Australian Open 2022 Final: Rafael Nadal vs Daniil Medvedev

Nadal or Med?


  • Total voters
    261
  • Poll closed .

I Am Finnish

Bionic Poster
comic-book-speech-bubble-swear-260nw-660664549.jpg
Youre happy that your favourite player has won congrats mate :)
 

brinkeguthrie

Hall of Fame
Just watched some extended highlights and I must say I've -never- seen a player do such an extreme whip-around with the racquet head as DM.
 

Rickenbacker4003

Hall of Fame
This is the match that Medvedev was supposed to win. The result of the match shows that he does not have the mentality of a champion. Almost everything played in his favor, surface, the worst grand slam for his opponents, a 2-0 lead on sets. Still, he was unable to take advantage of it. Never before in the history of tennis has the young generation been as clueless against old veterans at grandslams as Zverev + Tsitsipas + Medvedev & others.

Nadal won, but Djokovic would beat him if he could play. Last year's Djoker absolutely would not allow him to return to the match. This is the worst possible outcome for the GOAT debate, as it will always raise doubts.
Say what you want, but Nadal still had to win it and beat 7 players to achieve this title. He could’ve lost to Shapo or today. But he still went and got it. Doubts will always arise. Joker lost to Med a few months ago. So he had his chance and blew it. While what the Australian government did was appalling and devious, Nadal still had to go and win it. He had to beat the best player on tour at the moment and on his favorite surface.
 

bluetrain4

G.O.A.T.
OMFG. I stayed up until 5 and went to bed after Nadal lost the second set after having chances. I just didn't think he's have the capacity to beat Med from 0-2 down. I slept until 1 pm - just got up and saw this result. WTF. He really did it. I'll watch replay later.

Watched the extended highlights - Rafa down 3 break points early in the third; Rafa getting broken when serving for the match yet still winning. Crazy. I can't believe I missed that. Kudos, Rafa!
 

DSH

Talk Tennis Guru
Incredibly, I forgot another huge Nadal record:
The Spanish player won his twenty-first Major title in his sixty-third participation in these events.
Thus, the indomitable and formidable southpaw maintains a success rate of 33.3% every time he plays the Grand Slam tournaments.
It is a real eyesore on the part of Rafael Nadal!
:alien:
 

chicagodude

Hall of Fame

Honestly this makes me quite sad. He clearly feels crushed in his dreams of playing in front of a crowd that supports him by the crowd tonight being completely against him.
I feel for him because not only is he a great player with great personality, he seems like a nice (and funny) guy too.

But also I think he underestimates how many fans he has and how many people would like to see him win. Perhaps in a few days he will start to feel differently and realize that today were special circumstances that made the crowd so pro-Nadal (DCGS, #21, and just being Nadal who has always been superpopular).

I certainly ohpe so because it made me sad to see him talking so candidly about not wanting to dream anymore :(
 

DIMI_D

Hall of Fame
Guys what can I say, absolutely over the moon with the victory, been invested for decades in this journey and I got to see Rafa get 21 and lift the curse of AO. What a roller coaster, I hadn’t done my prediction here incase I jinxed him but even I gave up hope and midday through the 3rd said med in 3.. How wrong was I as Rafa never say die attitude, grit, tenacity and fortitude rewarded him and us diehard fans with to date was the most heartfelt and greatest victories! Vamos Rafa we love you BULL
 

MichaelNadal

Bionic Poster
Guys what can I say, absolutely over the moon with the victory, been invested for decades in this journey and I got to see Rafa get 21 and lift the curse of AO. What a roller coaster, I hadn’t done my prediction here incase I jinxed him but even I gave up hope and midday through the 3rd said med in 3.. How wrong was I as Rafa never say die attitude, grit, tenacity and fortitude rewarded him and us diehard fans with to date was the most heartfelt and greatest victories! Vamos Rafa we love you BULL

And you were there in person, no?
 

chatters

New User
Say what you want, but Nadal still had to win it and beat 7 players to achieve this title. He could’ve lost to Shapo or today. But he still went and got it. Doubts will always arise. Joker lost to Med a few months ago. So he had his chance and blew it. While what the Australian government did was appalling and devious, Nadal still had to go and win it. He had to beat the best player on tour at the moment and on his favorite surface.
Devious? you've got the wrong word there, not going to rehash it all, the Victorian government and tennis Australia made some mistakes but Djokovic faked covid just to play in a tennis tournament and was never allowed to come in without being vaccinated, what Djokovic did was devious.
 
