Rafael Nadal’s monumental win over Daniil Medvedev in yesterday’s U.S. Open men’s singles final was pure Rafa: Dominance, happenstance, hesitance, dominance.
Highlights:
The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay – as always – captured it perfectly.
Let’s be candid here: Nobody expected much from Medvedev. I don’t know if even Medvedev did. Nadal in a final—your first final!—is an absurdly hard ask. “[Nadal] plays like he’s broke,” Jimmy Connors told Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim before the match. Nadal may be a man who enjoys wearing a $775,000 Richard Mille watch, but he still scuffles like he’s trying to pay off the bill at the Red Roof Inn.
Everything else you need to know about Rafa you’ll find in his post-match press conference.
Rafa on how he adapts his game to his age: “I just think about how you can’t predict about life – this world and this life changes and you need to be for accept everything, so today is a day to enjoy.”
Watch the whole press conference. Rafael Nadal is not just an exceptional athlete. He’s just exceptional.
At the end of the fourth set, I was sure Nadal was tired and heading for defeat.
Yep – quite amazing . . .