Nadal seals in Australia the passport to history
Nadal asked Medvedev for permission to sit down during the trophy ceremony for the Australian Open final. He also thanked the chair umpire for letting him pass to go to his seat after celebrating the title with his people. It was Rafa Nadal who attended impassive to the rudeness of Denis Shapovalov in the quarterfinals while his rival lashed out at him to the match judge.
Nadal is not tennis, are gestures. The Manacor came to Melbourne to check his health after the foot injury and overcome the coronavirus. Even in the last press conference before the tournament, he dropped the phrase "if I play tennis again". Because now is when Rafa Nadal has decided to cross to the other side of tennis. The one to enjoy his last matches, his last victories, his last defeats.
Djokovic is already history in Australia. Although the tournament was looking forward to a final between the Serb and the Spaniard, the collateral damage that continues to leave the coronavirus in society took its toll. In the absence of Djokovic, Nadal. Because Medvedev belongs to that generation of ill-mannered tennis players who live above good and evil. Those who are able to insult a chair umpire, charge against the public or a ball boy.
During the match, Medvedev did not shut up for a minute. When he sat on the bench, he talked to the umpire, even kept shaking his head and had a loud internal conversation going over his mistakes. Not a smile after the 2-0 in his favor, not a disproportionate angry face when the match slipped through his hands. A cold guy born in Monte Carlo with a drained body without a muscle to stand out. A wall that returned all the balls while Nadal came and went through the back of the court.
Rafa's tennis Nothing can be repeated. You just have to look for a guy of his conditions and educate his mind. What will be difficult to repeat is such a disciplined athlete profile. So respectful. So down to earth.
Rod Laver took out his iPhone and, at 83 years old, took pictures of that historic final that kept him in the front row of the court for five hours. Rod was also left-handed like Rafa, but he was a one-handed backhand player. Nadal looked for that profile to Medvedev when the forces faltered. The Russian found it hard to bend his knees and did not finish the shot high. The balls crashed into the net
Nadal's physique could have given him one of the last great titles of his career. He is not looking forward to how his record will be in posterity. He knows that another will come that will improve his performance. He has been playing with pain for years and has more and more reasons to stop due to injury. His time is running out, he knows it and has prepared for it. He does not need reports to show his yacht or his house, he prefers to live from his academy that is already bearing fruit little by little.
Nadal was positive in Australia for being a winner. There is no other more reliable test to know the health of world tennis than to put this Spaniard to play a final. Such a match wiped out Djokovic's vaccine affair in one fell swoop. Nadal's tennis will be forgotten, new times and other profiles will come. But seeing how he gets on the exercise bike after five hours of match thinking about his future, can not be forgotten.
Rafa Nadal. Not a gesture too much, not a gesture too little.
