Jan xxx, 2022

  • Jake Michaels

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    Jake Michaels

    ESPN Acquaintance Editor

      Jake Michaels is a Melbourne-based sports writer who covers everything from Aussie Rules to Formula One, basketball game to boxing. He joined ESPN in June, 2013 and works equally an Associate Editor, covering sport in Australia and around the world.

  • Tom Hamilton

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    Tom Hamilton

    Senior Writer

      • Joined ESPN in 2011
      • Covered two Olympics, a pair of Rugby World Cups and two British & Irish Lions tours
      • Previously rugby editor, and became senior author in 2018

MELBOURNE, Commonwealth of australia -- Rafael Nadal has achieved many astonishing feats on a tennis court, only none more than then than what took identify on Rod Laver Arena in Sunday's breathtaking Australian Open up final.

Down two sets to beloved and facing iii pause points early in the third set, Nadal'south quest for a second title at Melbourne Park, and a men's record 21st major, had all but gone up in smoke. The Spaniard had given everything in the first two frames but fell agonizingly brusque on both occasions. Meanwhile, on the other side of the net, Daniil Medvedev was doing what Daniil Medvedev does -- returning every single ball, from all corners of the courtroom.

You could take easily forgiven Nadal for waving the white flag and falling gallantly in 3 sets to a human who has won more matches on hard courts than anyone else over the past three years. After all, merely 6 weeks earlier, Nadal was wondering whether he would ever play tennis again. But you don't put yourself in your sport'south greatest-of-all-time give-and-take without a great deal of resilience.

Nadal saved all iii intermission points, and a 4th, for good measure, earlier holding serve to stay level in the third ready. There was the faintest of heartbeats.

3 hours afterwards, and with the lucifer clock beaming 5:24 -- the second-longest Slam final in history -- Nadal dropped his racket, brutal to his knees and let the emotion cascade out, equally a chorus of thank you rained downwardly from the packed grandstands. He was a ii-time Australian Open champion and had moved alee of long-time rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic with that elusive 21st Slam.

"I don't know what to say. It has been i of the well-nigh emotional matches and moments of my tennis career," Nadal said Sunday. "Information technology's amazing. Today, beingness in front of all of yous with this bays in forepart of me, I tin can't thanks enough for all of the honey and back up."

"It's really hard to speak after losing in five and a one-half hours [but] you're an amazing champion. Congrats, it was unbelievable," Medvedev said of Nadal after the match. "I just asked him, are you tired?"

Nadal's remarkable, tape-shattering two-6, vi-7 (5), 6-iv, half-dozen-four, seven-5 triumph saw him become the first player since 1965 to come from two sets down to win an Australian Open final. Information technology was as well just the sixth time anyone had completed such a comeback in any Slam last.

The 35-twelvemonth-one-time has now won all four major titles twice, something merely Djokovic had previously accomplished in the Open era.

In improver to all of the history and thrills in Lord's day's epic final, it has been an incredible two weeks of lawn tennis Downwardly Nether. In example you were busy, or sleeping during most of the tournament, here'south what yous might have missed from the men's draw.

No vax, no play; the Djokovic saga rolls on

Even though he never hit a tennis ball at the Australian Open, the Djokovic saga dominated the early stages of the tournament, and the ramifications will likely go along throughout the year.

The question now is, afterward he was deported from Australia, when will we see him next? And when volition he go a shot at his 21st Yard Slam title?

Djokovic has submitted an entry for the Dubai Championship (Feb. 21-26), merely if he continues to opt confronting getting vaccinated, he'll have trouble getting into France for Roland Garros (if unvaccinated, yous have to testify proof of having had COVID-19 in the past four months, according to recently passed French vaccine rules).

The COVID situation in the United Kingdom fluctuates, but at present, if Djokovic wants to play in Wimbledon, he'll have to quarantine for ten days on arrival. And for the Usa Open, there are just "limited exceptions" for unvaccinated travelers.

Then in curt, it'due south not going to exist straightforward for Djokovic.

Judging by the outcry at the original decision to allow Djokovic into Australia, he volition exist under incredible scrutiny over the coming weeks and months amid reports of a discrepancy with his COVID-19 test results from December.

Nick Kyrgios is a Grand Slam champion

No doubt these seven words aren't what you lot expected to read by the conclusion of the Australian Open, just Kyrgios and slap-up friend Thanasi Kokkinakis are Grand Slam champions after the pair rode a moving ridge of oversupply back up all the way to the title in men's doubles.

Kokkinakis, who entered the tournament having just won his first ATP title at the Adelaide International, was beaten in the starting time circular of the singles depict, while Kyrgios drew Medvedev in the second round, coming up brusque in four entertaining sets. The pair then focused their attending on doubles, making a remarkable and, at times, controversial run to the championship.

