While Rafael Nadal’s historic tennis feat of snatching a record 21 Grand Slams from the surface of abyss resonates worldwide, it is the ensuing quotes that lend more drama to it than anything.
Nadal was just the gate valve from which the gush of mostly guttural superlatives takes flight unstoppably.
We learn lessons from utterances from both the adorers and the closet critics of Nadal’s singular achievement, and the whipped wisdom from known rivals are like beans unduly spilled out unflappably.
“Amazing achievement, always impressive fighting spirit that prevailed another time,” said Novak Djokovic of Nadal’s epic and brutal five-set win over Daniil Medvedev, the hard luck No. 2 seed from Russia.
Djokovic was the Serbian deported by Australia for arriving in Melbourne unvaccinated against the coronavirus, effectively barring him from defending his Australian Open title and denying him a chance to win a record 21 majors.
Roger Federer, the Swiss maestro, was tied with Nadal and Djokovic with 20 Slams apiece before the Aussie Open began two weeks ago. But an injury forced Federer to skip the year’s first major.
On Instagram, Federer wrote of Nadal: “A few months ago, we were joking about both being on crutches. I’m proud to share this era with you.”
After beating Medvedev, Nadal embraced his father, Sebastian, struggled before collapsing at the players’ gymnasium and hobbling up the steps to give a post-match news conference that began at 2:42 a.m. of Monday, Jan. 31, 2022 (Australian time).
So energy-sapping was the match ending at 1:11 a.m. that Nadal, 35, could hardly move.
“I am super, super tired in all ways,” Nadal, 10 years older than Medvedev, said. “I even can’t celebrate. But in the end, to have this trophy with me means everything.”
Everything.
He gave everything to erase the shock of losing the first two sets.
He gave everything to capture the middle sets, surviving three break points in Game 6 of the third set, to miraculously force a deciding fifth set.
He gave everything to pull it out of the fire, bucking Medvedev’s 23 blazing aces.
But although Nadal had but only three measly aces, it was his third ace in the fifth set’s 12th game that keyed the colossal win, 2-6, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.
It surely ranks as one of the biggest finals comebacks in tennis history
“This has been one of the most emotional nights of my tennis career,” said Nadal, Spain’s No. 1 sports celebrity for nearly two decades now. “Yeah, without a doubt, this is the biggest comeback of my tennis career.”
And to think that last year, his chronic foot injury almost forced him to retire, not to mention he caught Covid-19 in December.
“I was not ready physically for this kind of battle, honestly,” Nadal said.
But he was, actually.
Nadal also defeated Medvedev in their first major final in the 2019 US Open—also in five sets in another marathon of four hours and 49 minutes.
After Nadal first won his Aussie Open in 2009, he was poised to reach first the 21-Slam mark. But he lost four straight Aussie Open finals in 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2019.
“I was repeating to myself during the whole match (against Medvedev) that I lost a lot of times here,” said Nadal. “Sometimes, I was a little bit unlucky. I just wanted to keep believing till the end, no?”
In the end, Medvedev could only mutter: “Huge respect for beating me because I tried my best.”