Reuters
Tennis – Australian Open – Men’s Singles Final – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 30, 2022. Spain’s Rafael Nadal reacts during the final against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev. REUTERS/Morgan Sette
Reuters
Tennis – Australian Open – Men’s Singles Final – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 30, 2022. Spain’s Rafael Nadal reacts during the final against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev. REUTERS/Morgan Sette
The wait is over as Rafael Nadal walked out to the Rod Laver Arena to thunderous cheers and clapping. Daniil Medvedev got some fans’ boos but like in previous matches, he seemed unfazed by the ‘disdain’. The game is already so hyped and has “record-making” written all over it.
Nadal took the first serve for the 2022 Australian Open Final. Nadal who is playing in his 29th Grand Slam Final, is having rather a nervy start to the match. Rafa won the 1st point of the match with a powerful forehand winner. But he needed to hold on to his 1st ever serve after deuce.
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25-year-old Daniil Medvedev looks determined to take revenge for the 2019 US Open final loss. The experienced veteran in Nadal has a game plan, and is playing aggressively right from the start. But his shot selections and angles have been very “cautious”, just to avoid any unforced error.
Rafa is much too nervous to execute his game plan so far.
Plays high with no angles to avoid unforced errors and uses much more slice BH than usual.— Patrick Mouratoglou (@pmouratoglou) January 30, 2022
In just over half-hour into the match, 35-year-old Rafael Nadal is drenched in sweat while the Russian seemed more in control. The consistency and accuracy was with Medvedev at the 1st set. Breaking the 5th and 7th game of the set gave him a huge 1st set advantage in the match, and Daniil Medvedev closed the set comfortably 6-2.
Daniil Medvedev has a great record on hard court matches as he is 37-0 while winning the 1st set of the match, and the exact opposite stats are true for the World Number 5 Nadal, as he is yet to overcome 1st set deficit in any of the hardcourt finals.
Mind. blown. 🤯 @RafaelNadal
🎥: @AustralianOpen | #AusOpen | #AO2022 pic.twitter.com/XmQ9RmnJ1V
— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 30, 2022
Medvedev is controlling the baseline while Nadal looks to play him closer to the net. The ever-powerful Spaniard was using sliced shot more often, earlier in the game than usual. Maybe he is trying to repeat Tsitsipas’s strategy to get Medvedev off his comfortable baseline.
Rallies show the strategy of the chess master who opens on Rafa’s Forehand to catch his Backhand on the second shot.
The depth of his shots prevents Rafa from being aggressive so far.— Patrick Mouratoglou (@pmouratoglou) January 30, 2022
The Russian had advantages in the rallies as he is opening on Nadal’s forehand and then catching him on the backhand with the second shot. With wider shots from the baseline, the chess master was able to have more time on a shot.
It is still early in the match and 20 grand Slam winner Nadal might be able to pull it off in the remaining 4 sets of the match.
Also Read: WATCH: Rafael Nadal Plays an Unreal Shot Against Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open Final
