Nadal: “This is a semi-miracle”

Tennis does not grant respite, so now it is ephemeral and the margin to celebrate a victory, or in the case of Rafael Nadal his sixth pass to the final of the Australian Open, is so narrow that it hardly allows success to be savored. Aware that the finals begin to be played from the moment the last point is obtained in the previous round, the champion of 20 majors (6-3, 6-2, 3-6 and 6-3 against Italian Matteo Berrettini) He rushed this Friday to complete his post-match recovery and attend to journalists to go as quickly as possible to his hotel, the Crown in Melbourne. There, he and his team continued without taking their eyes off what was happening in the other semifinal, in which Daniil Medvedev made the pass (7-6, 4-6, 6-4 and 6-1 to Stefanos Tsitsipas).

In any case, Nadal, 35, once again stressed that what has been achieved these two weeks in Australia is something that

did not enter into his plans.

"Completely unexpected," he detailed.

Always ambitious, this time his will collided with the uneven reality lived in the last six months, summed up in the scourge of Muller-Weiss syndrome - the chronic injury that affects his left foot - almost half a year without competing, endless of doubts and, to top it off, a contagion by coronavirus that was close to truncating his transfer to the Antipodes.

A sustained race with safety pins.

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“It has been a very tough six months.

Not in comparison to many other people because of everything that is happening in the world, but in personal terms, because the doubts will always be there.

I have what I have, and it is not going to be solved.

It's amazing that I can be competing again against the best in the world.

A month and a half ago I didn't know if I was going to play again because we weren't able to solve the problems, but here I am.

I give thanks to life”, expressed in English the finalist, who previously played in Melbourne the finals of 2009 (champion), 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2019.

“I will always give my best and of course I always fight to win, but for me this is a gift.

Being where I am and competing at the level I am competing at supposes a great energy to continue”, continued the man from Manacor.

“For me it is much more important to have had the opportunity to play tennis again than to win the 21st, another Grand Slam.

In the end, life is about happiness.

I can't explain it in words”, he added tiredly, admitting that in the last stretch of the duel with Berrettini his reservations decreased –“I'm not used to this pace and I was getting tired”– and emphasizing his career in the tournament.

From end to end, the oldest

“I have played well most of the time.

For me it is a particularly exciting success.

I have played with a positive attitude, without complaining about anything.

Before starting the tournament I said it: things were not going to be perfect, but in general, there have been many more good moments than bad.

In the end, here we are.

It is a semi-miracle, which does not take away the desire to make one last effort”, he commented, already becoming the tennis player with the greatest difference between his first and last final in a Grand Slam: 17 years (2005-2022), for the 16 of Roger Federer (2003-2019), Andre Agassi's 15 (1990-2005), Novak Djokovic's 14 (2007-2021) and Pete Sampras's 12 (1990-2002).

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Asked about the meaning of Sunday's game and the significance in the case of winning the twenty-first

, Nadal said he is facing this last process with less pressure.

What is at stake against Medvedev?

“I play a Grand Slam”, came out spontaneously, in the form of an abbreviation.

"I don't know if it will be my last chance.

A short time ago it seemed that there would be no other, but now we are here.

I understand that you are interested in the issue of who is the best in history;

I understand it and I am not a stranger, it would be very nice and I would be very excited, but I do not think it will change my life, ”she added.

“But not even winning on Sunday will mean that he is the best in history.

It would be a step, but from 20 to 21 it doesn't change that much, ”he settled.

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