What I want to write today is not the simple chronicle of a meeting. What I want to write today is not the story of a simple one final Slam. Today the history of tennis and of sport, but the protagonist is certainly not just anyone: because the protagonist is an almost 36-year-old Majorcan who has just won the Slam number 21 of his career, seventeen years after his first success, in 2005. Today Rafa Nadal left a indelible sign in the soul of each of us.
A Melbourne the final of the first Slam tournament of the year. The main players are Russian Medvedev (n2 of the ranking) and Spanish Nadal (current n6). The two meet after a journey full of victories built with a lot of effort, mental and muscular, aware of having reached a point of turning point of their path. On one side only one Slam tournament won (Us Open, last August, against Djokovic), on the other many years of career and twenty major titles on the bulletin board, like the other two antagonists of this never-ending struggle.
But if Medvedev arrives in the final in full physical condition, at a young age, when he can enter the greats of tennis, the opponent is already lucky to still be able to play this splendid sport: four months after foot surgery due to Muller-Weiss syndrome (a bone deformation that causes him to walk poorly and cause problems with his knees), he thought about retirement for the first time in seventeen years. To aggravate his mental state, at the end of December he tested positive for Covid and this forces him to slow down his Preparation. It does not give up. However, he wants to leave for Melbourne, to test his fitness and condition.
“A month and a half ago I didn’t know if I was going to play tennis again. I thought maybe these would be my last Australian opens. “ It was not so. It wasn’t a simple tournament: maybe it was the most exciting and important of his career. At the start of the final he is determined to play it all the way through. But, it’s not a final like any other. He has already played 29, in Melbourne he only won in 2009. He tried again in 2012 and 2017, but luck was never on his side. And now, in front of him, a cynical, lethal, determined, fierce Daniil Medvedev, who does not concede even a point on the field.
Medvedev knows that if the match lasts long, he can play on Rafa’s fatigue and to make his power and his reverse prevail. In the first set he starts strong immediately: after an initial balance and a decidedly long game at 2-2, Nadal concedes his serve in the fifth and seventh game and the Russian takes home the set 6-2.
The second set continues in the wake of the second. At 4-4, followed by an epic game for intensity, precision and good play, which lasted more than twelve minutes. Nadal saves four break points, takes the lead for the set point, but fails to close. Three points in a row of a fierce Medvedev and service removed: 5-4. The set ends at the tie break and it is still the Russian who can smile: with the 7-6 he leads the match for two sets to zero.
The moment of truth begins. Terzo set. Either Nadal gets up or the Russian humiliates him 3-0. The Russian keeps his serve well, with his backhand he continues to do poorly and his game from the baseline is still lethal. Nadal plays a intelligent tennis, made of precise strokes and movements as short as possible. He suffers the firsts of Medvedev (he will close the meeting with 24 ace). The game continues on the usual tracks, until, at 2-3 and 0-40 for Medvedev, Nadal risks giving up his service. The Russian has three break points that can lead him to 2-4. The Majorcan takes the chair and starts playing. Break balls canceled, serve maintained and 3-3. He will win the last three games and the set: 6-4 and shortened distance.
Al fourth set you begin to blame the fatigue: services lost consecutively, certainties fail, ideas as well. When the head goes under stress, the body no longer reacts in synchrony and it goes automatically. We are hitting four hours of play. Once again, here comes out the experience, the strokes, the class and the tenacity of Nadal. All its weaknesses become certainties. Medvedev’s reverse begins to no longer work. The too many errors however, it must be said, they never discourage the Russian who always knows how to react with great maturity. Nadal wins the fourth set 6-4. It is now a tie.
Fifth set. Annals of tennis. History of sport. At 3-2 for Rafa, Medvedev makes a few mistakes too many in the wrong moments and is forced to give up his service. After that, he has three balls to make the counter break: the first one misses; the second goes out a little to the side; the third is wrong in the response to the service. Nadal continues to beat well and after seriously discouraging his rival with one smash on the net closes the game at 4-2. Now it’s hard for Daniil. For Nadal, on the other hand, the knife is on the side of the handle. The game has been overturned.
Ma the Russian concedes nothing. Not even when it might. With four sharp hits and two aces he is already 4-3. Still the Spanish at the service. Point to point, error upon error. They both play evenly. They both deserve it. Both give the feeling that you can do it. Nadal finds the Strength where no one would have ever imagined it. He starts to move the game and make the Russian move a lot until, at the right moment, he can slip it with a long loop where he can do nothing.
It’s a ending to say the least exciting. Medvedev is powerful and precise. Nadal is simply brilliant. On the ball of the double advantage, Daniil’s backhand goes out on the bottom: it’s 5-3. One game, one game. A thousand emotions pass through Nadal’s head. But now he has to use his head, all the way. Medvedev is patient and resilient. He holds the serve and is ready to return Nadal’s serve.
Go far beyond the five hours of gameplay, the score is 5-4, 30-30. One step away from the match point. One step away from the set point for the Russian. Medvedev has a head. An infinite heart. He holds the serve and with a backhand slice he takes it to Nadal within a few minutes. And it is parity. Once again. 5-5
Eleventh game. Medvedev is below, in one game made up of infinite comebacks. He scores four points in a row and goes down. His joke no longer hurts like it used to. Nadal makes him come to the net, it makes it shift to the sides and on fatigue the error is inevitable. Medvedev tries to play his game, but misses one serve and volley too many. At 40-40 both have the chance to take the lead to win the game: in the end Nadal wins, who takes Medvedev’s serve for the umpteenth time.
Twelfth game of this infinite set. An error in Daniil’s net, an answer too long: 30-0. Nadal beats and the answer can only be guessed: ace and 40-0. Match point. The point of the twenty-first. Smash under the net, Medvedev can do nothing. 7-6. Wins the fifth set e wins the match in comeback, from 0-2 to 3-2. Game, set, match, Slam, STORIA. Seventeen years after the first time, thirteen years after the first triumph on Australian soil.
Honor to the defeated, probable future No. 1 in world tennis. An incredible player who, I am sure, will be able to make the most of this experience. The era of the fab four is not over yet. Rafa today gave us a day of sports that we will never forget. An example of how difficulties are faced, an example of competitive spirit. A true warrior never lowers his head, otherwise he loses sight of the horizon of his dreams.
Thirteen times in Paris. Due times in London. Quattro was in New York. Due volte a Melbourne. Twentyone.
