

But in the fifth game, even that was not enough.

With two mistakes, he gave Nadal chances at the reception, and which the Spaniard took advantage of.

Medvedev's position was critical.

It was not possible to immediately make a reverse break, to catch on to the next game at the reception - too.

But suddenly a gift was presented by an opponent.

Nadal came out to serve for the match and faltered.

Two unforced and one double fault allowed Daniil to keep his chances of success, but he lost them just as quickly.

At the decisive moment, the Russian again began to make the wrong decisions - first he went to the net after a weak feed, then he again remembered the short ones.

Rafa took the lead again, and then won the 21st Major.

To do this, he needed to hold the second longest duel in the history of the TBSH finals, which stretched for 5 hours and 24 minutes.