Nadal rallied from down two sets to a dramatic victory in Melbourne, notching his 21st career Grand Slam win—the most in men's tennis history.
After 53 games and over five hours, Rafael Nadal has done it.
The Spaniard mounted a historic rally in Sunday's Australian Open final against Daniil Medvedev, coming back from two sets down to capture his 21st career Grand Slam title. Nadal's victory (2–6, 6–7, 6–4, 6–4, 7–5) marked the first time in 15 years he had won a best-of-five match after dropping the first two sets, and broke a three-way tie with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic for the most major singles titles in men's tennis history.
Nadal was up against the ropes early, with Medvedev appearing to hold firm control after the first two sets. But the 35-year-old Spaniard dug deep to grind out 6–4 wins in the third and fourth sets, then broke Medvedev's serve in the fifth game of the fifth set. Nadal then served for the win up 5–4 before squandering an opportunity and dropping the game. He recovered to break Medvedev's serve in the 11th game, then held serve for the win in the 12th.
The historic win unsurprisingly drew plenty of reaction from across the sports world, as it was Nadal's first Australian Open title since 2009 and set him apart from Federer and Djokovic in the Grand Slam race. Check out some of the best reactions from social media below:
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