Rafael Nadal won his 21st Grand Slam title on Sunday and is now the men’s record holder. The Spanish top tennis player defeated Daniil Medvedev in the final of the Australian Open in Melbourne 3-2 in sets. Nadal had to fight back into the match after Medvedev won the first two sets, the second of which was after a tiebreak (2-6 and 6-7). The Spaniard then won the third and fourth set both 6-4, and completed his comeback by winning the fifth set after a break 7-5. The duel between Nadal (fifth in the world ranking) and Medvedev (number two) started at half past nine in the morning and lasted more than five hours.
During the match, the public was mainly in favor of the Spaniard. A visibly irritated Medvedev asked the umpire to intervene more firmly against the scorn of the stands. Medvedev called them, among other things, “empty heads”. It was later announced that if the spectators stirred up against the Russian, they would be evicted from the stadium.
Nadal, 35, is the first tennis player to have won more than 20 Grand Slam titles. For the final win, he shared that record with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, but both competitors were not present at the Australian tournament. Federer was absent due to an injury and Djokovic because his visa had been revoked.