In an epic Australian Open final, Rafael Nadal defeated Daniil Medvedev to lift the record-breaking 21st Major crown. Nadal toppled Medvedev 2-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in five hours and 24 minutes, prevailing in the second-longest Major final precisely ten years after losing that epic one to Novak Djokovic in just under six hours.
Rafa became the first player in the Open era who came from two sets to love down in the Australian Open final, standing on the verge of defeat at 2-6, 6-7, 2-3, 0-40 but erasing that deficit and crossing the finish line to write the record books.
John McEnroe praised Rafael Nadal’s Australian Open performance.
John McEnroe praised the Spaniard and his effort, especially after winning a match from two sets to love down only a couple of times in his career. McEnroe could not believe what he saw from two great rivals on Sunday, as they pushed each other to the limits for almost five and a half hours and left everything on the court.
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Nadal saved those three break points in the third set’s sixth game and started his fantastic comeback, taking sets three and four to force a decider against a much younger opponent. Nadal moved 5-3 up and served for the title in game ten, only to suffer a break from 30-0 up.
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Keeping his focus, the Spaniard broke again in game 11 and held at love to start a massive celebration and become the first player with 21 Major titles. “Medvedev had his chances in the closing stages. I still thought he would win, as it’s very tough to come from two sets to love down.
Rafa has only done that three times in his entire career, twice at Majors. To do what he did there is insane. And even in the fifth set, you still wonder whether Nadal will have enough energy to pull it off. Then it became apparent that he was still going pretty strong, but Medvedev got a second wind, and it looked like maybe he could take over.
And then Rafa broke and was 30-0 on serve at 5-4. Medvedev came back, and then you think, ‘Oh my God, maybe Medvedev is gonna win.’ The Russian lost his serve in the next game, and the entire battle was indeed a memorable one. I feel it’s hard to believe that I just watched that for the last five or six hours,” John McEnroe said.
This article was originally appeared in Tennis World.
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