Rafael Nadal wins Australian Open, his 21st Grand Slam
Rafael Nadal created history becoming the first man to win the 21 Grand Slams on Sunday as he defeated Daniil Medvedev to win the Australian Open.
The Spaniard rallied from two sets down to defeat world number two Medvedev by 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-5 to clinch the record-breaking Australian Open trophy at the Rod Laver Arena. The clash between the two went on for five hours and 24 minutes.
With the win, Nadal broke the tie with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer to become men’s highest singles Frand Slam titles holder in history. He also became the fourth men in history to win all four major titles multiple times, reported ANI.
The match started with a very high intensity for the Russian as he edged Nadal early twice and grabbed a lead after first set.
At the third set, Nadal won a 19-shot rally and then a 21-shot rally to hold his serve from 0-40 down, in one of the decisive moment of the match as Medvedev held the momentum until then.
Nadal then showed his class in the ninth game to break his opponent’s serve and then hold his next to win the 62 minute set.
35 year old Nadal dramatically changed the level of his tennis after the first two sets broke Medvedev for the second time during the fifth game. Second-seed Medvedev was unable to respond this time as Nadal held onto his serve and took the match into the decider.
Nadal broke the serve of Medvedev in the fifth set but the Russian also responded by breaking his Spanish counterpart’s serve in the 10th game. With the stakes high, Nadal broke his opponents serve and held his to win his way to record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title.
Congratulating him on Twitter, Djokovic, who was deported ahead of Australian Open, wrote, “Congratulations to @RafaelNadal for 21st GS. Amazing achievement. Always impressive fighting spirit that prevailed another time. Enhorabuena @Medwed33 gave it his all out there and played with the passion and determination we have come to expect from him," Novak Djokovic tweeted”.
