For months, Rafael Nadal doubted. Not that he would win a 21st grand slam, or another French Open. Not even that he would compete at this year’s Australian Open. His fears, after bringing the curtain down on his season shortly before last year’s US Open, were more fundamental. Nadal doubted that he would play a professional tennis match again anywhere, ever.
The pain in his left foot had become unbearable. Every morning, he would go on court to practice. Some days he would last only 20 minutes. On a good day, his body might allow him to train for 45 minutes or more.
“Everybody around me, me included, had a lot of doubts,” Nadal recalled. “Not about the Australian Open, but about coming back on the tour, because the foot was bothering me a lot of days.
The chronic injury is not one that can be addressed surgically but, for the time being, it is at least under control sufficiently to allow him to compete. And so, with the ordeal of those dark weeks behind him, Nadal is determined to make the most of every opportunity he gets at the Australian Open.
On Friday, Karen Khachanov felt the full force of that determination. The Russian 28th seed had lost all seven of his previous matches against the former champion. When Nadal won 12 of the first 13 points, there was little sign of that pattern changing. Yet the Spaniard’s 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory was more complicated than the scoreline might suggest.
The opening two sets were like an extended Nadal highlights reel. There was the scorching crosscourt backhand with which he sealed the first break. There was an immaculate, backpedalling bounce smash, hit for a clean winner from just inside the baseline. There was a crisp, angled slice that pulled Khachanov into the doubles alley, an abundance of lethal whipcrack forehands. There was even a run of four successive love holds by the Spaniard. Nadal was beating the big-serving Khachanov at his own game.
Then things got interesting.
Khachanov, a 6ft 6in powerhouse who wields the racket on his forehand as though shovelling snow, decided it was time to open his shoulders. With the Muscovite suddenly landing hammer blows, Nadal was broken for the first time, losing a game he had led 40-0 as his opponent landed a series of mighty backhands.
Nadal soon went into defensive mode, retreating deep behind the baseline. But with midnight approaching and a fourth set beckoning, the 35-year-old knew he needed to change the direction of travel. He elected to bide his time, waiting to see if his defensive instincts would bring reward, but ready to switch to a more aggressive key if required.
“I think I lost little bit the court I was playing,” said the sixth-seeded Nadal. “After that I started to play a little bit too far from the baseline. I said, ‘OK, let’s try to finish the set like this. If I am able to have the break back, fantastic. If not, in the fourth I am going to start playing more aggressive again.”
Early in the fourth set, he made his move. Some extraordinary retrieving encouraged Khachanov to overpress on a forehand, handing Nadal a break point. He converted it with a running backhand pass that had him fist-pumping like he was 17 again. Khachanov would win only one more game.
“I think I played a great fourth set,” said Nadal, who will play Adrian Mannarino of Fraance in the last 16 after the French veteran defeated Aslan Karatsev, the 18th seed, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-4 in a contest spanning almost five hours.
“You need to be quick in making the right decisions, analyse what’s happening. This is something that, when you are not playing, doesn’t come [back] that quick sometimes.
“Today I was able to analyse, I think, in the proper way. I made the right decisions. The quality of shots and the position on court and movements today [were] a very high level, no? To win against a great opponent like him, I needed to play well, and I think I did.”
The same could be said for Matteo Berrettini, who edged out Nadal’s compatriot Carlos Alcaraz in a five-set thriller, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 2-6, 7-6 (10-5) despite turning his ankle early in the fifth set.
“I really fought hard,” said the Italian seventh seed, who will play another Spaniard, 19th seed Pablo Carreño Busta, in round four. “That’s what I think made the difference.”
Alexander Zverev, the third seed, moved a step closer to a projected quarter-final showdown against Nadal with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot.
“I’m through the first week without losing a set,” said Zverev, who will face Denis Shapovalov, the 14th seed, in the last 16. “I think that’s always very positive. I’m still quite full of energy, which is good for me as well, going into the next matches.”