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The final at the Australian Open in Melbourne, longed for by many tennis fans, is perfect. Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev meet on Sunday.
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Melbourne – US Open champion Daniil Medvedev has entered the final of the Australian Open for the second time and will meet Rafael Nadal there. In the second semi-final in Melbourne on Friday, the Russian number two in the tennis world beat Greek world number four Stefanos Tsitsipas 7: 6 (7: 5), 4: 6, 6: 4, 6: 1. At the Australian Open 2021, the 25-year-old also won against Tsitsipas in the semifinals, but then missed the title against Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic.
Medvedev lost his composure at times in the match on Friday and insulted the referee in the second set. “Are you crazy, are you stupid?” He said in the direction of the referee, who is said to have overlooked an alleged coaching of Tsitsipas by his father Apostolos. “He talks after every point. You have to warn him,” said Medvedev. In the fourth set, Tsitsipas was finally warned and couldn’t find his game anymore.
Nadal reaches for historic record
In the first semi-final, the Spaniard Nadal defeated the Italian Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini 6: 3, 6: 2, 3: 6, 6: 3. The 35-year-old can win his 21st Grand Slam title with a final victory on Sunday (9.30 a.m. German time / Eurosport) over Medvedev and thus become the sole record winner in the four most important tournaments.
“I had to suffer, I had to fight. It means a lot to me to be here in the final. I haven’t played as well as in the first two sets for a long time,” said Nadal. “I never expected another chance in 2022.”
Rafael Nadal would break away from Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer (currently all 20 titles) by winning the title in the all-time major leaderboard. Overall, it’s Nadal’s 29th Grand Slam final. So far he has only won the title in Australia in 2009 – now he is making the next attempt.
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