"He had the experience of losing tough matches against Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer - I think that helped him" - Alex Corretja on Rafael Nadal's AO triumph
Alex Corretja believes Rafael Nadal's experience of losing tough Australian Open finals to Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer helped him beat Daniil Medvedev in this year's title match. The two-time Roland Garros runner-up also feels his compatriot will be "super difficult to beat" at the 2022 French Open.
Nadal downed World No. 2 Medvedev 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 on Sunday to claim a second Australian Open crown and record 21st men's Major title. Lasting five hours and 24 minutes, the contest was the second longest Grand Slam final in history.
The longest ever Major final saw Djokovic outlast the Mallorcan in a five-hour-and-53-minute epic at the 2012 Australian Open. Nadal led 4-2, 30-15 in the fifth set of that clash, before his Serbian rival battled back and edged the decider 7-5.
Australian Open Final
#OnThisDay in 2012:
🇦🇺 Australian Open Final
⚔️ Djokovic d. Nadal 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-7 7-5
⏱ 5 hours 53 minutes
The greatest Grand Slam final ever?
@DjokerNole @RafaelNadal #AusOpen https://t.co/lmvmxS96jx
The great Spaniard also led Federer 3-1 in the final set of the 2017 Australian Open title match, before the Swiss won five straight games to take the crown.
Speaking to Eurosport, Corretja expressed his view that those difficult past final losses in Melbourne helped Nadal come through this time against Medvedev.
“He had the experience of losing tough matches against Novak and Roger - I think that helped him," said Corretja. "Because he had that feeling, that experience from the past, somehow he knew that he needed to go until the end."
The former World No. 2 feels the Spaniard's triumph was a result of how hard he has worked to improve as a player since childhood.
"The fact that he was losing two sets to love showed that he is someone different, he's got something in his mind that he will never give up," Corretja continued. "And this is not about the match yesterday, this is about 25, 30 years working on becoming a better player - and then, when the moment arrives, you are ready. Otherwise it's impossible to achieve that."
Corretja also asserted that the victory will be a huge boost to the 35-year-old ahead of the French Open - where he is a 13-time champion. The 17-time ATP tour titlist thinks the World No. 5 will be very hard to stop in Paris.
"I have no doubt that for Rafa this is unbelievable motivation for the present and for the future," the Spaniard said. "For Rafa to win the Australian Open, it should give him some fresh air to go into Roland Garros and make a good schedule to get there the best he can. He doesn't need to play 10 more tournaments before Roland Garros."
"He only needs to choose exactly where he wants to be and how he's going [to] get to Roland Garros in the perfect condition to win another major," Corretja added. "I think if he is in good shape, it's going to be super difficult to beat him, but there are still many months to go and we need to go day by day, step by step, because tennis has shown us that everything can change in one point.”
"It was very surprising and shocking that Rafa Nadal was able to turn it around and win in five sets" - Alex Corretja
Alex Corretja also admitted he did not expect Rafael Nadal to prevail after dropping the first two sets against Daniil Medvedev in Sunday's Australian Open final.
"The level of both players was very high and you can see that it was very difficult for Rafa to hurt Medvedev’s game," Corretja said. "That's why I had some doubts that Nadal would have the chance to come back. Daniil was showing no weaknesses on the court, serving great, moving well, mentally focused and he knew what he needed to do to win. That's why for me, it was very surprising and shocking that Rafa was able to turn it around and win in five sets."
It was the first time Nadal had recovered from two sets down to win a Grand Slam final. He had not won a match after losing the opening two sets since beating Mikhail Youzhny at Wimbledon in 2007.
All slam matches where Rafa Nadal went two sets to love down since beating Mikhail Youzhny in Wimbledon 2007 to defeating Daniil Medvedev in #AusOpen final.
Source: Tennis Abstract https://t.co/saUfylEvHs