Melbourne: Italy’s Matteo Berrettini meets Spanish legend Rafael Nadal in a rematch of their 2019 US Open last-four clash in the Australian Open semi-finals here on Friday.
As the clock ticks down for their second meeting in a Grand Slam semi-final, the question foremost in tennis fans’ minds is whether the Italian World No. 7 will be able to stop Nadal from inching closer to his 21st Grand Slam title. Nadal is tied with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic at 20 Grand Slam titles, the most in the history of men’s tennis. With Federer still recuperating from surgery and Djokovic deported from Australia for being unvaccinated, Nadal has a great chance of becoming the most successful player in Grand Slam history.
But Berrettini is hoping to be second time lucky and stop the Spanish star’s juggernaut on Friday.
In the second semi-final, Daniil Medvedev, will face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-finals for the second straight year, having topped the Greek star in the last four in 2021, 6-4, 6-2, 7-5. He’s now 6-2 against Tsitsipas, though his opponent has claimed two of their past three encounters, including a quarter-final clash last year at Roland Garros.
“I’m going to try to recover as well as possible, to be ready to play against Stefanos, because he’s a great player,” said Medvedev after his jailbreak win over five sets in the quarter final. “I need to be at my best to beat him.”
“I really want to win this match. I know I can do it. It’s going to be a really tough one, but I’m in the semis of a Slam for the third time, so it means that this is my level,” the 25-year-old Berrettini was quoted as saying on the ATP website.
Reflecting on his last-four match-up against Nadal in Flushing Meadows, Berrettini said it was then - even in defeat - that he truly began to believe he was capable of winning big titles.
“Before my semi at the US Open, I didn’t really think that I could have done so much. Not because I didn’t believe, but just because I came from a mentality that I took every step day by day,” he said. “I was never the guy who said, ‘I’m going to turn pro, then I’m going to win a Slam.’ Then, when I made the semis, I said, ‘I want to do it again. I want to try to go further.’”
Like Berrettini, Nadal needed five taxing sets to get through his quarter-final, edging Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, in four hours and seven minutes, a match that he said left him all but “destroyed”.
Chasing a record 21st major singles title, the 35-year-old Mallorcan should benefit from a two-day buffer between the quarters and semis.
“I think it’s important to have these two days off after a brutal match out there,” said Nadal, whose 2021 campaign was cut in half by a foot injury. The conditions were hard.”
