Can the ancient warrior Rafael Nadal slow down time or will Daniil Medvedev crown the world number one, marking a new era? Two generations will meet in the final at the Australian Open on Sunday. Much more than a grand slam title is at stake.
In the Rod Laver Arena, 35-year-old Nadal not only competes against the Russian ten years younger, he also fights against his own age. The Spaniard won his first Grand Slam title in 2005. Seventeen years later and many hairs less, he’s chasing tennis history. He can become the first male tennis player with 21 titles.
Nadal now shares the record of 20 grand slam titles with absent Australian Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, with whom he has dominated tennis for the past two decades. Entire generations were swept into oblivion. But a takeover is imminent. Medvedev could become the first tennis player of the new generation to win two Grand Slam titles.
Cool and unmoved
At the US Open, he already kept Djokovic from his 21st grand slam title last year by beating the Serbian number one in the world in the final in three sets. The global number two remained cool and impassive as the whole world looked over his shoulder. Can he also keep Nadal from the 21st title and manifest himself as the best tennis player of the moment?
Since the introduction of professional tennis in 1968, not a single male tennis player has managed to immediately take his second title after winning the first title at the next Grand Slam tournament. Medvedev is one win away from that special milestone. ‘I now have to play against one of the greatest players ever,’ he said after his match in four sets in the semifinal against Stefanos Tsitsipas: (7-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1).
Medvedev sometimes struggled with his emotions against Tsitsipas, who defeated Nadal in the quarterfinals last year. The normally cool Russian exploded against the referee at the end of the second set. Medvedev thought that he should intervene because Tsitsipas’ father was constantly coaching from behind his mouth cap from the stands. That’s not allowed. ‘Are you going to answer my question? Look at me when I’m talking to you,” he snapped at the referee. “How can you be so stupid in a grand slam semi-final?”
Difficult period Nadal
It is Medvedev’s second final in Melbourne, against six for Nadal. The Spaniard feared for his career six months ago when he was sidelined for five months with a rare bone defect. After the semifinal won against the Italian Matteo Berrettini (6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3) he confessed that he had thought of giving up tennis. “I went through a difficult period. I worked hard every day, seeing no light at the end of the tunnel.’
Nadal won the Australian Open long ago, in 2009. Should the Spaniard succeed again thirteen years later, he would be the second tennis player since the introduction of professional tennis to win all four Grand Slam titles at least twice. Only Djokovic has managed so far. “I cannot put into words how grateful I am to be here,” Nadal said. ‘I did not expect to play another final in 2022.’
Nadal and Medvedev have faced each other four times before. Nadal won the first three times, but in the last match the Russian won against the experienced Spaniard. Far behind the baseline, he was used to playing long rallies for years and getting his opponents into trouble with topspin balls. But as the years begin to count, he wants to keep the points shorter to save his energy.
The question is to what extent Medvedev wants to go along with this. The tireless Russian is blessed with an extra oxygen tank on his back and is known for his flat and tight balls over the net. In the third and fourth set, Tsitsipas looked exhausted against the tireless Medvedev. “Tsitsipas’s energy decreased, while I only got more energy,” he said.
Will Nadal be able to find Medvedev’s weak spot and keep hammering away at it? Just like he did in the semi-finals to the lesser backhand of the almost distraught Berrettini? In the Rod Laver Arena it will be shown on Sunday in which era tennis is: the old or the new era.