Tennis-Nadal triumph slams door on young pretenders again

By Martyn Herman

(Reuters) - Not only did Rafa Nadal's staggering comeback victory over Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final earn him a men's record 21st Grand Slam title it also showed once again the folly of assuming a new order is seizing power in men's tennis.

When Medvedev ambushed Novak Djokovic's hopes of reaching 21 and a first men's calendar-year Slam since 1969 in last year's U.S. Open final, it felt like a seismic shift with the Russian leading a takeover at the top.

That looked even more likely when the 35-year-old Nadal arrived in Melbourne after almost six months out with a foot injury as the lone rider of the fabled "big three".

Roger Federer was back in Switzerland rehabilitating his injured knee while nine-times Australian Open champion Djokovic was embroiled in a visa row sparked by his decision not to have a COVID-19 vaccine and was eventually be deported.

It left Spaniard Nadal, battle-scarred and having recently tested positive for COVID, to fight off the young vanguard single-handed -- surely a task too much for even the greatest warrior tennis has ever seen.

Djokovic's self-inflicted exile left Medvedev as the red-hot favourite, and if it wasn't him to lift his second Grand Slam title, surely one of Olympic champion Alexander Zverev or Stefanos Tsitsipas would step up to make his big breakthrough.

Nadal, seeded six, had never flown so low under the radar leading into a Grand Slam tournament, even if he had won a warm-up event in Melbourne the week before.

Video: "Who's toughest? Djokovic, Federer, or Nadal? (The Independent)

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