Nadal, great among greats – AS.com

It was already night in Melbourne. Rafael Nadal had lost the first two sets of the Australian Open final against Daniil Medvedev and the chroniclers wrote about the unmitigated defeat of the Spanish against the Russian, magnificent and imperturbable for more than two hours. But everything changed from the third sleeve. Rafa, hardened in a thousand battles, he took control against a rival who began to lose his cool and came back. A backhand volley near the net capped off one of the greatest feats in the history of the sport. The winner of 22 Grand Slams (that was the 21st) he dropped his racket and put his hands to his face with an incredulous smile, while his team, euphoric, celebrated him in the stands of Rod Laver.

“It is the most unexpected title of my career and one of the most exciting for everything I have experienced in recent months,” said Nadal, winner of the AS Sports Award for the sixth time. “You made us all proud. It will be something that we will never, ever forget,” Craig Tiley, director of the Aussie major, told him. The manacorí came from a 2021 end marked, of course, by injuries. On 9/11, he posted on his Instagram account a photograph in which he was seen on crutches and his left leg in a cast., a snapshot that is already iconic on its extraordinary route. Four months later he was once again the champion of a great tournament, in a spectacular start to the year. in which he chained 20 consecutive victories and three titles (Melbourne, Australia and Acapulco).

first setback

A damaged rib stopped him in the Indian Wells final against Taylor Fritz. He repaid the tremendous effort he made to beat Carlos Alcaraz, who had been going strong, in the semifinals. But it was far from the end of the course for him. He lowered his head, rested, recovered and began training to prepare for the land campaign. He needed matches and hours on the track to face Roland Garros with guarantees of success. He did not do too well either in Madrid or in Rome, but in Paris he again showed himself to be dominating. He was able to beat Novak Djokovic, who crossed paths with him very soon, in the quarterfinals, with his best performance in the tournament and was fighting Alexander Zverev in the penultimate round when the German broke his right ankle. In the final, he subdued Casper Ruud to lift the Musketeers Cup for the 14th time at Philippe Chatrier. Amazing? No, Christmas.

“I don’t know what awaits me in the future, but I’m going to keep fighting to continue,” he said at the trophy ceremony. He had cried with joy a few minutes before making a promise that he wants to keep: return to his favorite Grand Slam. He had played the entire tournament with his left foot, which has martyred him from the beginning of his career, asleep. “It depends, but hey, it’s not mathematical, about seven or eight hours,” he explained about the duration of anesthesia. “The prick hurts, it hurts to be pricked with a needle. It depends on the site. He hurts the nerve less. But it is bearable. Because if not, we wouldn’t have done it. Although doing this 20 minutes before going out on the track each day is not pleasant”, he added about “the remote block of the sensitive nerves” with which he competed.

He had to stop again and look for a permanent, or at least lasting, solution to be able to play at Wimbledon without going through that risky ordeal. There were rumors about a possible resignation, but Nadal showed up at the All England Club ready to fight. And he did it until the quarterfinals, with a very meritorious victory against Felix Auger-Aliassime, because he did it with an abdominal tear. “I thought about it all day. It doesn’t make sense to continue competing like this”, stated Rafa. “It is something very hard for me. I am very sad”, he confessed the day before the semifinal match against Nick Kyrgios that he should have played and could not.

From any other tennis player even the final retirement would have been expected. However, Nadal started working to return for the umpteenth time. A little over a month later he was planted in Cincinnati. He lost against Borna Coric at the first exchange. “I need days to come back better. I was not prepared to win, ”he acknowledged. From there, heading to New York for the US Open. Her feelings did not improve much before losing to the American Frances Tiafoe in the round of 16. There were several reasons that weighed down his performance. One of him made it public, his concern for certain complications in the pregnancy of his wife, Mery Perelló. “At the competition level, I lack freshness, filming, tranquility, intangible things… Now it’s time to have my first child and that everything goes well. The other hid it. She had broken her abdominal again. That was told weeks later in the Laver Cup, another high point of a very special year for him. The tears that flowed from him while Roger Federer, crying too, held his hand, are history. An emotional image of two colossi that went around the world. It was the day of the Swiss’s retirement and both played and lost, at the O2 in London, a doubles match against Sock and Tiafoe. “A part of my life is gone,” he said.

Bittersweet

Shortly after, he was a father. Everything went well and little Rafael came into the life of the Nadal-Perelló couple. Happiness and relief without losing sight of the competition. Paris-Bercy and the ATP Finals in Turin awaited him. “Hello everyone. After a few days and many messages of love, I just wanted to thank you all. We are very happy and everyone is doing well! A big hug ”, she wrote on social networks. In France, he fell in the second round; In Italy, where he traveled with his wife and his eldest son, he did not make it past the group stage. “I don’t know if I will recover the level, but I will die for it,” he promised at the end of a campaign that culminated with a record of 39-6, four titles and the admiration of the fans, who have chosen him as Fan Favorite after Federer’s 19-year reign at the ATP awards. AS also recognizes his work. He would miss more.