Nadal and Medvedev Will Play in Australian Open Final

MELBOURNE, Australia —Rafael Nadal moved within one match of a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam men’s singles title by defeating Matteo Berrettini of Italy, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, in the semifinals of the Australian Open.

The sixth-seeded Nadal will face the No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s final, the latest clash between the old guard and new wave in men’s tennis.

Medvedev also won in four sets on Friday, defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, But Medvedev’s victory was considerably more tempestuous than Nadal’s. After losing his serve in the ninth game of the second set and receiving a code violation for a visible obscenity that he said was misinterpreted, Medvedev shouted angrily at chair umpire Jaume Campistol for most of the changeover, suggesting that Tsitsipas’s father was illegally coaching his son from the player box.

“Are you stupid? His father can talk every point?” Medvedev said from his chair, screaming “Look at me!” at the Spanish official when Campistol turned his gaze back toward the court to try to defuse the situation.

It was an extraordinary outburst, a flashback to combustible champions of the past like John McEnroe. Medvedev said after the match that he regretted the way he has sometimes treated chair umpires.

“I regret it all the time, because I don’t think it’s nice,” he said. “I know that every referee is trying to do their best. But, yeah, when you are there, tennis, you know, we don’t fight with the fists, but tennis is a fight. It’s a one on one against another player. So I’m actually really respectful to players who never, almost never show their emotions because, I mean, it’s tough, it’s tough, because I get, I can get really emotional.”

Medvedev said he could not be certain that Apostolos Tsitsipas was coaching his son. He said all he could hear was his commentary during the match in Greek, which Medvedev does not speak. But tournament officials soon stationed Greek umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore in a tunnel within earshot of the players’ box. When Tsitsipas eventually received a warning for coaching early in the fourth set, he did not win another game, and Medvedev accelerated to the finish.

“Many times I lose the match because of this,” Medvedev said of his tantrum. “Lose concentration and too much energy, so as soon as I’ve done it, I was like that’s a big mistake.”

Tsitsipas, who has said in the past that his relationship with Medvedev is frosty, smiled when asked about Friday’s outburst.

“It’s for sure funny,” he said. “I don’t pay attention to this stuff. Players like to do this stuff to throw you off mentally. Could be maybe a tactic. It’s all right. He’s not the most mature person.”

Tsitsipas, who has received several coaching violations in recent seasons, said he was not being coached on Friday even if he believes it should be allowed in men’s tennis. “I cannot hear anything when I’m playing and having the crowd be so loud every single point,” he said.

He said that he had spoken with his father to try to stop him from talking during his matches. “My father, look, he’s a person that when he gets into something when there is a lot of action, his medicine is to talk, and you can’t stop it,” Tsitsipas said. “It’s something that he does from nature. I’ve talked to him about it. I’ve tried.”

Medvedev, who could be fined for his comments to Campistol, said he has been working on himself, as well, after losing his temper regularly in his early years. He showed zen-master composure in his second-round defeat of Australian Nick Kyrgios last week with Kyrgios egging on the crowd, but Friday was a step back.

“In the heat of the moment, I just lost it,” he conceded.

Sunday’s duel with Nadal will be a rematch of the grueling 2019 U.S. Open final that Nadal won in five sets. Nadal, the 35-year-old Spanish star, is tied with his longtime rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic for the men’s record.

But neither Federer nor Djokovic played in this year’s tournament. Federer is still recovering from knee surgery and Djokovic, a nine-time Australian Open champion, was deported on the eve of the tournament after his visa was revoked by the Australian government and his appeal was rejected.

Nadal, the only member of the Big Three in Melbourne, came through Djokovic’s half of the draw and has carried the torch surprisingly well after missing most of the second half of the 2021 season with a chronic foot problem. When he did return to action in late December for an exhibition in Abu Dhabi, he contracted the coronavirus and developed symptoms at home in Majorca, Spain before making the long trip to Australia.

But he won a warm-up tournament at Melbourne Park before the main event and has now swept through six more matches to reach his sixth and most unexpected Australian Open final. He was in tears on court after the victory and said he had discussed the possibility of retirement with his family last year.

“This is a success that is particularly emotional,” Nadal said. “It means so much to me, perhaps because it’s so unexpected.”

He has won this title just once, beating Federer for the title in 2009. Since then, he has experienced plenty of tennis heartache in Rod Laver Arena: losing a 2012 final to Djokovic that went 5 hours 53 minutes, and another marathon to Federer in 2017 despite holding a 3-1 lead in the fifth set.

Now, he has a chance to set himself apart.

“For me it’s all about the Australian Open more than anything else,” he said when asked about the prospect of winning No. 21. “I was lucky to win in 2009 but never thought about another chance in 2022.”

Nadal now has a 2-0 record against Berrettini, the strapping 25-year-old Italian who has a big serve and heavy forehand and plenty of charisma, but also has a comparatively weak backhand that Nadal exploited repeatedly.

Berrettini had no break points on Nadal’s serve until the eighth game of the third set, but with Nadal serving at 3-4, Berrettini sprinted to his right and hit a forehand passing shot winner down the line that appeared to surprise both men. Nadal was soon serving at 0-40 and two points later, Berrettini was able to break him for the first time, slapping a forehand winner.

He then served out third set, baring his teeth to his support team as he strutted past Nadal to his chair before the fourth set.

“He’s a very solid player, very dangerous,” Nadal said. “And in the third, I knew at some point he is going to go for the shots. I didn’t play a good game with my serve at 3-4, but he played some great shots. The passing shot down the line was unbelievable.”

But the patterns of play were still in Nadal’s favor as he continued to focus his attacks on Berrettini’s backhand. The Italian did hit a two-handed winner to get to 15-30 on Nadal’s serve in the opening game of the fourth set, but Nadal won a cat-and-mouse exchange on the next point as Berrettini missed a backhand slice off a good drop shot.

Though Berrettini kept hustling and ripping through his forehands, he could not sustain his comeback, losing his serve in the eighth game of what turned out to be the final set.

“We need to suffer, and we need to fight,” Nadal said, summing up his philosophy over his nearly 20-year career. “That’s the only way I am where I am today.”

Both Federer and Djokovic have taken aim at No. 21 in a Grand Slam final and missed. Federer had two match points on his serve against Djokovic in the 2019 Wimbledon final and failed to convert. Djokovic faced Medvedev in last year’s U.S. Open final and lost in straight sets.

Now it is Nadal’s turn, even as he continues to say that finishing ahead of Federer and Nadal in the Grand Slam chase is not his obsession or priority.

“Being very honest, for me is much more important to have the chance to play tennis than win the 21, no?” he said.

But a second Australian Open title would certainly be most welcome. He is the fifth oldest man to reach the singles final here in the Open era and like Federer, who was 35 when he won in 2017, Nadal is coming back from an injury layoff and playing with freedom and lower expectations than usual.

He had the staying power and desire to hold off Denis Shapovalov in a five-set quarterfinal in the heat. After two days to recuperate, he had the skill set and precision to hold off Berrettini under a closed roof on Friday with the rain pelting down on Melbourne during the match.