'Heckin' remarkable': Rafa Nadal's insane 17-year record lauded
Rafa Nadal's Australian Open title marked his 21st major to take him to the top of the men's leaderboard, but he also continued another remarkable long-running feat.
Nadal turned around what appeared to be an un-winnable position to claim the Australian Open championship and his 21st grand slam title.
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Nadal prevailed in what has been described as the 'greatest comeback' in the Ope Era to defeat Daniil Medvedev 2-6, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in the Australian Open final.
The pair spent more than five hours on court with both gladiators mounting nearly 20 hours total during their Australian Open campaigns.
Following his title, Nadal can now say he has been involved in two of the longest men's grand slam finals, 2012 and 2022, which both occurred at Melbourne Park.
However, his 2022 Australian Open title means he can now boast at least two single titles per year since 2005.
Nadal has already achieved this stat in 2022 because he won the Melbourne Summer Set 1 in the lead-up to the Australian Open.
This record is remarkable considering Nadal's injury record and long-injury layoffs from the game since the beginning of his illustrious career.
One more Rafael Nadal stat for the road:
Every year since 2005, Nadal has won at least two tour-level singles titles.
That he has already extended this streak safely through 2022 before *January* ends is pretty heckin’ remarkable.— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 31, 2022
Rafa Nadal plans rest ahead of Roland Garros
Nadal, though, put paid to any thoughts of him slowing down in the jubilant aftermath to his record-setting 21st grand slam singles success.
"Of course, after this month of practising hard, playing very long matches, the foot was able to hold all this stress, of course I feel more confident that I going to have the chance to keep going, keep fighting, keep enjoying this beautiful sport," he said on Monday.
"That's what make me happy. I just feel confident now that I going to have my chances to keep playing tennis for a while, yeah."
The revelation is a far cry from just a month ago when the former World No.1 wondered if he'd even make it to Melbourne, or feared worse than that during his depressing time off court last year.
"My position is completely different," Nadal said.
"We were trying things. And for a long period of time without any success, with zero success.
"After all the things that I went through all my career, of course at my age the doubts are there.
"Knowing that you have an injury that you can't recover from that, of course the doubts are there. Mentally is much tougher."
Nadal plans to rest and recover before planning his next grand slam assault in Paris in may, where the claycourt colossus will shoot for a mind-boggling 14th Roland Garros crown.
with AAP
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