V

Vamos Rafa Nadal

Guest
I like Medvedev enormously but he does need to stop calling others names and concentrate on his game. The best players don't sweat the small stuff. Hope he can figure this out. He was my second favorite of the 8 semi-finalists in this tournament.
 

Halba

Hall of Fame
Incredibly, I forgot another huge Nadal record:
The Spanish player won his twenty-first Major title in his sixty-third participation in these events.
Thus, the indomitable and formidable southpaw maintains a success rate of 33.3% every time he plays the Grand Slam tournaments.
It is a real eyesore on the part of Rafael Nadal!
:alien:
33.3% conversion rate. what about his conversion at the french. its like 81.25%. 13/16, 13 slams from 16 entries, 3 losses.

you have to back rafa especially at RG this year. the surface suits his game a lot more than AO does.

so he will likely end the goat debate for good at RG, 22 slams, 2 clear of the others.
 

Rickenbacker4003

Hall of Fame
Actually they protected the anti vaxxer Djokovic from their citizens. Djokovic lied to the government to be able to play, that's all coming out. What will tennis do about it?
He didn’t lie. He presented all the evidence to the Australian courts and he was released and free to play. Dictator Dan wanted to use him as a symbol of what they do to people who don’t comply to their tyrannical government. If you don’t comply, you see what we did to Novak? This was pure political theater. They even admitted that they sent him back because and I quote “he could be used as a symbol of freedom.”. I’m a Nadal fan from 2004 and I’ll tell you what they did to him was straight up dirty politics. 26 unvaccinated players were allowed to enter and play in Australia. So save me your bs “law breaking” fabricated story.
 

Rickenbacker4003

Hall of Fame
Devious? you've got the wrong word there, not going to rehash it all, the Victorian government and tennis Australia made some mistakes but Djokovic faked covid just to play in a tennis tournament and was never allowed to come in without being vaccinated, what Djokovic did was devious.
He didn’t fake anything, he presented all the documents to the Australian courts and the judges ruled to release him and let him play. But Dictator Dan couldn’t lose face so he took things into his own hands and sent him home based on absolutely nothing other than and I quote “Djokovic playing is danegerous because he can be seen as a symbol of free choice.”
 

NeutralFan

G.O.A.T.
Not just one marathon, Med navigated a very hard draw on the way to the final.

And Med is no Nadal when it comes to stamina, no one is.

Lie just lie. Djokovic is the ultimate Marathon man even at 35, it's not Nadal lol. Djokovic never get tired never, played nearly 8 hours back to back in Rome and said he could play for hours . Btw hypocrisy is glaring . 31.5 year old Nadal spent way more on court than 25 year old Med did. tough draw ? Yeah right . FAA , No return Stefano , Creesy are very tough draw. Med lost and it's nothing to Do with stamina , stop making excuses . Haters gave Nadal no chance and now they can suck it up , to them he was never great player .
 

Dolgopolov85

G.O.A.T.
Lie just lie. Djokovic is the ultimate Marathon man even at 35, it's not Nadal lol. Djokovic never get tired never, played nearly 8 hours back to back in Rome and said he could play for hours . Btw hypocrisy is glaring . 31.5 year old Nadal spent way more on court than 25 year old Med did. tough draw ? Yeah right . FAA , No return Stefano , Creesy are very tough draw. Med lost and it's nothing to Do with stamina , stop making excuses . Haters gave Nadal no chance and now they can suck it up , to them he was never great player .
He has himself to blame for making the FAA match tough in particular. We discussed pre match and the way he messed up the FAA match was what made me think he is not all that impressive in this tournament, tactically. And sure enough, he wasn't. Nadal was there for the taking and to say Med messed it up epically would be a massive understatement. If you can't win from 2 sets to none up with a 200ks serve at your beck and call, you should probably retire, lol.
 

