Rafael Nadal can leave Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer behind on Sunday and become the record holder alone with 21 Grand Slam titles. The 35-year-old Spaniard defeated Italian Matteo Berrettini, 10 years younger, in the semifinals of the Australian Open in 4 sets: 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. In the final Stefanos Tsitsipas or Daniil Medvedev can still throw a spanner in the works.
Nadal is in the final in Melbourne for the 6th time, only triumphing in 2009. In 2012 (Djokovic), 2014 (Wawrinka), 2017 (Federer) and 2019 (Djokovic) he bit the dust.
The Spaniard is gradually becoming a veteran of many tennis wars. A lingering foot injury put a question mark behind his further career last year, but look: the 13-time Roland Garros laureate is playing like reborn. A corona infection in December could not harm him either.
For example, the number 5 in the world will soon have a chance to become the record holder with 21 grand slam titles. His victory against number 7 Berrettini caused a lot of emotions: he celebrated exuberantly, the tears welled up.
(read on under tweets)
Tears at Nadal:
One of his most emotional celebrations:
Dip in the 3rd set
It will be Nadal’s 29th grand slam final, who can take advantage of the absence of Federer (not fit) and Djokovic (not welcome due to corona) in Melbourne. Djokovic and Federer both played 31.
In addition to the record, Nadal could also become one of the rare tennis players on Sunday to win all grand slam tournaments at least twice.
“I played very well in the first 2 sets. It had been a long time since I was this good,” the Spaniard responded. He did not give away a single break chance and struck himself mercilessly. He went 3-0 in set 1 and 4-0 in set 2. Finishing them was a breeze.
“4-3 in the back of the 3rd set I had a bad serve game and Berrettini found his best shots again. But I fought back.” He baked the Italian a cookie from the same dough with a break at 4-3 for the 4th set. After less than 3 hours the loot was in.
For Berrettini it was the second Grand Slam semi-final of his career: last year he reached and lost the final in Wimbledon.
Tweets over de match: