Newly crowned Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal believes his record-breaking Grand Slam tally will be surpassed in the coming months.
The Spaniard claimed a historic 21st major title at Melbourne Park on Sunday to become the most decorated male player in Grand Slam history. He did so by fighting back from two sets down to defeat Daniil Medvedev in a five-hour thriller. It is the first time Nadal has won the tournament since 2009 and only the second time in his career. He has also become only the second man in the Open Era to have won every Grand Slam title at least twice.
Nadal now moves ahead of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in the race for the most major trophies won. Djokovic and Federer, who didn’t play at the Australian Open this year, are currently on 20 each. However, the 35-year-old admits that his new lead in the race may be only temporary.
“Do I want to be the one with the most Grand Slams? Yes, I do. Am I obsessed or frustrated by the idea of not being the one? Zero. I don’t think 21 will be enough to end being the one with the most Grand Slams,” Nadal said during a press conference at the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy in Mallorca on Wednesday.
The king of clay will be the favourite heading into the French Open in May which he has won a record 13 times. However, Djokovic will be eager to establish himself on the Tour after missing the start of this season due to a high-profile row with the Australian government concerning his visa which ended up with him getting deported. Meanwhile, Federer is still in the early stages of attempting to stage a comeback to the Tour following a third knee procedure at the age of 40.
Nadal has won all 11 matches he has played so far this season in what has been a fairytale start to 2022 for the world No.5 who briefly pondered retirement last year. In recent months, Nadal has been hampered by a recurrence of a long-term foot problem. He suffers from Mueller-Weiss syndrome, which is a degenerative disease that causes a deformity of one of the bones in the central part of the foot.
“Not long ago, I’d be happy just coming back and playing tennis and now I have 21 (Grand Slam titles). My speech doesn’t change and neither does my approach to it,” he said.
“I was nervous before the final because I knew that I was playing for something important, but this year everything was upside down. I had three hard months without being able to train properly and then the virus,” he later added.
So how did Nadal manage to return back to top form at the Australian Open?
According to the man himself, he points out that ‘several key moments’ contributed to his resurgence. One of which includes his third round clash with Karen Khachanov which he won in four sets. At the tournament he also scored wins over Marcos Giron, Yannick Hanfmann, Adrian Mannarino, Denis Shapovalov, Matteo Berrettini and Medvedev.
“There are several key moments,” he explains.
“Several training sessions against the top players that gave me a different perspective.’
“During the third game (round) against Khachanov, I made an important step forward, that was the first big challenge. I overcame it with good feelings. Then I started to breathe differently and you know that everything is difficult, but my feelings were good”.
Nadal has signed up to play tournaments in Acapulco and Indian Wells. However, he will make a definite decision regarding his participation in those events nearer to the time.
