Australian Open, nadal’s triumph: “The most unexpected”

What he felt after that last ball, after the certainty of triumph, he doesn’t even know. Rafa Nadal was overwhelmed by the fatigue of five and a half hours of battle, physically and emotionally exhausted “pulverized” to be precise. “I don’t really remember,” he confides in the press conference after the award ceremony. “The emotion was enormous. It was an incredible match, the audience was extraordinary and they gave me a great hand.”

An extraordinary result, unimaginable on the eve, after the six-month stop for foot problems and Covid, after fears of having ended his career. A result that puts him up there, on the pedestal of the greatest, surpassing Federer and Nadal in the number of Slams won, 21 to 20: “I’m not hiding, I want to be the one who will win the most. I want to be the greatest of the greats. Because in the end that’s sport, competition. And I’m competitive. But it’s not an obsession. I’ve always fought to be the one who wins more than others but if someone does better, whoever they are, I can’t help but accept it. Any of us three will win more Grand Slams we can still say that we have made our dreams come true. ”

And to those who ask him if his is the greatest sporting feat ever, he replies with solitary humility: “It is not for me to say. I know how great the difficulties are in getting to win a 21st Grand Slam, and I know how bad they are. lucky to be here now with this trophy. On a personal level for sure this was the most unexpected title of my life. A trophy that is worth a lot in light of everything I have been through in recent months. Even in the most difficult times I always have I did everything to be able to return, a dream that brought me this far “.

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