Rafael Nadal: First among the greats

The Spaniard showed what separates the great from the very good

As recently as in September, Rafael Nadal was in crutches after undergoing surgery to remedy a long-standing chronic injury in his left foot. He was in unbearable pain, which even made him contemplate retirement. Just four months later, he was holding up a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam trophy after beating World No 2 Daniil Medvedev (2-6, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5) in an epic Australian Open final that started on Sunday evening and ended in the early hours of Monday in Melbourne, lasting nearly five and a half hours. With this, Nadal broke away from his great rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, who are both tied on 20 majors. The triumph also atoned for his previous losses in the Australian Open which, until Sunday, had been his least successful among the four Slams. Before this season, he had made the final at the Melbourne Park on five occasions and succeeded only once. With two Australian Open trophies now in his decorated career, the Spaniard became only the second player in the Open era, after Djokovic, to have won each of the four Slams at least twice.

After losing the first two sets, and down 2-3 and 0-40 on serve in the third, the 35-year-old's weather-beaten body stood little chance against a sprightly Medvedev, a good 10 years younger. Or so we thought. But Nadal is a whole different beast. He is tennis' version of Muhammad Ali, someone who absorbs all the rival’s blows and then launches a brutal attack at the most opportune time. Just when one thinks he is down and out, he bounces back to sow seeds of doubts in his opponents. The left-hander's game appears a lot physical to go with his well-sculpted body, but it is as much about wit also. Somewhere in the third set, Nadal saw a small window of opportunity for a comeback. Medvedev was slowing down a bit and wasn't too happy with the partisan crowd that was rooting for Nadal. Medvedev's game cracked a bit and Nadal didn't need a second invitation. He packed more power and precision in his shots, got the first serves in more often than not and covered the court better and faster. Medvedev couldn't find a way to reverse the course of the match.

There was little to separate the two in terms of skill, but when it came to fortitude, Nadal enjoyed an edge. He remained unruffled by the weight of expectations from a boisterous crowd while Medvedev clearly got bogged down by the lack of it. Sport at this level is about wafer-thin margins and that's what separates the great from the very good.