Rafael Nadal is the winner of the Australian Open 2022, and now holds the record of having 21 Grand Slam titles to his name. However, at the start of the game, Russian pro, Daniil Medvedev was the favourite to win, over the 35-year-old ageing champion.

Nonetheless, after an epic five hour 24 minutes showdown, Nadal beat Medvedev 2-6, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5. 

After the match, Nadal went on to congratulate Medvedev for remaining persistent throughout a long and tough match. Notably, Medvedev had to make peace with a crowd that was clearly not on the Russian’s side. However, this victory puts Nadal 2-0 against the current World No 2. 

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Medvedev and Nadal faced off in the 2019 US Open finals too, where the young player faced off against the veteran. Full of promise, Medvedev had given Nadal some trouble in the earlier sets. However, once the Spaniard edged out in front, there was no stopping him. 

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At the time, Medvedev had endearingly said that Nadal’s style of play was a “big joke” before adding “It’s very tough to play against you”. 

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The Russian must be going through a moment of deja-vu, as Nadal comes back from two sets down to pull off a similar victory at the Rod Laver Arena. 

Medvedev and Nadal have gone head to head, a total of five matches till now. Out of that, the Spaniard has bested the Russian four times. It was only in the 2020 Nitto ATP finals in Great Britain that Medvedev got the better of Nadal. 

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While we have to wait and see if Medvedev gets a win over Nadal at their next possible face-off, the Russian has been congratulatory once again, telling Nadal “The level was very high … you raised your level after two sets … Congrats, it was unbelievable, and congrats to your team, of course”.