Rafael Nadal vs. Daniil Medvedev Australian Open Final Preview (Sunday, January 30, 2022)

It’s been 13 years since Rafael Nadal won his first and (so far) only Australian Open. His chance of adding another title to the collection comes on Sunday, January 30, when he plays with Daniil Medvedev in the Men’s Singles final of the 2022 tournament.

The Russian player, who is 10 years Nadal’s junior, is still without an Australian Open title, although he did come close to winning it last year. In 2021, we saw him cruising to the final where he lost to Novak Djokovic.

With Novak out of the picture, maybe now it’s time for Medvedev to shine? Oddsmakers surely think so, as you can see in the section below.

Rafael Nadal is taking on Daniil Medvedev in the final of the 2022 Australian Open. The two meet for the fifth time in history, with Nadal leading the series 3-1. However, their most recent clash saw Medvedev winning.

Online tennis sportsbooks think he’ll do it again. If he does it, he’s going to get to the top of the ATP Rankings, which seems like more than enough of motivation for the Russian to give his utmost on Sunday.

Nadal too has the motivation to win this match. If he beats Medvedev, he will win his 21^st Grand Slam tournament, leaving behind his two biggest foes – Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – who have 20 major titles each.

Nadal has a fantastic chance to get an upper hand over the other members of the Tennis Big 3 in the GOAT debate. If he beats Medvedev, he will become the player with the most Grand Slam titles in the history of the sport.

All three of them – Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic – have 20 trophies each, but only Nadal is taking part in the 2022 Australian Open. Federer withdraw due to fitness problems, while Djokovic got his Australian visa canceled a few days before the start of the tournament.

Still, even without the two GOAT candidates, the 2022 Australian Open has been a pretty difficult competition. Nadal has already played some really tough matches, but his toughest so far is going to be the final.

The highest-ranked player Nadal’s defeated in this year’s tourney is Matteo Berrettini, who entered the tournament as the world #7. Nadal, who’s two spots above him in the ATP Rankings had no major problems defeating him. He won 3-1 (6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3) in two hours and 55 minutes.

When Djokovic got kicked out of Australia, Medvedev became the #1 favorite to win the 2022 Australian Open. The pre-tournament odds on him were as short as +140. In comparison, Nadal was priced at +600.

So far, Medvedev’s been justifying the favorite role. After all, he’s made it to the final. Still, it’s fair to say that the potential world no.1 hasn’t been too impressive on the court.

For instance, Medvedev won only two of his six Australian Open matches in straight sets. He did it against Henri Laaksonen (ATP no. 91) and Botic Van De Zandschulp (ATP no. 57).

When he played against ATP Top 10 opponents, he struggled quite a lot. In the quarterfinal, for example, Medvedev had to spend four hours and 42 minutes to beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 3-2 (6-7, 3-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-4).

He also didn’t have an easy time in the semifinal. Despite beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 3-1 (7-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1), Medvedev was visibly nervous throughout the match. We even saw him yelling at the umpire at one point, calling him stupid.

Medvedev to chair umpire: "Are you stupid? His father can talk every point! Can his father talk every point? How can you be so bad in a Grand Slam semi-final? How are you not giving a coaching violation to him?"pic.twitter.com/qiM6TQZFSR

— Firstpost Sports (@FirstpostSports) January 28, 2022

The incident in the semifinal wasn’t the first time that we saw Medvedev being offensive. After the Round 2 match with Aussie player Nick Kyrgios, Medvedev slammed the fans who were booing him, saying they had “low IQ”.

That said, you can be sure that the Melbourne crowd will be rooting for Medvedev’s rival on Sunday.

At the age of 35, Nadal probably isn’t going to get too many chances to win another major. This is why winning the 2022 Australian Open is a must for the Spanish superstar. The problem is that physically, he’s inferior to his Russian rival.

Nadal is coming off an injury-plagued season that saw him win just two titles – neither of which were Grand Slams.

He did start the year with a win at the ATP Melbourne, but the question is does he have enough stamina to play against such a marathon man as Medvedev? Well, he’ll have his fans to cheer him on, which could be the key to success.  

If you also think Nadal is going to win, maybe putting some money on him wouldn’t be a bad idea. After all, the odds look really awesome, especially if you go to 10Bet. This online sportsbook is giving +175 on Nadal.