Spanish tennis ace Rafael Nadal defeated Russia’s
Daniil Medvedev to win a record 21st Grand Slam title at the
recently-concluded Australian Open. The 35-year-old mounted an incredible
comeback from two sets down to defeat Medvedev in the final in Melbourne and
move past his ‘Big Three’ rivals – Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – in terms
of career Grand Slam titles.
But Nadal is not satisfied with the feat,
and wants “to be the one with most majors” among the three. While Federer did
not participate in Melbourne, as he is recovering from a knee injury, Djokovic
was controversially deported from Australia due to his vaccination status.
“I have no idea what number of Grand Slams
I will have. Not long ago I would have signed for just being able to play
tennis again,” Nadal was quoted as saying by AFP at a press conference on
Wednesday at his academy in Mallorca.
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“I want to be the one with the most majors
out of the three of us, I would love that, but I’m not obsessed, absolutely
not. Whatever comes is welcome and I don’t think 21 is enough to be honest. But
you never know what will happen in the future.”
Nadal’s comeback win against Medvedev becomes
all the more impressive when taking the Spaniard’s recent injury woes into
perspective. There were doubts over the 13-time Roland Garros champion’s return
to professional tennis after he struggled with a foot injury last year.
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He played only one tournament in the last seven
months of 2021 due to the injury.
“It still hurts when I play. But I’m
playing at a higher level now than I was more than four weeks ago and this has
given me a huge boost of confidence to move forward,” Nadal said.
Nadal can clinch his 22nd Grand
Slam title at the upcoming French Open in June, a tournament he has dominated –
winning it a record 13 times since 2005.