The crowds grew each time Kyrgios and Kokkinakis took to the court, and let's just say it played into Kyrgios' hands. The 26-year-old fed off the energy, something which often frustrated their opponents, and sometimes opponents' coaches.

In addition to the fight that almost broke out post-obit Kyrgios and Kokkinakis' 2nd-round win over the meridian-seeded duo of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, New Zealand's Michael Venus labeled Kyrgios a "knob" while fellow Australian and eventual runner-upwards Max Purcell claimed: "Those boys are extremely disrespectful to their opponents. I'm playing with good sportsmanship and having a skillful fourth dimension, not having the crowd yell profanity at my opponents and purposely distracting them in between points."

Read more than: Nick Kyrgios is the Happy Gilmore of tennis

Unfortunately, fans of the "Special Grand'southward" will have to wait until the United states Open in August to run across them back in action, with Kyrgios confirming after their triumph that he would not be competing in the doubles at either the French Open or Wimbledon in 2022.

A pair of lawn tennis rants for the ages

Seriously, who doesn't love a lawn tennis rant?

We saw ii of the all-time in Melbourne. The starting time came in the quarterfinals, when Denis Shapovalov accused chair umpire Carlos Bernardes of corruption for non enforcing a time violation on Nadal.

Just not to be outdone, Medvedev unleashed on umpire Jaume Campistol in his semifinal confronting Stefanos Tsitsipas. Medvedev was determined Tsitsipas was receiving coaching during his friction match and demanding something be washed about it.

Medvedev apologized to Campistol after the match.

Immature brigade at present really shut to Big 3

Yes, we know, we've been proverb this for years, but the 2022 Australian Open really did highlight simply how many talented youngsters there are on the ATP Bout.

We know Medvedev, 25, vicious agonizingly short in the final, but just two of the eight quarterfinalists in Melbourne were over 25, and information technology was some of the lesser-experienced players who wowed the crowds Downward Under.

The Canadian duo of Felix Auger-Aliassime (21) and Shapovalov (22) led their nation to the ATP Cup title in Sydney earlier in the month and arrived at Melbourne Park full of conviction. Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov played fearless tennis, both reaching the last eight and coming shut to knocking out eventual Australian Open finalists Medvedev and Nadal, respectively.

There was Italian 11th seed Jannik Sinner (twenty) who put on a clinic against Australian Alex de Minaur, merely fell to Tsitsipas in the next circular. Merely hey, Tsitsipas is hardly a veteran at but 23 years of historic period!

And who could forget Carlos Alcaraz? The 18-year-erstwhile Spaniard was involved in arguably the match of the tournament, playing five high-quality sets against Italian seventh seed Matteo Berrettini in blisteringly hot atmospheric condition on Rod Laver Arena.

We may be unsure near which member of the Big Iii will end their career with the most Slams, just one thing is sure: The sport is in peachy hands when they do decide to telephone call time.

Dylan Alcott's classy get out and unmatched legacy

Whether information technology was Alize Cornet's outpouring of emotion following her quantum major quarterfinal advent or the sight of Evonne Goolagong Cawley presenting world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, there were plenty of moments over the past two weeks in Melbourne that had us all reaching for the tissues.

Simply perhaps none more and so than when Australian icon Dylan Alcott'due south glittering career came to a close. The 31-year-onetime quad wheelchair star had announced a few months dorsum that the curtains were to come downward on his career after this consequence, and on the eve of his final against Dutchman Sam Schroder, Alcott was honored in Canberra as Australian of the Year.

Read more: Dylan Alcott is a tennis star virtually proud of his off-courtroom achievements

"I've been in a wheelchair my whole life. I was born with a tumor wrapped effectually my spinal cord that was cut out when I was just a couple of days former. I've known nothing only having a disability, and if I'm honest with you, I can't tell you how much I used to hate myself. I hated being unlike and I didn't want to be here anymore. I really didn't," he said.

"Whenever I turned on the TV, or the radio or the newspaper, I never saw anybody like me. And whenever I did, it was a route prophylactic advertizing where someone drink drives, has a car accident and what's the next scene? Someone similar me in tears considering their life was over."

Alcott's career didn't quite have the fairytale catastrophe, losing to Schroder 7-five, 6-0 in the decider.

"I'grand actually the luckiest guy in the world and I didn't need to win today to realize that," he said. "It's because you, everybody watching hither today, people like me with a disability, we are getting non only the recognition simply nosotros are integrated and involved in our social club."

Alcott leaves behind a remarkable legacy which goes far beyond his 15 Slams and two Paralympic gold medals. He has long been an advocate for wheelchair tennis, playing a pivotal role in matches now played on eye court at the biggest events and broadcast effectually the globe.