Australian Open 2022 Men’s Final: Has Daniil Medvedev Ever Defeated Rafael Nadal?

The Australian Open 2022 Men’s Final round is ready to go. Only two men now remain at the end of a thrilling two-week tournament. Russian World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev will face off against Spanish legend Rafael Nadal.

Nadal, who returned to the ATP tour after a six-month break, looks well in form. Moreover, he also won an ATP 250 title at the Melbourne Summer Set prior to the Australian Open.

On the other hand, Daniil Medvedev has snuffed out every opponent in front of him, blazing through to the finals. Thus, as the last day of the Australian Open approaches, there is only one question on everyone’s minds- who will prevail tomorrow?

Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev put up epic semi-final performances

Rafael Nadal has been looking in phenomenal form since the beginning of the Australian Summer of Tennis. After a thrilling five-setter battle against Denis Shapovalov in the quarter-final, Nadal put away semi-finalist Matteo Berrettini in four sets.

Nadal didn’t seem to break a sweat as he took the first two sets off of Berrettini. However, in the third, the Italian World No. 7 came back resurgent to win the set. However, Berrettini was unable to keep the momentum going, and ultimately fell 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6 to Nadal.

Moreover, even Daniil Medvedev went through a grueling five-setter quarter-final to emerge victorious at the end. In fact, in his quarter-final against Canada’s Felix-Auger Aliassime, it almost looked like Medvedev was out of contention.

The top seed of the Australian Open fell two sets at the beginning of the quarter-final match. Nevertheless, he persevered in what was a punishing but heroic uphill battle, to take three straight sets from his Canadian opponent.

Subsequently, Medvedev battled Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-final round, which he managed to win in four sets, not unlike his finalist opponent Rafael Nadal.

Has Daniil Medvedev ever defeated Rafa?

Ahead of their final battle at the Australian Open 2022, Daniil Medvedev and Rafael Nadal have battled each other four times.

Throughout all of 2021, Medvedev and Nadal did not play against each other. This also had to do with Rafael Nadal’s exit from the tour in August, after which he has only returned this year.

The two stars met thrice in 2019, and the last time they faced each other across the net was in 2020. In their head-to-head history, Rafael Nadal has come out victorious in three out of four battles against the Russian.

Through all their matches in 2019, at the Masters 1000 event in Canada, the US Open final, and the Nitto ATP Finals, it was Rafa Nadal who was the superior player. However, in their most recent bout at the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals, Daniil Medvedev managed to conquer the Spaniard.

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Now, even though Nadal holds a 75 percent success rate against his Russian opponent heading into the final, it could be anybody’s game. After all, both players have showcased immensely remarkable grit throughout this tournament.

Will Medvedev repeat history by obstructing Nadal’s?

Not only is Rafael Nadal one victory away from a Grand Slam championship, but he is also just as close to making history. If he were to win the final, it would be no mere Grand Slam title alone, but the Spaniard’s 21st major title.

Rafael Nadal could become the first male player in the Open era to win 21 Grand Slams. Consequently, he would finally surpass longtime rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Currently, the three players are tied at 20 Grand Slam titles each. Hence, they share a whopping 60 major titles between the three of them.

On the flip side, is Daniil Medvedev. Even though he has only won a single Grand Slam, his 2021 US Open Championship victory was extremely crucial. After all, Medvedev stopped US Open finalist Novak Djokovic from creating a history of his own.

Not only did Medvedev’s victory over Djokovic in the US Open final stop the Serbian World No. 1 from bagging his 21st Grand Slam victory, but it also denied him of his chance to secure the elusive calendar Grand Slam.

In fact, no player since the great Rod Laver in 1969 has ever achieved the feat. Even though Novak Djokovic came as close as possible, Medvedev thwarted the Serbian’s hopes. Thus, now he stands yet again between one of the Big Three and their 21st Grand Slam title.

Do you think Rafael Nadal will persevere and finally surpass Federer and Djokovic, or will the young Medvedev put a stop to the Spaniard’s hopes?

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