Nadal roars following winning the men’s singles title at the Australian Open tennis tournament on the 30th. Archyde.com = Yonhap News
Rafael Nadal (5th place, Spain), the ‘King of the Clay Court’, set the record for the most wins in men’s singles at a major tennis tournament. Novak Djokovic (1st place, Serbia), who was canceled due to not being vaccinated once morest COVID-19, achieved a great record at the Australian Open while he was absent.
Nadal defeated Dani Medvedev (2nd place, Russia) in the men’s singles final of the Australian Open (total prize of 75 million Australian dollars, regarding 64.4 billion won) held in Melbourne, Australia on the 30th. They gave up two sets first, but they went down and won three sets, ending a 5 hour and 24 minute bloody battle with a 3-2 (2-6 6-7 6-4 6-4 7-5) victory.
This victory marked Nadal’s 21st major championship win. Djokovic and Roger Federer (17th, Switzerland) and Nadal, who were tied for first place (20 times) in their career Grand Slam titles, rose to the first place alone. Djokovic was deported following his entry visa was canceled by the Australian government for not being vaccinated once morest COVID-19, and Federer, 41, has not played due to a knee injury.
Initially, it was predicted that Nadal’s chances of winning this tournament were not high. Nadal won the Australian Open only once, even in 2009. Nadal, who won the French Open on clay 13 times, was relatively weak on the hard court.
Djokovic, on the other hand, was the number one contender for the championship. Djokovic has won the Australian Open 9 times, the most in men’s singles for the past three years and the most in the history of the event. Djokovic showed off his strength by winning the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon last year. Nadal did not participate in the Tokyo Olympics and the US Open following losing to Djokovic in the semifinals of the French Open.
However, the situation changed when Djokovic, the head of the house, was absent due to the Corona 19 variable. Nadal went on to win the finals, raising expectations for the most wins in the history of major tournaments.
The beginning of the final wasn’t good. Nadal struggled with Medvedev’s huge coat cover and gave up the first set, and even lost the second set following a tie break.
Last year’s US Open winner Medvedev seemed to have won the Grand Slam for the second time in a row. At that time, Medvedev won the US Open final, defeating Djokovic’s ambitions to win the calendar grand slam and the most major championships of all time.
Medvedev defeated Nadal in the men’s singles final at the Australian Open following winning two sets first. AFP = Yonhap News
But Medvedev did not get over the hurdle. In the three-set game score 4-4, he lost a sub game to Nadal and missed a chance to win. In particular, Nadal felt pain in his left thigh from the 4th set due to the strategy he pushed to the left and right corners, and his activity decreased noticeably.
Medvedev, who became sluggish, frequently used drop shots, but was hit repeatedly by Nadal, who was active even at the age of 36. In the end, Nadal showed the upper hand in a physical competition once morest Medvedev, who was 10 years younger than him, and even won the championship.
Medvedev had to weep over the followingmath of a bloody battle following winning 3-2 in 4 hours and 42 minutes over Felix Ozealiasim (9th place, Canada) in the quarterfinals. Nadal received AUD 2.875,000 (regarding 2.43 billion won) for the championship, and Medvedev received AUD 1,575,000 (regarding 1.33 billion won) as a runner-up prize.