Nadal one step away from most improbable triumph

MELBOURNE: Almost five months after Rafael Nadal posted a photograph of himself on crutches after a medical procedure, the 35-year-old Spanish great is within range of his most improbable triumph.

Nadal, who will play Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final on Sunday, will become the first man to win 21 Grand Slam titles if he defeats the Russian in Melbourne.

On the court alone, it is an immense task.

Medvedev is a decade younger. He is a dominant player on hard courts and also won their most recent clash at the ATP Finals in 2020.

"If I'm not able to play at my top level, (I) simply will be no chance," Nadal said.

But the fact that he has a chance at all is remarkable when one considers a photograph of Nadal from September on the day Medvedev was booking a spot in the US Open final.

Nadal posted a picture of himself on September 11 leaning on crutches after treatment on a foot that has hindered him since he was a teenager.

On the same day, his great rival Novak Djokovic moved to within one win of completing the calendar Grand Slam with a five-set triumph over Alexander Zverev at Flushing Meadows.

Certainties do not exist in sport. But the odds that it would be Nadal instead of Djokovic being the first to 21 major titles seemed a distant prospect at very best that day.

The march of Djokovic appeared inexorable at a time when there were significant doubts about Nadal and the still sidelined Roger Federer ever regaining peak fitness and form.

Only Medvedev could have stopped the Serbian from taking Manhattan and marching into Melbourne, which had been at Djokovic's mercy for much of the past decade, seeking major title number 22.

The twist in the script since September 11 would seem too absurd for even a fantasist to consider.

Djokovic would be denied by Medvedev in straight sets in New York and then deported from Australia ahead of his title defence in Melbourne Park.

Nadal, after also falling ill with COVID-19 in December, would manage to return fit and firing at the Grand Slam where he has endured the most problems in his career. Agencies

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