Sixth final in Australia, 29th in a Grand Slam. One step away from the world record of 21 ‘big’. Rafa Nadal deserves a monument and it is a monument in itself. A relic that time wears down like its tarsal Scaphoid Degenerate, but that continues to look brilliant, resisting fading. Nadal plays on the edge, but he has already seen the abyss many times in his career and has always resisted falling. To understand the magnitude of the feat, you have to read the interview with Carlos Moyá, a technician and above all a friend: “Rafa told us: ‘Let’s go to the top, and if I break, I break.”
Moyá says that a few months ago “there were times when Rafa didn’t feel like a player.” in which, with 34 years old and everything done, it would have been justifiable to throw in the towel and dedicate yourself to taking care of your foot. They tested in Abu Dhabi and decided to test in Australia. And with the heat of battle, the head has pulled the body as on other occasions. Without Djokovic, involved in an existential fight with a difficult exit, and a Federer who is 40 years old and has been away from the track for too many months, Rafa’s hunting spirit has been revived in Australia. It could be the time of the young (Zverev, Berrettini, Rublev, Shapovalov, Aliassime, Sinner, Hurkacz, Khachanov, Fritz, incluso Alcaraz...), but the one who is still standing is him. And playing for history, it will be difficult to knock down. Monuments, although time makes them fragile, are always there to remind us of human greatness. The same greatness of Nadal.