The Historic Moment and Victory: Rafael Nadal’s reaction when he won 21st Grand slams title
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In the final of the Australian Open, Rafael Nadal defeated Russia’s Daniil Medvedev to win his 21st Grand Slam title. Nadal defeated Medvedev 2-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in a match that lasted more than five hours. For the first time in over 14 years, Nadal came back from two sets down to win a Grand Slam match; the last time was at Wimbledon in 2007 when he defeated Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.
He was the first male tennis player to win 21 Grand Slam titles, ahead of Roger Federer of Switzerland and Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who were both tied at 20 each.
In the first set, Medvedev broke Nadal’s serve twice, and then served it out in 42 minutes to take the set 6-2. Nadal’s first serve percentage was 54% against Medvedev’s 82%. After the dramatic second set in which a protester jumped into the playing arena at Nadal’s end, the Russian took a 6-1, 7-6 (5) lead. The security guards sprang into action after the intruder entered the court and chased him away.
Despite getting back to deuce, Nadal blew the set point. After dropping the service game, his opponent recovered. Medvedev eventually won the set with a backhand passing shot on Nadal’s serve on his first set point.
In an attempt to stay in the contest, Nadal won the third set 6-4 by executing a stunning turnaround. Despite holding three set points, he battered a forehand down the line to cut Medvedev’s lead to two sets to one.
In the fourth set, Nadal continued his onslaught by breaking the Russian on his eighth attempt in a marathon game to take a 3-2 lead. With a strong serve, the Spaniard forced a decider, clinching a 6-4 victory in the fourth set. Nadal repeated his performance from the fifth, when he broke Medvedev’s serve at the same stage. The Russian came close to returning the favour, but Nadal survived five break points to lead 4-2. Medvedev eventually broke the Spaniard while he was serving for the championship.
Medvedev was again broken by Nadal in the final set, and the Spanish player eventually won 7-5.