This article was published in Yahoo in Spanish in February 2022 when the story went viral on social media. We show it back to our users because it was among the most viewed and commented on our site all year.
Rafael Nadal He shocked the world of tennis with his victory at the Australian Open after an epic match, in which he had to break down to come back two sets from Daniil Medvedev. For many fans, the Spaniard asserted his status as a veteran, resorting to an intelligent tactic that allowed him to control the pace of the game and adjust it to his characteristics. Especially during the start of it.
The Spaniard, at 35, reached the final as a loser in all bets against the number two in the world. As if that were not enough, during the first three games of the first set, the match was played at a dizzying pace, something that undoubtedly benefited the Russian.
However, the 21-time Grand Slam champion was not willing for that to be the tone of the match. A) Yes, Several fans suspected that the Spaniard used the wisdom granted by his seniority to keep the pace under control.
Due to the heat and humidity in Melbourne when the match began at around 7:30 p.m. local time, Nadal broke out in a sweat visibly from the opening point. Something that the man from Manacor took advantage of in his favor. With the 2-1 in the first set, Nadal briefly stopped play during his serve to ask a referee for a moment to wipe off some sweat, which was dripping onto the court..
The Spanish tennis player is famous on the circuit for using the maximum time allowed between serves to recover physically. Something that, for example, Denis Shapovalov reproached him in the quarterfinals in an ostensible way, even calling the chair umpire “corrupt” for not sanctioning him. Probably for this reason, many fans interpreted that this was a ploy by the Spanish to gain extra time between points.
In fact, even the commentator on the Australian television channel Channel 9, Sam Grothgave some credibility to the theory. “It’s a bit of a cheeky way to slow down after just a couple of points”said.
Nadal’s first serve of the match took more than six minutes to complete, something that for the famous tennis specialist Ben Rothenberg seemed like a “deliberate” pace adjustment. In fact, the New York Times compared the duration of the first three games of the match based on who was serving. The first, with Nadal serving, lasted seven minutes. The second, with Medvedev serving, only two. And again the third, with the Spaniard serving, reached nine minutes.
same suggested James Grayone of the most well-known London voices in tennis: “Third game and Nadal has already had to call someone to wipe his sweat on court. You’d think someone like him would have evolved beyond sweat.”
Rafa Nadal is an old dog and, at those levels, each one channels the pressure in a different way. The reality is that he has only received a warning for delaying serving and it was not until the last set.
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