Men’s finalists chase history
Nadal seeks 21st title; Medvedev also can set mark
MELBOURNE, Australia — Rafael Nadal is within one victory of a men’s record 21st GrandSlam singles title.
He’ll have to beat secondseedeed Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final early Sunday to make history. And Medvedev is chasing a piece of history of his own after beating Stefanos Tsitispas, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, in a heated semifinal. The U.S. Open champion is aiming to be the first man in the Open era to win his second Grand Slam title at the next major tournament.
Nadal advanced to the final in Australia for the sixth time with a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win in a mostly lopsided contest against seventh-seeded Matteo Berrettini in the first of themen’s semifinals.
Medvedev had a more tempestuousandchallenging run to back-to-back Australian Open finals. He had to deal with a hostile crowd in his second-round win over Nick Kyrgios, had to save a match point and rally from two sets down to beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in a nearly five-hour quarterfinal win. Then he had to regain his composure after an angry outburst in the second set of thesemifinals.
The Russian yelled at chairumpire Jaume Campistol in the changever after serving a double-fault to concede a late break, getting a codeviolation for a visible obscenity when he made a gesture with his arm to the proTsitsipas crowd, and then demanded that his opponent be cautioned for receiving coaching from his father — inGreek — from the stands.
Medvedev returned after Tsitsipas converted his third set point to level the match and he again urged the umpire to give the French Open runner-upa code violation.
He then took a five-minute
break, took control late in the third set and then reeled off the last five games after Tsitsipas was eventually cautionedfor coaching.
Nadal’s run to a 29th Grand Slam final has been comparativelyserene.
After the last point, he stopped, beamed a wide grin and then punched the air threetimes.
Nadal arrived in Australia not knowing how long he would last after months off the tour dealing with a serious foot injury and then a boutof COVID-19. He skipped Wimbledon after losing in the French Open semifinals to Novak Djokovic, and didn’tplay at all after August.
“Every day has been an issue in terms of problems on the foot. Doubts still here ... probablyfor the rest of my career,”Nadal said. “But for me it’s amazing ... (to) just compete and play tennis at the high level again, facing the mostimportant players of the world.”
Last month, he wasn’t even sure he would be able to returnto the tour. But he won atune-up tournament in Melbourneand has taken six consecutive matches at the first GrandSlam event of the year. One more and he’ll break the record of 20 major championships he shares with Roger Federerand Novak Djokovic. Nadalwould also become just
the fourth man to win all four Grand Slam titles at least twice.
Nadal’s win over Wimbledonrunner-up Berrettini, under a closed roof at Rod Laver Arena,because of heavy rain, was his 500th on hard courts at tour level. But he’s only won the Australian Open once, in 2009, and adding a second was his primary focus.
“For me, it’s all about the Australian Open more than anything else,” Nadal said in his on-court interview. “I have been a little unlucky [here] in my career with some injuries. I played some amazing finals with good chances.”
He lost classic five-set finals at Melbourne Park to Djokovic in 2012 and Federer in 207. Nadal lost to Stan Wawrinka in 2014 and against Djokovic three years ago.
Nadal was the only member of the so-called Big Three who had a chance to break thedeadlock in Australia this time. Federer is out while recovering from knee surgery. Djokovic, who has won nine of his Grand Slam titles at Melbourne Park, was deported after an 11-day visa/ COVID saga on the eve of the tournament.