The Spaniard beat the Italian Matteo Berrettini in the semi-finals, Friday. He will try, Sunday, to win the tournament for the second time of his career, which would allow him to display 21 titles in major tournaments, a record.
Le Monde with AFP
“I do not think of the Australian Open!” After a complicated year, Rafael Nadal, 35 years old, is indeed back at the beginning of 2022 and shows his ambitions: win the first tournament Grand Slam of the tennis season. This would also allow him to become the only holder of the record of titles (21) in major tournaments, one more than his rivals, Switzerland Roger Federer and the Serb Novak Djokovic.
Friday, January 28, Melbourne, Spanish, world number 5, eliminated the Italian Matteo Berrettini in the semifinal (6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3). He will argue on Sunday, his sixth final at the Australian Open. Either against the Russian Daniil Medvedev (2 e world) or against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (4 e world).
“I played very well in the first two sets. It had been a long time that I had not played so well,” said Rafael Nadal after his match against Matteo Berrettini, who played roof closed because of a very strong rain accompanied by very strong winds.
After comfortably won the first two sets, the Spaniard had a decline in the third, where seven direct mistakes. “I did a bad game on my service at 4-3 and he found his blows.” In the fourth set, he then managed the break to lead 5-3 and serve for the match. He did not let his luck pass.
For Rafael Nadal, this final at the Australian Open occurs after five months without competition, with many questions about his future due to a left foot injury.
In Melbourne, the Spanish has been imposed once only, in 2009. The Australian tournament was rather, until then, the hunt kept from Novak Djokovic: nine concluded finals, nine victories. But this year, the world number 1 could not defend its title: not vaccinated, it was expelled by the Australian authorities before the start of the tournament.
If it won the title, Sunday, Rafael Nadal would also become the second player of the Open era, the fourth in history, to have won at least twice each of the major tournaments. A feat directed by Novak Djokovic in 2021 when he won Roland-Garros for the second time.