NeutralFan

G.O.A.T.
He has himself to blame for making the FAA match tough in particular. We discussed pre match and the way he messed up the FAA match was what made me think he is not all that impressive in this tournament, tactically. And sure enough, he wasn't. Nadal was there for the taking and to say Med messed it up epically would be a massive understatement. If you can't win from 2 sets to none up with a 200ks serve at your beck and call, you should probably retire, lol.

tbh Serve was the only thing going for Med after the first set , he was average at best after first set in ground game and won second set because Rafa wa serving at 50% and he was serving more than 70% . Also, that's not my point . It's blatant hypocrisy to claim 31.5 Nadal was not tired after playing 4 Marathon back to back ( including marathon semi ) but 25 year old Dani was Who had a semi that lasted for only 3 hours . Dani was pushing pushing just pushing and serving bombs after first set and he paid the price once Nadal cleaned his BH and 1st serve % increased. Tbh Nadal should have won the second set , he was better player off ground but his low 1st serve percentage deserted him in 2nd set while he was serving for the set.
 

chatters

New User
He didn’t fake anything, he presented all the documents to the Australian courts and the judges ruled to release him and let him play. But Dictator Dan couldn’t lose face so he took things into his own hands and sent him home based on absolutely nothing other than and I quote “Djokovic playing is danegerous because he can be seen as a symbol of free choice.”
None of what you said was factual, had nothing to do with Dan. The positive test numbers don't match up, you honestly believe Djokovic was hanging out with kids and doing interviews while positive?. Even if you think the PCR tests weren't faked (which there's evidence) he was hanging out with kids while positive, he should be in trouble for that but Serbia will sweep the fake lab results under the table. If the border force let him speak to his people and interviewed him for the required time he would have been kicked out the first time. Get all the information before you start posting crap.
 

Dolgopolov85

G.O.A.T.
tbh Serve was the only thing going for Med after the first set , he was average at best after first set in ground game and won second set because Rafa wa serving at 50% and he was serving more than 70% . Also, that's not my point . It's blatant hypocrisy to claim 31.5 Nadal was not tired after playing 4 Marathon back to back ( including marathon semi ) but 25 year old Dani was Who had a semi that lasted for only 3 hours . Dani was pushing pushing just pushing and serving bombs after first set and he paid the price once Nadal cleaned his BH after second serve and 1st serve % increased. Tbh Nadal should have won the second set , he was better player off ground but his low 1st serve percentage deserted him in 2nd set while he was serving for the set.
Nadal also made really bad errors in both sets 1 and 2 which is what gifted Med those sets. Once he tightened up his game, Med didn't respond likewise and continued to coast along, bereft of initiative or aggression, just sending the ball back like a ball machine. By set 5, Nadal's lasso forehand was almost back to its vintage glory and Med had no chance. And yet, even so, Nadal choked badly serving it out the first time. And STILL, Med couldn't just do his job to make it 6-5. How bad can the supposed successor to the Big 3 be, lol?
 

MichaelNadal

Bionic Poster
Bruh. This is fn amazing.
Nadal a savage, can he actually do it?
Rafa!!!!! Simply amazing...
Yessir.

Attaboy
This is EPIC
Congratulations Rafa fans! This is an absolutely epic way of winning #21 and completing DCGS!
Gotta respect Nadal
5th set. unbelievable.

Remember that graphic during the match where the odds had gone down to 96% Med and 4% Nadal? What a dude!!!!

fried-rice-chinese-take-out-box-fast-food-732x549-thumbnail-732x549.jpg
 

zagor

Bionic Poster
Lie just lie. Djokovic is the ultimate Marathon man even at 35, it's not Nadal lol.

Novak started edging him out in the stamina department as they got older but I'd still give the overall edge to Nadal there.

Djokovic never get tired never, played nearly 8 hours back to back in Rome and said he could play for hours .

I've seen Novak get tired a number of times, 2013 Wimbledon F, 2015 FO F, 2013 USO F, 2012 AO F etc. etc.

Btw hypocrisy is glaring . 31.5 year old Nadal spent way more on court than 25 year old Med did.

