The most stunning tennis match ever

Rafael Nadal came back from down 0:2 to beat Daniil Medvedev 3:2 to win the Australian Open final on Jan 30-31, 2022, becoming the first man to win 21 Grand Slam singles’ titles.  This match must rate as the most stunning tennis match ever.

People have come back from 0:2 deficits in GS before, including in the finals.  Examples include Djokovic beating Tsitsipas at the 2021 French Open, Dominic Thiem defeated Alexander Zverev at the 2020 US Open, and Agassi over Andrei Medvedev at the 1999 French Open final.  But there are vast differences between this one and the other versions.  The first is obviously the great significance in history book, the 21 GS and all that.  Although 21 may not be the final count, and the Big 3, frankly, can’t be objectively separated in the GOAT discussion (9/12/21 blog).  The second is that in the other matches, all the eventual winners were the favorites entering the contests.  On the other hand, Nadal was decidedly the underdog.  Odd from the viewpoint of Nadal’s prestige, but true in every tennis fan’s mind, since Medvedev has been the best hard-court player or co-favorite with Djokovic since 2021. 

Nadal was injured and missing in action for most of 2021 and only started to play again a month ago.  His previous rounds in AO2022 showed a major lack of stamina from set 3 and beyond.  In his quarterfinal win over Shapovalov, he raced to a 2:0 lead, but visibly weakened in the 3^rd and 4^th sets, barely escaped in the 5^th when Shapovalov made a few easy mistakes in a service game.  The same thing happened in the semifinal vs Berrettini, only that Berrettini made his errors in the 4^th set.  Thus the common wisdom entering the final was that Nadal had to win the first two sets to even have a chance against Medvedev, who is 10 years younger with good serves, solid, balanced forehand and backhand and makes few mistakes.

So when Nadal was down 0:2, few would think Nadal could win, and most suspected a quick 0:3.  Then what happened?  How could Nadal do it?  How could Nadal muster his physical ability to match Medvedev’s for three more sets and win them all?  Most of it must have been the fighting spirit of Nadal.  This is why the match and outcome is the most stunning.  Because it was not that Medvedev didn’t fight hard : he surely did as hell.  But in sports there is always some luck involved.  Maybe Medvedev was a bit unlucky this time.

The tennis was of the highest quality befitting both players' caliber.  There were some ups and downs for both players over the 5 hours, but even when they were tired, they still managed to make fantastic shots.  Medvedev was the one running more and trying harder throughout.  In certain Medvedev’s service games, after Nadal getting a break, Nadal clearly was saving energy for his own service games.  This likely helped Nadal maintain his intensity until the end.  If there was a factor other than luck that doomed Medvedev, it was his service return from the backhand side, as he sent too many returns long.  A technique Medvedev needs to improve.   

Who would have thought Nadal winning his least favorite GS tournament (until 2022) after an injury and surgery and returning merely a month earlier, against a heavily favored opponent, and coming back from a huge deficit, and making history in the process?