Emotional Rafael Nadal secures shot at history after fearing his career was over

Rafael Nadal shed tears of happiness and disbelief after going from doubts about his future in tennis to the Australian Open final in little over a month.

The 35-year-old defeated Matteo Berrettini 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena to reach his sixth Melbourne final and 29th overall at a slam.

Victory on Sunday would see Nadal surpass his great rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic and become the first man to win 21 grand slam titles.

Yet for much of the last six months he was unsure whether he would even be able to play competitively again as a long-standing foot problem worsened dramatically and did not improve.

“I went through a lot of challenging moments, a lot of days of hard work without seeing a light there,” said Nadal, who also contracted coronavirus last month.

“A lot of conversations with the team, with the family, about what can happen or what’s going to happen if the things continue like this, thinking that maybe it’s a chance to say goodbye.

“That was not a lot of months ago. To be able to be where I am today, I really can’t explain in words how important it is for me in terms of energy, in terms of personal satisfaction, in terms of being very thankful for all the support that I received from the fans and especially from the people really close to me.

“It’s much more important to have the chance to play tennis than win the 21.”

Playing at an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi last month persuaded Nadal and his team that making it to the Australian Open might be possible.

The sixth seed’s coach Carlos Moya told AS: “The issue with this injury is that there is no definitive treatment. If you could operate, spend six months out and look good, but it’s not like that.

“We had several conversations during the