Rafael Nadal has won every major title during his illustrious journey. The Spanish player’s enviable Grand Slam trophy haul also includes two Australian Open titles, one of which recently came during the 2022 season. Reminiscing about his remarkable triumph in Melbourne, renowned tennis commentator Abigail Johnson recently opened up about how she was over the moon after witnessing Nadal’s inspiring performances.

Back in 2022, the ‘King of Clay’ amazed the entire tennis community by overcoming some of the big guns in nail-biting fixtures. Now it looks like the tennis bigwig, Johnson, still couldn’t get over those spectacular showdowns, as she recently hailed the former No. 1 player for his Grand Slam triumph.

“He was already at the top of the game”- Renowned tennis commentator sings the praise of Rafael Nadal

In the latest episode of the Tennis Channel Inside-In, Abigail Johnson recalled the Spaniard’s phenomenal victory against Denis Shapovalov in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Australian Open. In a five-set thriller, Nadal defeated his 14th-seeded Canadian opponent with a score of 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3.

Remsiciang about it, Johnson, who was there in the commentary box during the match, said, “I was calling a quarterfinal match Rafael Nadal Against Denis Shapovalov. It looks pretty straightforward. Initially, it went two sets all I got on the call, I think maybe in the fourth set.”

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“And when Nadal went up a break in the fifth set. I’ve watched a lot of Nadal matches and my time he was already at the top of the game. That’s the longevity when I started watching tennis, so I was watching him as a kid fan.”

Nadal brushed aside the likes of Shapovalov and Matteo Berrettini en route to the championship game,  where he emerged victorious in a five-hour-long clash against Daniil Medvedev, 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5. Notably, Johnson recently revealed how she was certain, before the title match, that the Spaniard was going to win the tournament.

She said, “Right. Now I’m in the booth as it goes up a set in the final set. Sorry, as he goes up a break in the final set. And I’ve watched enough Nadal matches to know I felt in my gut at that point that he was going to win the tournament. And I’ve got it on my WhatsApp I sent my mom a message saying I’m commentating on history right now. Yeah.”

“And in that moment, I choked up because I was like how did I get here? I was a fan in my living room. I never thought I’d see this place in the flesh let alone be sat at the baseline with a microphone on the world feed calling Rafael Nadal”

What do you think of the Spanish tennis legend’s phenomenal Australian Open triumph? Let us know in the comments section.

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