Opinion
Stefanos Tsitsipas has beaten the king of comebacks himself, Rafa Nadal, to win an epic clash at the Australian Open.
Surely this will and should go down as one of the best matches in recent memory.
Tsitsipas did to the champion fighter, Nadal, what Nadal himself has done so often unto others – not giving up till the last point, coming back from the brink of defeat and finally landing the killer punch, and of course winning.
Tsitsipas’ win is even more special because Nadal’s quality never dipped through the match, it was pristine for the most of it, and often in the first two sets, Tsitsipas had no answers for it and he duly lost the sets.
That’s what makes this comeback even more breathtaking.
Rafa made precisely two errors in the entire first three sets – missing two overhead smash winners, but those came at a crucial time and proved costly as it came in the third set tiebreak, enabling Tsitsipas to escape with a set when his confidence wore thin and he looked all ready to leave the Arena.
And just like that, the momentum swung.
Confidence is a strange thing in Tennis. It often evaporates when you least expect it to. It can very easily switch sides.
Rafael Nadal (Lev Radin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Rafa losing the third set was so unexpected that the legend himself seemed to have come unstuck momentarily. Tsitspas capitalised, roared and mounted a comeback of epic proportions from that point on. Confidence had switched sides as Tsitsipas made winners at will.
His serves were menacing, his groundstrokes breathtaking and he matched Rafa toe to toe in quality, groundstrokes, serves and most importantly the never-say-die spirit. He then bettered it in moments that warranted it.
The young challenger’s never-say-die spirit did halt Rafa’s indomitable will to win. He broke Rafa in the fourth set at 4-4 and then in the deciding set at 5-5. With ‘Tsi’ serving for the match, Rafa’s fighting spirit did rekindle again and again as it did for much of the fifth set, only to be firmly doused by his opponent’s refusal to wilt.
Ultimately Tsitsipas completed a comeback for the ages after being two sets down against one of the greatest fighters the game has seen.
He refused to wilt, he refused to give up, he brought his fighting spirit to the fore. Even Rafa, the king of comebacks and the epitome of the never-say-die spirit could do nothing about it.
Maybe the Change of Guard has well and truly begun.
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