Since Wimbledon finished last July, the first man to win 21 Grand Slam titles has been the subject of much debate in tennis.
The attention has been almost entirely focused on Novak Djokovic‘s attempt, with almost no attention paid to Rafael Nadal‘s.
Nadal is just one win away from winning the first Grand Slam championship of 2022, which will be decided on Sunday.
He’ll face Daniil Medvedev, the U.S. Open champion, in the Australian Open final, who is trying for back-to-back major wins and his own, albeit tiny, piece of history.
The race for 21 has been a long time coming, with Nadal missing so many months of the season owing to his deportation the night before his Australian Open title defence was set to begin.
“For me, it’s all about the Australian Open more than anything else,” Nadal said.
“Being very honest, for me it’s much more important to have the chance to play tennis than to win the 21, no?”
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Nadal shares the record with Djokovic, a nine-time Australian Open winner whose visa was cancelled after failing to meet the country’s onerous COVID-19 rules, and Roger Federer, who is presently recovering from right knee surgery, with 20.
With his French Open victory in 2020, Nadal climbed up to number 20. Since winning the Australian Open in 2018, Federer, aged 40, has been stuck on 20. With triumphs in Australia, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon in 2021, Djokovic advanced from 17 to 20. Until he fell to Medvedev in the U.S. Open final, he was one win away from making it to 21 and completing a calendar-year Grand Slam.
“Yeah, I’m going to play again against one of the greatest. And what’s funny, again, I’m going to play somebody going for their 21st Slam,” Medvedev said in an on-court TV interview after his heated semifinal win over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
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“I guess Rafa was watching (the U.S. Open final) near the TV . . . I don’t know who he was cheering for. I think Novak will be watching this one, also!” he added.
Medvedev lost in five sets to Nadal in the 2019 U.S. Open final, his first at a Grand Slam, then in straight sets to Djokovic in the 2021 Australian Open final, before defeating the Serbian great in straight sets in September in New York.
He is unconcerned about who of the Big Three players will be regarded as the greatest of all time.
It’s a great rivalry between them, Medvedev said. “I’ll be honest . . . It’s not me going for the 21st, not me trying to break these records. I’m going for my second one. I know what Rafa is going for, I knew what Novak was going for. I’m not going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, I am trying not to listen about this.’ But it’s kind of their thing, not mine. I’m just there to try to win the final.”
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Nadal is likewise attempting to drown out the din. He’s stated several times that the Australian Open is his first priority, and that his life’s work and meaning would not be eclipsed by who wins the most major titles.
He hasn’t altered his intense competition on the court, which he claims is ingrained in his DNA. But he’s more aware now of his gratitude for being back on tour after times when he feared a foot injury would terminate his tennis career prematurely.
“Because that makes me more happy in terms of general life .. to be able to do the thing that I like to do more than achieving another Grand Slam,” Nadal said. “Life, it’s about happiness and what makes me happy. It’s about just having the chance to do what I like to do.”
During a changeover in the semifinals, Medvedev had a violent outburst at a chair umpire, but he recovered his composure to beat Tsitispas.
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He described his time in Australia as “emotional,” citing his second-round triumph against Nick Kyrgios as an example, as well as saving a match point and rallying from two sets down to overcome Felix Auger-Aliassime in a nearly five-hour quarterfinal.
Nadal had a relatively stress-free 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 triumph against seventh-seeded Matteo Berrettini, who lost the Wimbledon final to Djokovic last year, after upsetting Denis Shapovalov in a difficult quarterfinal. After losing to Djokovic in the French Open quarterfinals, Nadal skipped Wimbledon and didn’t play again until August.
After confirming a Grand Slam final spot for the 29th time, Nadal cried.
He has lost in classic five-set finals against Djokovic in 2012 and Federer five years later since capturing the title here in 2009. He also lost against Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic.
“I have been a little unlucky (here) in my career with some injuries (and) I played some amazing finals with good chances,” he said.
“I feel very lucky that I won once. I never thought about another chance in 2022.”
