Glory awaits the Unstoppable Nadal

The Spaniard defeats Berrettini and will play for a record 21st Grand Slam against Medvedev, who beat Tsitsipas in four sets at Aus Open.

Rafael Nadal moved within one match of a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam men’s singles title by defeating Matteo Berrettini of Italy, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, in the semifinals of the Australian Open.

The sixth-seeded Nadal will face the No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s final. Medvedev also won in four sets on Friday, defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, But Medvedev’s victory was considerably more tempestuous than Nadal’s. After losing his serve in the ninth game of the second set and receiving a code violation for a visible obscenity, Medvedev shouted angrily at chair umpire Jaume Campistol for most of the changeover because he believed that Tsitsipas’s father was illegally coaching his son from the player box.

“Are you stupid? His father can talk every point?” Medvedev said from his chair, screaming “Look at me!” at the Spanish off i c i a l when Campistol turned his head back toward the court to try to defuse the situation.

It was an extraordinary outburst, and when Tsitsipas did eventually receive a warning for coaching early in the fourth set, he did not win another game as Medvedev accelerated to the finish. “Many times I lose the match because of this,” Medvedev said of his tantrum. “Lose concentration and too much energy, so as soon as I’ve done it, I was like that’s a big mistake.”

Tsitsipas smiled when asked about the outburst after the match. Tsitsipas, who has received several coaching violations in recent seasons, said he was not being coached on Friday even if he believes it should be allowed in men’s tennis. “I cannot hear anything when I’m playing and having the crowd be so loud every single point,” he said. “You have to have super hearing to be able to hear what your coach says.”

But Medvedev, who could face a fine after the match for his behavior, was able to refocus and take complete command of the semifinal. Sunday’s duel with Nadal will be a rematch of the grueling 2019 U.S. Open final that Nadal won in five sets.

Nadal, the 35-year-old Spanish star, is tied with his longtime rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic for the men’s record.

But neither Federer nor Djokovic played in this year’s tournament. Federer is still recovering from knee surgery and Djokovic, a ninetime Australian Open champion, was deported on the eve of the tournament after his visa was revoked by the Australian government and his appeal was rejected.

Nadal, the only member of the Big Three in Melbourne, has carried the torch surprisingly well after missing most of the second half of the 2021 season with a chronic foot problem that he said threatened his career. When he did return to action in late December for an exhibition in Abu Dhabi, he contracted the coronavirus and developed symptoms at home in Majorca, Spain before making the long trip to Australia.

But he won a warm-up tournament at Melbourne Park before the main event and has now swept through six more matches to reach his sixth and most unexpected Australian Open final.

He has won this title just once, beating Federer for the title in 2009. Since then, he has experienced plenty of tennis heartache in Rod Laver Arena: losing a 2012 final to Djokovic that went 5 hours 53 minutes, and another marathon to Federer in 2017 despite holding a 3-1 lead in the fifth set.

Now, he has a chance to set himself apart. “For me it’s all about the Australian Open more than anything else,” he said when asked about the prospect of winning No. 21. “I was lucky to win in 2009 but never thought about another chance in 2022.”