As Rafael Nadal initiated another run at the Australian Open this year, he was as curious about how well his game and body would serve him as anyone else. He had endured a six-month layoff due to a chronic foot injury, a tough bout with Covid at precisely the wrong time and he arrived in Melbourne having barely spent time on-court in the preceding few weeks. The hope, he said, was that he would keep himself in the tournament long enough to keep on improving.
On Tuesday afternoon he maintained his spot in the tournament but only by the narrowest of margins and it took all that he had. He led Denis Shapovalov by two sets, only for the Canadian to courageously pull Nadal all the way back into a desperate fifth set. After four long hours, Nadal rose to win 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 and reach his seventh semi-final at the Australian Open.
Immediately after his victory, Nadal was asked how he managed to turn the match around. He shook his head: “I don’t know, honestly,” he said. “I was completely destroyed after that. Very tough day, very warm. Honestly, I didn’t practice for this. I was a little lucky at the beginning of the fifth. At the beginning of the match I was playing great, then I know how difficult it is to play against a player like Denis. He’s very talented, very aggressive. He was serving huge, especially the second serve.”
Nadal was extremely sharp from the beginning as he took hold of the match. He served well from the early stages, he found a high number of forehands and dominated with it from the middle of the court. Throughout the first two sets, Nadal took a more economical approach to his return games, continually mixing up his positioning and spending much time receiving second serves from on top of the baseline.
Across the net, the Canadian exhibited all of the worst parts of his game in the first two sets. He was erratic and unreliable, spraying three consecutive forehand errors in his second service game to hand over the break and he complemented Nadal’s excellent serving with dire returns. Early in the second set, Shapovalov directed his frustration at the time Nadal took between points. After an argument with the umpire, Carlos Bernardes, he turned around and shouted: “You guys are all corrupt.”
As Nadal continually pushed Shapovalov to 30-30 and deuce on his service games, the match seemed to be edging towards its climax. But throughout the third set, Shapovalov showed his toughness, digging out gritty holds with bold shotmaking and continually pumping himself up. It was instead Nadal’s serve that began to crumble. While Shapovalov took control of the baseline, Nadal double faulted four times in the third set. Then, under more pressure, Nadal promptly gave the decisive break away at 2-1 in the fourth set with a double fault.
The momentum was flying in Shapovalov’s direction and he began to hold serve with ease. Nadal called the physio onto the court and they appeared to evaluate him for stomach issues. Nadal took some tablets and then continued, but Shapovalov responded with bold, excellent serving to turn the game around, closing off the set with an unreturned second serve.
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The final set began with an intermission, as Nadal received further medical evaluation off the court before taking a bathroom break. When he returned, Shapovalov’s stinging shots continued to fly through the court and Nadal immediately faced a breakpoint at 30-40. He saved it with an unreturned serve and held firm.
The decisive moment came at 1-0 in the final set as Shapovalov capitulated on his serve. He opened with two forehand errors, then he struck a double fault to trail 0-40, eventually giving away the break with a shanked backhand error. He ended the fifth set with 13 unforced errors to Nadal’s five. Despite his service woes, his apparent physical issues and a much younger, hungry opponent across the net, Nadal held onto his serve throughout the set and he moved on to reach his first Australian Open semi-final since 2019.
As he soaked in his victory, Nadal reflected on his journey over the past few months. From questioning his future in the game, he is now a grand slam semi-finalist once more and two wins from his 21st major title. “The real true is that two months ago we didn’t know if we would be able to be back on tour, at all,” he said. “So, here I am. For me, it is a present of life that I am playing tennis again.”