Rafael Nadal Reveals What Was Going on in His Mind During the Third Set Against Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open 2022

After clinching the Happy Slam title of 2022 with an exceptional comeback after the first two sets, Rafael Nadal opened up about his thoughts during the final match of the Grand Slam tournament.

Rafael Nadal speaks about how he felt while playing the match

Over two and a half hours into the match, it was seen that the match was in complete favour towards the Russian player Daniil Medvedev. Rafael was going down with 2-6, 6-7 and 2-3 with no points in the ongoing game as well.

Surviving the incredible aces and break points throughout the game played by Medvedev, Nadal finally made an outstanding comeback from two- low while playing the third set of the match. After losing the initial two sets to the 25 year old Daniil, the Spaniard bounced back in to the race towards the victory by claiming the third set with his backhand winners.

From then on, Rafael played tennis like never before extending the Australian Open 2022 final match up to about five hours and thirty minutes. The final match consisted of long rallies between the 35 year old and the young Russian athlete, two of the rallies being of 26 and 40 shot ones.

Bearing the Australian Open title drought for 13 long years, Nadal was seemingly desperate to win the Grand Slam title this year.

Rafael Nadal risked it all to reach the Slam title

Despite his sensational comeback, the Spanish tennis pro ended up rendering his opponent Daniil Medvedev with three break points towards the end of the match as well. 

However, Nadal did clinch the final set with his impressive forehand winners and brilliant returns. The World No. 5 finally won the first Grand Slam tourney of the year with 2-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 and 7-5 against the Russian player.

Talking about the final clash, Rafael stated– “I was nervous when the match started. I have to admit that. There were also heat and humidity, and I started losing energy. I knew I was in a very tough position in the third set. Once I won it, I realized that my level was good and that I could challenge him in the rest of the clash.”

Adding on to his statement and speaking about the fourth set performance, Nadal said- “It was essential to making a strong start in the fourth set, and I knew I would risk anything to get the victory.”

This year’s Australian Open victory made Rafael Nadal ‘s Grand Slam title count to 21, which surpassed his counterparts Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic’s title count of 20.