Rafael Nadal looks on during his first-round singles match against Marcos Giron during the first day of the 2022 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Monday.
The season’s customary opening Grand Slam, the Australian Open, has already started on a sour note with world No 1, Novak Djokovic being deported from the country for a failure to justify his exemption from the COVID-19 vaccination. The fiasco has led to Australian authorities rejecting his visa twice, while the Federal Court upheld the decision on Sunday; Confirmed departure of the nine-time champion.
After Monday, the focus shifted sharply to the Rod Laver Arena, where the only remaining former champion, Rafael Nadal, meant business in the men’s singles draw.
The 34-year-old Spanish superstar made a cakewalk 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 against world No. 66 Marcos Giron of America in straight sets. This tune-up event was in line with his equally comfortable victory in the Melbourne Summer Set (ATP 250 Series).
The game against Giron saw Nadal rapidly change his intentions, while continuing this year in Melbourne with a run of four matches without a set-drop.
However, the lack of good opponents in Melbourne and relatively easy ties in the early stages may have painted a rosy picture of his claim to his historic 21st Grand Slam title and overshadowed the fact that he could not go without Came to Australia for tennis action. Four months. This period saw a foot injury and a bout with COVID-19.
While Nadal has had success at the Rod Laver Arena for the past 13 years – including three final defeats – it is worth noting that when Djokovic defeated the ‘clay-court king’ in his stronghold at the French Open, So his confidence was seriously affected. weather.
But nothing is far from Nadal as far as giving fans some memorable matches at Happy Slam.
On top of that is certainly his 2009 final win against Roger Federer, which he stretched to 4 hours and 23 minutes in a five-set epic. The victory tasted sweeter as it came two days later when the southpaw faced an unexpected challenger in compatriot Fernando Verdasco, who played the match of his life in a five-hour 14-minute marathon fight; The longest in Australian Open history at that time.
The first set alone took 75 minutes while the final score of 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (1-7), 6-4 revealed itself that How two Spaniards fought for every inch of the night.
Some may still argue that it was the 2012 final in which Nadal stretched his limits against Djokovic in the longest performance in the history of all Grand Slams, as the top-seeded Serbian ruled the top 5–7. The first two rivals fought for 5 hours 53 minutes. 6-4, 6-2, 6-7(5-7), 7-5.
However, those moments will have little effect on Nadal’s current performance as he will have to cross the list of young guns who over the years have become the kind of player he always promised.
The aging Big 3 is all too familiar with the likes of Daniil Medvedev, who proved at the US Open a few months ago that he was here to talk about it when he defeated Djokovic in straight sets.
Experts are still unsure whether Nadal will last so long as the draw saw him clash with Olympic champion Alexander Zverev just before the quarter-finals.
In fact, the quarters were the same stage Nadal fell to Greek prodigy Stefanos Tsitsipas at this venue last year. The 23-year-old world No 4 actually avenged his 2019 semi-final loss in a neck-to-neck battle with the mighty Spaniard, who went down in the five-setter despite taking a 2-0 lead.
Having said that, Nadal fans will never let you forget that this is one of the greatest games of all time we are talking about, having 19 more players than the 127 players competing in the competition. Has major titles and knows how to win the five-setter even when he’s not at his best.
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