Rafael Nadal beats Djokovic and Federer to historic 21st Grand Slam with Australian Open victory
Rafael Nadal overturned a two set deficit against Daniil Medvedev to win the Australian Open and beat Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer to a historic 21st Grand Slam title.
Nadal beat Medvedev 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 to become the first player ever to win 21 Grand Slams, beating Federer and Djokovic to such a monumental achievement.
From the walk-out it was clear who was the fan favourite as now 21-time Grand Slam legend Nadal received cheers whilst US Open champion Medvedev was met with a smattering of boos.
In a true test of his endurance and stamina, Nadal answered questions regarding his fitness by performing at or near his best throughout the mammoth five hour 24 minute affair, as well as the whole Slam.
This means both players played more than 22 hours of tennis at this year’s Australian Open and comes after Nadal was absent for five months.
The match sprung into action with a 26 shot rally coming within the first three games, setting the precedent for what was to come. This was then followed up with an incredible 40-shot rally in the second set.
World number two Medvedev took the first two sets, but Nadal remarkably battled back to claim the third and fourth sets to level the scores after being two sets down.
Much like the rest of the match, the fifth and final set ebbed and flowed but it was Nadal who emerged victorious to make history.
Nadal completed his miraculous comeback when he took the fifth and final set to win the match. This win sees Nadal pip both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to become the first player to reach 21 Grand Slam titles.
Should Medvedev have won, he would have become the first Open Era player to win successive Grand Slams and would have also overtaken Djokovic as the World number one, but alas it wasn’t to be.
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