VAMOS! Rafa Nadal Pulls Off The Comeback of All Comebacks To Win The Aussie Open And His Record 21st Grand Slam In a 5+ Hour Epic Match

Mark Metcalfe. Getty Images.

Nadal def. Medvedev 2-6 6-7 6-4 6-4 7-5

Simply epic. Five and a half hours of absolute war and we have ourselves a 21 time grand slam winner: Rafa fucking Nadal. Honestly I have no idea how that man had the energy to do what he just did. 35 years old and coming off a foot injury, it is straight up silly that Rafa pulled that off. That's the greatest comeback of Nadal's career and one of the best matches I've ever watched. I mean Nadal was dead. The match was over. 

And the moment Rafa held there the switch flipped and momentum swung. Medvedev beat himself with inexplicable drop shots that had no chance of working while also battling the crowd. You're never going to beat Nadal in the mental game no matter the score. The guy is incapable of being cracked. Regardless how bad he's getting beat and how unlikely victory seems he just keeps coming. Rafa turned into a human backstop and somehow got stronger as the match grew longer. After resetting during the break between the 4th and 5th sets Medvedev came out more focused, but it wasn't enough. Nadal's fitness would hold strong and his will to win pushed him over the finish line. Med did manage to break him as he served for the match, but he would get broken right back to allow Nadal to successfully serve it out. 

Legitimately insane and my words cannot come close to doing that match justice. Nadal still winning slams like this in 2022 is illogical. You wanna call him the GOAT I'll allow it. 

full match highlights here. I didn't sleep and it was so worth it. I love tennis.