Crowd ERUPTS as fan-favourite Rafael Nadal wins record 21 Grand Slams at Australian Open

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Rafael Nadal has fought back in an epic five set marathon against Daniil Medvedev to win the 2022 Australian Open men’s singles final.

The victory seals fan-favourite Nadal’s 21st Grand Slam title and propels the Spaniard ahead of his fellow legends in the ‘Big Three’ – Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. 

In a tournament plagued by troubles – the most notable before the first tennis ball was hit with the Novak Djokovic visa saga – the closing night delivered a final hiccup in the form of a lone protester leaping onto the court mid-game before being whisked away by security.

But the thrilling tennis of the men’s final – off the back of an Ash Barty victory in the women’s final the previous night – and the history making moment by Nadal brought back memories of what this tournament is all about – superb world class tennis right here in Melbourne. 

After Medvedev came out strong winning the first set in under an hour and following up with the second, Nadal drew on his years of Grand Slam experience and support from the crowd to come from behind and win the next two sets.

The crowd erupted in cheers as Rafa served out the fifth and and dropped to his knees on Rod Laver Arena as he clinched match point. 

Going into the Australian Open final Nadal lead the 25-year-old Russian 3-1, with the Medvedev previously losing to the Spanish leftie in his first major final at the 2019 US Open over five sets.

It’s been an extraordinary effort from 35-year-old Nadal just to get to the final of another Slam.

He is having to modify his game to compensate for a bone disease in his left foot that ended his 2021 season last August.

‘One month and a half ago I didn’t know if I will be able to be back to the tour,’ he said earlier in the tournmament. 

Daniil Medvedev was given a prickly reception as he arrived for the Australian Open final – with some sections of the Melbourne Park crowd booing the Russian world No.2 as he walked onto Rod Laver Arena.

Medvedev has already been labelled the ‘villain’ of the Open after his fiery outburst at an umpire during his semi-final match against the also popular Stefanos Tsitsipas, as well as his disagreements with the crowd while playing local favourite Nick Kyrgios. 

And the quirky 25-year-old Russian previously said he would relish the chance to block Nadal getting to 21 majors ahead of his ‘Big Three’ rivals, as he did with Djokovic four months ago.

Commentator LLeyton Hewitt echoed those sentiments saying: ‘He is the villain out here. He’s trying to spoil the party’.

The first set went swiftly to Medvedev 6-2 in just 42 minutes with a 35-year-old Nadal looking like he couldn’t match the young Russian’s energy level.

The U.S. Open champion broke Nadal´s serve twice and had a first serve percentage of 82 compared to 54 per cent for Nadal. 

But Nadal fought back in the second set pushing Medvedev into long baseline rallies and with the games tied at five a piece, Nadal whipped up the crowd in support and surged ahead to 6-5. 

Medvedev then evened up the scoreboard to force the second set into a tiebreak.

At 6-5 in favour of Medvedev in the tiebreak, Nadal spotted an opening and rushed the net but the Russian delivered a superb back-hand down-the-line winner to take the second.

At two sets down Nadal seemed to find his groove drawing on the decade of Grand Slam experience he has on Medvedev.

As his opponent began to show signs of exhaustion, Rafa fought back from behind to take out the third set 6-4. 

This seemed to wake up the Melbourne Park crowd with the mood at Rod Laver Arena cranking up a notch. 

At the start of the fourth, as Medvedev downed bottles of pickle juice during breaks – used to stop muscle cramping – Rafa could sense he was in trouble and proceeded to run him around the court even more in an attempt to wear him down physically.  

At 2-2 a chant of ‘Let’s go Rafa, let’s go’ broke out.  

A fuming Medvedev took exception to the Australian crowd’s vocal support of Nadal and took it up with the umpire – repeatedly urging him to announce for the audience to stay quiet between points.

Australian umpire John Blom – one of 25 worldwide ranked active chair umpires at gold badge level – told the crowd ‘as a respect to both players’ to remain quiet before serves.

Gold Badge holder umpires officiate Grand Slam, Olympics, ATP, and WTA tour important matches.

Three hours and forty minutes in Nadal gained three consecutive break points on Medvedev’s serve and surged away 4-2 and despite a late charge from his opponent took out the fourth set 6-4. 

Medvedev had been bidding to be the first man in the Open era to win his second Grand Slam title at the next major tournament. He lost last year´s Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic.

‘It’s a great rivalry. I’m happy to have the chance to try to stop one more time somebody from making history,’ Medvedev said after reaching the final.

‘I think it’s gonna be a great battle, probably a physical match. Rafa likes to drag people into long rallies. I like it too,’ he said.

‘Rafa, we know that from the first till the last point he’s gonna fight his best, and that’s what I’m gonna try to do also.’

Medvedev was fined for an outburst against the umpire in Friday’s high-octane semifinal win over Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was himself penalised for illegal coaching.

In all, A$69,000 in fines have been handed out for 24 code violations in the men’s events – compared with just A$9,500 against five players in the women’s competitions, tournament organisers Tennis Australia said on Saturday.

Medvedev, who ranted at length at umpire Jaume Campistol after dropping serve late in the second set, was fined a combined $12,000 for two code violations, one for an audible obscenity and the other for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The world number two, who will play Rafa Nadal in Sunday’s final at Melbourne Park, lost his temper while alleging Tsitsipas was receiving illegal in-match coaching from his father and, after losing the second set, told Campistol he was ‘a small cat’.

The Greek, who received a warning for coaching during his four-set defeat, was fined $5,000 for the offence and a further $8,000 for two earlier similar offences.