Rafael Nadal played just 29 matches in 2021, battling injuries and not challenging for Major titles. The Spaniard did his best to bounce back and start fresh in 2022, traveling to Melbourne not knowing what to expect. Leaving all problems behind, Nadal claimed two titles in Melbourne and wrote history as the first player with 21 Major titles!
Rafa beat Denis Shapovalov and overcame Matteo Berrettini to advance to the title clash. Nadal faced world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in a battle for the trophy and scored a memorable 2-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 win in five hours and 24 minutes.
to claim their first Oceania trophy since 2009. Nadal staged one of the most remarkable comebacks of his career to celebrate the first Major since October 2020. Asked if he had seen the highlights of a marathon match, Nadal admitted that he turned them on during the flight and fell asleep, finishing them tomorrow when his another flight was cancelled.
Nadal came back from the brink of defeat and outclassed a rival ten years his junior to lift the second Norman Brookes Challenge Cup and move ahead of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Rafa became the first player in the Open Era to come back from two sets down in the Australian Open final, despite being on the brink of defeat at 2-6, 6-7, 2-3, 0-40.
Nadal saved those three break points in game six and started his fantastic comeback. He took sets three and four to force a decider and struggled to endure another tough set against the US Open winner.
Thiem opens up on Nadal
Dominic Thiem has called Rafael Nadal a role model when it comes to returning to the tour from injury.
“He’s probably the best role model for this experience,” Thiem said. “He did it not just once but four or five times to come back from a long injury time of six months or even more. And the form was always amazing.
So it’s a great inspiration.” In the same interview, Dominic Thiem was asked how it felt to go from beating the likes of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic to now losing in the opening rounds after coming back from injury.
“These are different times. My career is divided into the first part, which was before the injury, and the second, which is now, and the first part was incredible. I was able to beat all the best, win many tournaments, even a Grand Slam. And then the injury came and my trajectory stopped,” Thiem said.
