Rafael Nadal Defeats Medvedev To Win His 21st Grand Slam
Rafael Nadal staged an incredible comeback against Daniil Medvedev to win the 2022 Australian Open and claim a record 21st career Grand Slam.
The match appeared to be going the way of Medvedev as he won a pulsating second set tie-break and had three break-point opportunities in the middle of the third set.
However, Nadal managed to hold his serve before breaking Medvedev for the first time in the match on his way to winning the third set 6-4.
Nadal took full advantage of the absence of world number one Novak Djokovic to go one ahead of the Serb and Switzerland’s Roger Federer on the all-time Grand Slam titles list.
The Spaniard took six months out after the 2021 French Open, yet played some of the best tennis of his life throughout the final when he looked down and out.
Having won a record 13 French Opens, Nadal has particularly struggled in Melbourne having only previously won the Australian Open on one occasion, which was 13 years ago in 2009.
It was an incredible effort from Nadal to comeback from an almost-certain loss to beat Medvedev, and his victory will go down as arguably the best of his stunning career.