Australian Open

Utter destruction by Satan against Matteo Berrettini who I never thought had a chance - not for one second out there.

Not one.



It's like a nightmare to me tbh..........

Pretty good match between Medvedev and Tsitsipas. First three sets could have gone either way, although Medvedev seemed to have the slight edge. Tsitsipas got broken early in the fourth and then just seemed like he gave up. Completely lifeless play after that, which is rather unusual for him. Despite that, I think his run here has been fantastic, much better than expected at the start of the tournament and offered the Russian some very competitive opposition, for the first three sets at least, much more so than in their semifinal last year. Medvedev looks very solid this tournament and is probably the favorite in the final, although I think it will be a very tight game that will likely go to 5 sets.

There's no better thing than when a person from the host country wins a slam......you could genuinely feel the crowd support for Barty and ending that long drought

Dead.

hahahahahhahahahahhahaha pacinoyes

hahahahaha what? - he now has 2 Grand Slams that Djokovic didn't play in - NOT because of injury - and where Djoko would have been the number 1 seed in.

Today he beat a guy who cramped up.

Stunning...........and So brave 

I mean you have to give him credit - he took the opportunity and he won - he still had to win - so congratulations - but he's in no way the GOAT. He's the Jack Nicholson of the GOAT debate behind DePac / DjokFed- still...........um

Congratulations to the G.O.A.T. on his 21st GS !!!

According to ultimatetennisstatistics.com, the last time he managed to recover from being 2 sets down was the fourth round of Wimbledon 2007 against Mikhail Youzhny.

VAMOOOOS!!!

The "NOT because of injury" part makes it look even worse for Djokovic. If he wanted to play, he could have played. He could have simply done what 97% of top 100 players have done and compete, but I guess being hero for the anti-vax community was more important to him.

Also attempting to downplay Rafa's achievement in this manner is patently ridiculous, considering the fact that Djokovic himself has competed in and won many tournaments when Rafa was out with injury or got injured during the tournament. Despite being a year younger than Nadal, Djokovic (20/66) has actually participated in 4 more Grand Slams than Rafa (21/62) so this argument really doesn't hold water.

Finally "he beat a guy who cramped up" comment makes no sense as well. The fact he managed to look fresher in the final set against an opponent who's 10 yrs younger than him is a testament to what kind of incredible athlete Nadal is.

I think this is more Medvedev's loss to be honest. Don't get me wrong, Nadal was pretty stellar throughout and played a smart match, trying to disrupt Medvedev's rhythm with slices and dropshots and attacking only at the right moments, but I still think he was clearly outplayed for most of the match. I mean Medvedev had more winners, less unforced errors and won more points than Nadal, but still lost in the end. The Russian made some very sloppy errors on crucial moments (especially in the 3rd and 5th set) that cost him in the end. He just squandered so many chances. That game he gifted at 5-5 in the 5th with some absolutely horrible misses, letting Nadal, take the lead once more, was very bad indeed. I also don't understand why he stood so far back from the baseline on return (even on second serves) and didn't attack more there, as it was pretty clear that Nadal wasn't serving well today (at least not as well as he was against Berrettini and Shapovalov).

Well, this is a great win for Nadal and definitely deserved, at least for the fighting spirit he showed. He will probably get his 22nd in the French this year, since I can't see anyone defeating him on clay if he keeps up this current form.

Ah, so it's "ridiculous" is it? 

I disagree and actually find you guilty of specious reasoning rather than insult you by calling your argument "ridiculous":

Injuries are a legit part of the game - they are the reason Lemiuex is not the GOAT but Gretzky was - I am not going to argue vax with you and yes anti-vax was more important to him - he may win more slams anyway............we'll see .......

The fact is that Rafael Nadal's last 2 slams came without a healthy Djokovic playing - that's a fact - period - it just is.  if you think people don't notice that what can I say to you?  I'd rather not argue and call names though - I didn't "downplay his achievement" - I didn't say "put an asterisk next to them" I said he's the 3rd GOAT of all time ..........I didn't say he sucked did I?

 

Incredible. What a final. One of the most memorable for sure.
At the start of this tournament I really didn't expect Nadal to compete for the title. And even less after the quarterfinal, when his body seemed worn down and he just barely survived a five-setter against Denis Shapovalov. And as the start of today's match I thought Medvedev is the clear favourite.

Then Nadal started the match pretty weak, making lots of errors, reminding me of most his matches of 2021 and I was afraid we would be in for a one-sided affair. Then he lost the second set, which he definitely should have won and I thought it was all over.

But well this is Rafael Nadal. I think that match today was the ultimate epitome of his career. Regardless of what happened he just tried to do his best, to overcome all hurdles, find new ways and never stopped fighting. I remember when he burst onto the scene he was a different beast. He ran like no other player and brought back more balls than you could imagine, though in some ways his game was still limited. His forehand was amazing, but his serve and his backhand were liablities. But he had a fighting spirit and a mental strength like nobody else.
Then there were the many injuries, which forced him to miss so many tournaments and which must also have been mentally demanding. But again he found ways back.
And over the years he became better and better in most aspects of the game and also amazingly adapted his play to correct his body's struggles (as the loss of his speed) or to play with less spin on hardcourts. And today after he saw that his tactics didn't work he just throw them overboard and started with a whole different approach, trusting more in his forehand, which also led to reducing his errors and despite his fatigue it somehow worked.

I think there was never an athlete I felt more respect for than Rafael Nadal and today was one of his biggest achievements.

Nadal playing through injuries and losing is not the same as someone being forbidden by the tournament from playing. No one thinks that  is the same thing............they are different in every way.

Now I'm not saying Djoko should have been allowed to play either tournament - read the thread - but that's not the same thing so again that's

very specious reasoning ............purposely so........

.......also the word "debatable" does not mean what you think it means - the same way "ridiculous" does not mean what you think it means either........ no one is debating Djokovic's health at all here.  When you start getting into "how injured was Djokovic really" you've entered into the realm of conspiracy theories and QANON of tennis mumbo jumbo.

Agree to disagree..........