Time spent on court is never accurately gauged when it comes to Nadal because he takes so much time on both the serve and the return.

Also Med does far more running than Nadal who dictates rallies much more and has overall suspect stamina. Med is a guy who up until last year never even won a 5 setter while Nadal is legendary for his marathon victories.

tough draw ? Yeah right . FAA , No return Stefano , Creesy are very tough draw. Med lost and it's nothing to Do with stamina , stop making excuses . Haters gave Nadal no chance and now they can suck it up , to them he was never great player .

Tsits beat Nadal at AO and FAA did play a great match. FAA performance was certainly comparable to Shapo and Tsits is definitely tougher than Berr (everyone is). Of course it's Med's fault he still struggled with the draw as much as he did, he was pretty far from his USO form last year where stormed through the draw.

As for excuses, Nadal fans never give credit to Fed (my fav player) for anything so I'll make as much excuses as I want, yes? I did pick Nadal to win, partly because I expected Med to hit the physical wall first given his questionable fitness and the fact that he struggled in almost every match.
 

NeutralFan

G.O.A.T.
Novak started edging him out in the stamina department as they got older but I'd still give the overall edge to Nadal there.



I've seen Novak get tired a number of times, 2013 Wimbledon F, 2015 FO F, 2013 USO F, 2012 AO F etc. etc.



Time spent on court is never accurately gauged when it comes to Nadal because he takes so much time on both the serve and the return.

Also Med does far more running than Nadal who dictates rallies much more and has overall suspect stamina. Med is a guy who up until last year never even won a 5 setter while Nadal is legendary for his marathon victories.



Tsits beat Nadal at AO and FAA did play a great match. FAA performance was certainly comparable to Shapo and Tsits is definitely tougher than Berr (everyone is). Of course it's Med's fault he still struggled with the draw as much as he did, he was pretty far from his USO form last year where stormed through the draw.

As for excuses, Nadal fans never give credit to Fed (my fav player) for anything so I'll make as much excuses as I want, yes? I did pick Nadal to win, partly because I expected Med to hit the physical wall first given his questionable fitness and the fact that he struggled in almost every match.

Just lol at for Nadal having more stamina than Djokovic. Saw us open 2011 4th set? Last year's semi FO? Shapo match? last year Tsisipas match ? BTW all the matches that you mentioned for Novak was not due to him gassing . Against Murray he came flat and Murray is a bad match for him on the grass .

If a player spent 5 hours more than another player going in to the final , had 4 marathon Back to back he is more tired than a dude who played a 3 hours match at semi and just a single marathon on his way to final and that too at 25. Jesus your hatred and bias is making you blind. You can rationalise it the way you want to cope but med was not tired at all in final .
 
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zagor

Bionic Poster
Just lol at for Nadal having more stamina than Nadal. Saw us open 2011 4th set? Last year's 4th FO? Shapo match? last year Tsisipas match ? BTW all the matches that you mentioned for Novak was not due to him gassing . Against Murray he came flat and Murray is a bad match for him on the grass .

As I said, Novak edged him out as he got older but overall I still give it to Nadal. Novak came out very flat in all of those matches after a 5 setter precisely because he was drained.

If a player spent 5 hours more than another player going in to the final , had 4 marathon Back to back he is more tired than a dude who played a 3 hours match at semi and just a single marathon on his way to final and that too at 25. Jesus your hatred and bias is making you blind. You can rationalise it the way you want to cope but med was not tired at all in final .

4 marathons back-to-back lol? What are you talking about, he destroyed Raonic and beat Monfils handily. He had a marathon in an early round and in a semi. So did his 5 year older opponent who was coming back from a knee surgery.

And again Med is a dude with very suspect fitness who up until very recently didn't have a single 5 set win. He even admitted he was getting tired in the USO final last year. Comparing him to any of the big 3 in the stamina department is nonsense.

It doesn't take away from Nadal's win, he himself was rusty, struggling to find his game and had a woeful 1st serve % and Med still couldn't take capitalize fully. Once Nadal found his range he might have beaten Med no matter what because even at 35 he's a much better overall player.
 
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