Rafa the Great, Daniil Medvedev's meltdown and umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore's stealth mission - Australian Open Diary

Vintage Rafa steals the show Rafael Nadal rolled back the years with some vintage play to breeze through his first two sets against Matteo Berrettini before advancing to the Australian Open final in four sets and his throwback performance was not lost on those watching around the world. Ad/> Comedian Ben Stiller, a long-time tennis fan who has attended several matches over the years and even sat in Nadal’s box one time at the 2018 US Open, marveled at the Spaniard’s level against Berrettini on Friday. Australian OpenBecker says Medvedev outburst ‘the decisive moment’ in win against Tsitsipas37 MINUTES AGO “Watching 35 year old #Rafa operate at this level is so special,” tweeted Stiller during the match.

Laura Robson tweeted: “Feel like I’m watching 2010 Rafa. Vintage”, while one Twitter user posted: “Rafa really out here playing all the bangers off the first album.” Can the Spaniard clinch his first Australian Open title since 2009 and break the men’s all-time Grand Slam record by winning a 21st major on Sunday? /> ‘I feel alive again’ Nadal has said multiple times this fortnight that his chronic foot injury got so bad at the end of last year, he wasn’t sure he would be able to continue to play professional tennis. Now he’s in a Grand Slam final again, playing some explosive tennis.

“Six months off, you don’t even know if you’re going to come back and play professional tennis and now you play at this level. What’s the most surprising to you: Is it the way you hit the ball, the way you move, or the way you can still solve the problems?” tennis legend and Eurosport analyst Mats Wilander asked Nadal on Friday. Nadal responded: “Mats, being honest, everything.