Australian Open: Nadal wins 21st Grand Slam

February 1, 2022

On Sunday, Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal won his 21st  at the  by beating Russian tennis player.



There were doubts about whether Nadal would be able to play the Australian Open after a foot injury. The match started with Medvedev scoring 6-2 in 42 minutes. Nadal raced to the lead by scoring 6-4 in the fourth set. In the fifth and final set, Nadal sealed his victory by scoring 7-5 after 5 hours and 24 minutes.

In the absence of his greatest rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, Nadal surpassed them by winning the most men's singles titles. In his court interview, Nadal said, "it has been one of the most emotional matches in my tennis career and to share the court with you [Medvedev] was an honor."

Medvedev thanked his team after the match and said, "I'm sure my wife is watching back home but I think the TV will be broken now." He accepted his defeat and commented in the post-match interview that, "he [Nadal] was really strong, the way he played for four hours, I was even surprised."

Nadal previously won the semi-finals by beating Italian player.

Last year was a major setback for Nadal. He had missed both Wimbledon due to fatigue and the due to a foot injury. Nadal said that, "One month and half ago I would have said it would be my last Australian Open, but now I have a lot of energy to carry on." In his post-match interview, Nadal said that he was "physically destroyed", and exhausted but victorious.