Despite the global pandemic, the Australian Open 2022 was a big success in so many ways. The tournament saw one of the greatest men’s finals ever between Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev, where the Spaniard clinched his 21st Grand Slam title. 

Nadal’s win was undoubtedly one of the biggest stories in tennis history. He went two sets down against the Russian and then made a spectacular comeback to win three back-to-back sets. However, one interesting thing happened when Nadal walked off the court and the first person he hugged was the tournament director, Craig Tiley. In a recent interview, Rafa revealed the reason behind it. 

Rafael Nadal reveals why he hugged Craig Tiley

The Australian Open tournament director, Craig Tiley, suffered a lot of criticism for hosting the Australian Open under the Global pandemic. This year, he received a lot of flak for the handling of the entire Novak Djokovic visa saga. Despite all that, Craig organized a successful Australian Open in 2022.

Rafael Nadal revealed he always had a great relationship with Craig. The Spaniard also appreciated the director for creating a healthy environment for all the players during this pandemic. 

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“I always had a great relationship with the tournament, and Craig, he’s an amazing tournament director. I know he went through some very hard times this year, and he was there always supporting the tennis, supporting the players, and thinking about what’s the best for sport and do it in a very healthy way,” Nadal said about hugging Craig. 

“From the player’s perspective, the support that we received from Tennis Australia is just unbelievable; we can’t thank enough him and Tennis Australia in general,” Nadal further stated. 

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Australian Open 2022 was a huge success

With the reduced crowd capacity, many thought the tournament would suffer immensely. However, the final match between Ashleigh Barty and Danielle Collins drew massive numbers and became the most-watched Australian Open women’s final ever. The match has drawn 4.26 million viewers and the trophy presentation drew, even more, around 4.5 million viewers. 

The men’s final drew almost 3.14 million viewers, which wasn’t as huge as the Barty match, but it was really exciting to watch. The tournament was also a big success for the Australian players and fans. Crowd favorite Ash Barty won her first Australian Open title and Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis also won their first doubles title in Australia. 

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