In tennis, perspective is a precious quality. Rafael Nadal has it in spades. Since the global pandemic began, he has rarely spoken about his profession and the challenges it brings without acknowledging that, with the world suffering, there are more important things to consider than titles, injuries and the like.
This ability to see the big picture perhaps explains why Nadal, who defeated Italy’s Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to reach his sixth Australian Open final, stands within one win of claiming a historic 21st major. Over the course of an injury-plagued career, the Spaniard’s ability to roll with life’s punches has contributed every bit as much to his success as his famed tenacity or the number of revolutions per minute on his forehand. Time and again, he has shrugged off physical setbacks and kept pushing forwards. Now he has reached the point where merely being able to play the sport at all feels like a triumph.
It is only a few weeks since his latest injury blow, an escalation of the chronic foot problem that he has suffered since childhood, threatened to end his career. Nadal lost six months of last season to the problem and, when he returned in December only to contract Covid, it looked unlikely he would even make it to Australia. Nine successive wins later, a sequence that began with a title run in Melbourne, this most grounded and humble of athletes is playing with a joy that was plain to see as he broke down in tears after subduing Berrettini.
It was a rare display of emotion from Nadal, particularly with a final to come against Daniil Medvedev, who later prevailed 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in a bad-tempered encounter with Stefanos Tsitsipas. Yet his reaction owed nothing to the possibility of finally moving clear of long-time rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, with whom he is currently level on 20 majors. Others might see numbers and records; for Nadal, the game’s the thing.
“For me, it’s a present just to be here and play tennis,” said the 35-year-old, whose only previous title at Melbourne Park came in 2009. “I am taking things a little bit in a different way now. Of course, always with the competitive spirit that I have, because I can’t go against that. It’s my personal DNA.
“But in some way, just to be what I am and be able to have the chance to compete at this level, it’s a positive energy for me to keep going, because at the end of the day, and being very honest, for me it is much more important to have the chance to play tennis than win the 21, no? It makes me more happy, in terms of general life, to be able to do the thing that I like to do – more than achieving another grand slam. At the end of the day, life is about happiness.”
Last year, when Nadal suggested Djokovic was more obsessed than him with winning majors and breaking records, many dismissed it as sour grapes. The man from Manacor knew it was inevitable the world No 1 would eventually overtake his grand slam tally, and was getting his excuses in early – so the argument went. Yet Nadal seems genuine when he says his primary satisfaction comes simply from enjoying the sport and whatever moments it has left for him.
“For me, at the end, it’s about more than all these statistics, it’s about being in the final of the Australian Open one more time. That means a lot to me. To me, it’s more important to be in the final of the Australian Open, and fight to win another Australian Open, than the rest of the statistics that I know for the sport, maybe for the history of the sport, and possibly for you are very important, no?
“I really feel like this. For me, I just feel happy to be part of this amazing era of tennis, sharing all these things with another two players. That’s it. In some ways it doesn’t matter if somebody achieves one more or one less, no? I think we did amazing things, and things that will be very difficult to equal. So I don’t think much about this, all this stuff.”
Against Berrettini, the only thing on Nadal’s mind seemed to be neutralising the Italian’s power game with a relentless assault on his weaker backhand side. In principle, the closure of the Rod Laver Arena roof due to torrential rain should have favoured Berrettini, making the court more receptive to his thunderous serve and heavy forehand while counteracting Nadal’s whirring topspin. In practice, while Berrettini struggled to adapt to the changed conditions, Nadal executed his game plan to perfection, dominating with his own serve, returning brilliantly and commanding the baseline exchanges.
“It was the first time that I played with the roof,” said Berrettini, the seventh seed, who came through the section of the draw vacated by Djokovic. “I struggled. At the beginning I couldn’t really find the rhythm, and the conditions were a little bit different. It took me a while to adapt, but at the same time Rafa was playing really good.
“It’s a sport that you have to be able to adapt to everything that is happening. Today he was just way better than me.”
That was certainly the case for the first two sets, which Nadal agreed were probably the best he had played at the tournament. Berrettini threatened a revival when he conjured a brutal forehand to convert his first break point of the match late in the third set. Having established a relentless rhythm on serve, the Italian’s chance to test the extent of Nadal’s recovery from his gruelling quarter-final win over Denis Shapovalov came at 3-3 in the fourth set, when he had the former champion on the ropes at 15-30. But a pair of forehand errors proved costly and, when the same wing betrayed him again in the next game, Nadal served out for a place in his 29th grand slam final.
The Spaniard will face Medvedev in a repeat of the US Open final of three years ago, when Nadal prevailed over five arduous sets. The Russian’s win over Tsitsipas was a turbulent affair, with Medvedev rounding on chair umpire Jaume Campistol after a wretched sequence of errors cost him a break of serve in the ninth game of the second set. He responded with a gesture that earned him a “visible obscenity” warning from Campistol, at which point Medvedev – who claimed his actions had been misinterpreted – completely lost the plot. The focus of his ire was Tsitsipas’s father, Apostolos, who Medvedev insisted was coaching the Greek from his position at courtside.
“Bro, are you mad? For what?” he stormed at Campistol. “And his father can talk every point? Are you stupid?” When the Spanish umpire failed to engage, Medvedev screamed: “Oh my God you are so bad man, how can you be so bad in the semi-final of a grand slam? Look at me, I’m talking to you!”
Medvedev, who went on to call Campistol “a small cat” after losing the set, later expressed contrition for the outburst.
“I regret it,” he said, “because I don’t think it’s nice. I know that every referee is trying to do their best.
“But, yeah, when you are there, tennis, you know, we don’t fight with the fists, but tennis is a fight. It’s a one-on-one against another player. So I’m actually really respectful to players who never, almost never show their emotions because, I mean, it’s tough. It’s tough, because I get – I can get – really emotional. I have been working on it.
“Many, many matches I handle it. I think if we look back at myself five years ago when I started playing, just started playing, there was less attention on me, but I was just insanely crazy.
“You know, I’m working on it. Helps me to win matches, I know. So I do regret it 100%, but again, in the heat of the moment, I just lost it.”
After leaving the court to change his clothes, Medvedev returned in more patient mood, biding his time in the baseline exchanges before capitalising on some loose play by Tsitsipas at the business end of the set to reclaim the lead. At 1-1 in the fourth set, the Greek umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore, who was now stationed in the tunnel below the players’ box, indicated to Campistol that Tsitsipas’s father was coaching. A warning followed and the Greek failed to win another game. He later denied he was receiving advice from the sidelines – “I cannot hear anything when I’m playing, it’s impossible” – and insisted Medvedev’s antics had not put him off.
“I don’t pay attention,” said the Greek fourth seed. “I know players like to do this stuff to throw you off mentally. Could be maybe a tactic. It’s all right. He’s not the most mature person anyways.”
Medvedev, 10 years Nadal’s junior and seeded second, goes into the final as the title favourite. History, though, is against him: no man in the open era has won their second grand slam title immediately after their first.