NEW YORK — Rafael Nadal is a four-time U.S. Open champion, surviving a final test of nearly five hours. He won a 19th Grand Slam title, moving one shy of Roger Federer‘s record total for the first time.
Nadal outlasted resilient Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4. He improved to 209-1 when winning the first two sets of a five-set match.
“A crazy match, no?” Nadal said after he emotionally watched a video tribute going through his 19 majors. “The nerves were so high after having the match almost under control.”
Medvedev, trying to become the first man born in the 1990s to win a Slam, had one of the most impressive Grand Slam final debuts in defeat. The fifth seed nearly ended a run of 11 straight majors won among Nadal, Federer and Novak Djokovic. It could have been a turning point going into a new decade.
“In my mind I was already OK what do I say in the [runner-up] speech,” Medvedev said of his thoughts down a break in the third set. “Trying to give a fight but not really. … See how far it goes. It went far, but unfortunately it didn’t go my way.”
At 33, Nadal becomes the first man to win five Slams in his 30s. He did so after Federer, 38, and Djokovic, 32, exited the last Slam of the 2010s with injuries. It was on Nadal to extend the Big Three’s streak.
Who knows how much longer they will reign, but 2020 is shaping up to be special.
Federer must win the Australian Open in January, or Nadal can at least tie the record with a 13th French Open title in the spring. Nobody has had more success in Australia than seven-time champ Djokovic, who is still in the mix with 16 Slams.
“It’s a motivation, but it’s not my obsession,” Nadal said of the record chase after winning the French Open in June to move within two Slams of Federer for the first time. “You can’t be frustrated all the time because the neighbor has a bigger house than you or a bigger TV or better garden.”
Nadal is on a roll and looking healthier than his fellow living legends. He made the semifinals of all four Grand Slams this year for the first time since 2008, when he overtook Federer for the No. 1 ranking for the first time.
Medvedev, 23, bid for history, one day after Bianca Andreescu became the first woman born in the 2000s to lift a major trophy. It would have been a party-crashing way to end the decade and snap a streak of 61 straight men’s Slams won by 1980s babies.
Not to be for Medvedev, who became a villain of sorts this tournament, giving a covert middle finger to a chair umpire and drawing boos from the crowd all the way through his introduction Sunday. He did well to rally from a break down to win the third set. The crowd turned. It began chanting “Med-ve-dev.”
He came the closest of any man in the next generation to breaking through thus far. Medvedev’s previous longest Slam match was 3 hours, 54 minutes. Nadal, who had played five matches of 5:05 or longer, took control after the four-hour mark in the fifth set, breaking Medvedev twice in a row. Medvedev broke back one last time before Nadal extinguished him.
“The way you are playing is a big joke,” Medvedev said. “What you’ve done for tennis in general, I think a hundred million of kids watching you play want to play tennis.”
For Medvedev, taking three sets off Nadal was too much of a task after winning 20 matches since the end of Wimbledon (same amount as Nadal, Federer and Djokovic combined going into Sunday). When Nadal’s baseline game wasn’t working, he went to net. He serve-and-volleyed.
Ten years ago here, Argentine Juan Martin del Potro ended a streak of 18 straight majors won by the Big Three (17 by Federer and Nadal). It brought into question if a shift might start in the 2010s.
Each of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic lulled for a stretch over the next decade. Others broke through. But each of the Big Three pulled back from injury or a drop in form to win more Slams. Namely, all of them since the start of 2017. What Nadal said in June could be applicable for all of them.
“If, at the end of my career, I am able to win a couple of more Grand Slams and be closer to Roger, will be unbelievable,” he said. “If not, for me, still unbelievable, no?”
MORE: Roger Federer undecided on Olympics
OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!