- Keen followers of Tennis would have been anything but happier as the events leading up to the commencement of the Australian Open (AO) were marred by raging controversy involving number one ranked player Novak Djokovic’s visa acceptance. The entire Tennis world watched with mixed emotions as the ugly incident unfolded on the back of Novak’s vaccination status eventually resulting in his deportation without participating in the first Grand Slam event of the year. Mind you, the Australian government had to act tough to assuage the public opinion against the vaccination exemption granted to the superstar.
PC: B&T MAGAZINE
- Of course, Novak did not do his cause any better by choosing to remain ambiguous about the vaccination status as well as overall view towards Covid-19 per se. Needless to mention, the Australian Open was in the news for all the wrong reasons as the game of Tennis hardly received the deserving attention which was consumed entirely by the unsavory row. Remember, Djokovic is playing at his prime best and was expected to triumph in the AO since two other superstars in the same mold viz. Spaniard Rafael Nadal, coming from the career-threatening foot injury, and Swiss Roger Federer, long sidelined courtesy knee surgery, were not expected to offer resistance.
- Add to it, all the three superstars were stranded at 20 career Grand Slams each and desperately looking forward to marching ahead. It appeared that Serbian Djokovic had an edge to break ahead leaving the other two to do the catching up. As things turned out, the Serbian’s unceremonious departure from the AO clearly provided an unexpected opportunity for Rafael Nadal to show his unmatched supreme skills. The Tennis world is quite familiar with Rafa Nadal’s never-say-die approach, resilience, fighting abilities, athleticism, grit, ominous presence, brutal firepower, and sheer mental strength to resurrect from seemingly down-in-the dumps scenarios.
PC: Nikolaus Fink
- There is any number of previous occasions when the Spaniard has risen like a proverbial phoenix to flatten his opponents. Note that just a few months back, Nadal was contemplating moving away from Tennis as the recurring foot injury evidently sapped his steely resolve. Rafa himself mentioned in no uncertain terms that he would have been happier for making his presence felt in the AO, leave alone going the distance. In a matter of a fortnight, Nadal proved his immeasurable worth by not only winning the AO open in a monster of a final showdown against Russian Daniil Medvedev lasting beyond 5 hours but also went ahead in the Grand Slam win counts leaving behind Federer and Djokovic.
- And what a final it turned out to be. Down two opening sets to eventually win the final is nothing short of a miracle which only a player like Nadal could have achieved. No encomiums and peans will suffice to describe the way Nadal overturned the final in his favor. Does this win make Rafael Nadal the GOAT (Greatest of All-Time)? The statistics vouch for the same and he is still left with loads of gas in the tank to further consolidate the numbers. Realistically speaking, only Novak can race ahead of Rafa and that’s in the future. Till then, let us celebrate Rafa Nadal’s inspirational achievements in true sportsman spirits.
