I'm not a tennis fan, I'm not a Nadal fan, nor a Medvedev fan, but I ended up getting involved enough to write this post. I DIDN'T watch the game, but I have watched tennis before and I'm familiar with some names.
It seems like Nadal's comeback was really just that, and an explosive one. With Federer not playing at all and Djokovic too, Nadal's pathway was clear to get the 21st Grand Slam men's singles title at the age of 35. He is the third oldest man to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era. Ken Rosewall was 37 at the 1972 Australian Open, Federer was 36 at the 2018 Australian Open; in other words, he is the youngest out of Rosewall, Federer and himself.
In addition, the game was in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, and Melbourne was the most locked down city in late 2021, 262 days, which translates to 37.4286 weeks or 8.61369 months. Nadal also contracted covid and also had had surgery. He himself said he had not practiced much and was unprepared and the win was unexpected and the most emotional he had ever played.
I'm glad Nadal and Medvedev were given chairs to sit on pretty soon after the ceremony started; I remember years ago after a game that lasted around 6 hours (I can't remember which), the poor tennis players, for some unknown ridiculous reason, were left standing on their aching feet until sense kicked in and both were given chairs. One of the poor men was trying to lean against/sit on the net.
I remember asking at the time why they couldn't just stop the game and start again the next day and was told you just have to keep playing, that's tennis. I was also coming from the point of view of the players health, they're tired and what do you do, just play when it's dark.
Out of interest I looked up the time limit or time limit rules for a tennis game and came across this, https://olympics.com/en/featured-news/longest-tennis-match-history-grand-slam-record : interesting and explains a bit more about what can be done for long tennis games.*
Reading about John Isner, I suppose one good thing about being recorded in general is if you have kids, you can show them proof you were a tennis player, the level you were playing at, the length of the game or whatever is being recorded, your music concert, your ballet performance etc.
It also got me thinking of a tennis player who helps others when they're injured and I found out he's Grigor Dimitrov.
Information on the final of the Men's singles in the Open Era of the Australian Open 2022.
Tennis tournament: Australian Open, Open Era, Men's singles
Year: 2022
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Date: 30th January until 31st January
Duration: 5 hours 24 minutes; start time: 7:30 pm, end time: 1:11 am
Players: Rafael Nadal vs Daniil Medvedev
Age: Nadal, 3 June 1986, 35 years old; and Medvedev, 11 February 1996, 25 years old; Nadal is 10 years older
Australian Open history: 21st year
Tennis history: Nadal has won the most Grand Slam men's singles titles, that is to say 21
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Sources: https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/rafael-nadal-21-stats-for-his-21st-grand-slam-title#:~:text=At%2035%2C%20he's%20the%20third,Australian%20Open%20at%20age%2036.
At 35, he's the third-oldest man to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era. Ken Rosewall won the 1972 Australian Open at age 37, while Federer won the 2018 Australian Open at age 36.
https://olympics.com/en/featured-news/longest-tennis-match-history-grand-slam-record
- A.M.
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