While world No. 5 Rafael Nadal will be searching for a record-setting 21st major title in this year’s Australian Open final, world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev has an opportunity to win back-to-back Grand Slam titles. This is the second time that these two have met in the final of a major, with Nadal having earned a 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4 win over the Russian at the 2019 US Open. This, however, is a very different version of Medvedev, who officially joined tennis’ elite when he beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets of the 2021 US Open final.
The 25-year-old comes into this match on the heels of a 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over world No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas. That win was more impressive than anything Nadal has done at this tournament thus far, and Medvedev also had to go through Nick Kyrgios at the start of this event—which is no easy task in Melbourne. On top of that, he erased a two-set deficit to beat world No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinals, allowing him to battle through the type of adversity you need to go on to secure a major title.
Nadal did look good in a four-set win over world No. 7 Matteo Berrettini in the semifinals, but his opponent gifted him the first two sets in that match. From there, the Italian played him rather evenly, and we have continually seen signs of struggle from Nadal. The 35-year-old did have COVID-19 just before the tournament and he has had some trouble with the heat Down Under. Nadal was also dealing with heat stroke in his match against world No. 14 Denis Shapovalov in the quarterfinals. The conditions were much better for Nadal in his most recent match, but we’ve still seen some inconsistent quality from the 20-time Grand Slam champion.