WHAT HAPPENED: Rafael Nadal prevented one of the most remarkable comebacks in tennis history to win his 19th career Grand Slam title, and his fourth US Open crown. After nearly five hours of drama in Arthur Ashe Stadium, the Spaniard survived an inspired effort from Russian No. 5 seed Daniil Medvedev, 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, in the 2019 men's singles final.
After leading by two sets and a break, Nadal found himself facing three break points in his opening service game of the deciding set. He saved all three, then edged back in front—this time for good—when a backhand winner punctuated a 28-ball rally on break point for 3-2. The tension persisted until the last ball, as Nadal saved a break point in his final service game.
As Nadal found championship form on Sunday, Medvedev, known for his on- and off-court smarts, had plenty of answers in the face of the ultimate examination.
"The way you are playing is a big joke," an endearing Medvedev told Nadal during the trophy ceremony. "It's very tough to play against you."
The match followed a similar pattern to Nadal's quarterfinal and semifinal wins, until Medvedev's late challenge flipped the script. Full of belief and energy, the challenger troubled the champion in the opening set. But once the Spaniard edged in front, he took over the match, his bulldog mentality leaving no avenue of escape in New York.
Then, with Nadal three games away from the trophy, the story of this final was upended. No longer the finale of a tennis trilogy, it finished as a standalone US Open epic. Medvedev made an inspired stand in set three. From 2-3, he won five of the next seven games, including a 10-point service game that featured 28- and 17-ball rallies, and ultimately broke Nadal behind a pair of winners to snatch the set.
Medvedev's second wind nearly blew Nadal over, but after dropping the fourth, the Spaniard steadied at the last moment, never letting his opponent take an overall lead in the match. His first break in the final set came after Medvedev led, 40-love. In the final game, and his second attempt to serve for the title, Nadal escaped 15-30 and 30-40 before collapsing in glory.
Nearly five hours earlier, at the start of the match, it took just two points for Nadal to bring the crowd to their feet, when—for the second time this fortnight—he roped an around-the-net winner from outside the doubles alley on his forehand side.
But Medvedev was impressive early, creating a break point on Nadal's opening service game and then converting on another in the match's third game for an early lead.
Dressed in a sleeveless black shirt with a purple headband and wristbands, the 33-year-old was off-color at the start of the match. Some credit for that must go to the Russian, whose unorthodox game and 6-foot-6 frame temporarily flummoxed Nadal. His looping forehands lacked their usual venom, and on the balls he did kick to the Medvedev backhand, the 23-year-old used his height to comfortably—and sometimes aggressively, with flamboyant jumping ground strokes—push back.
Still, Nadal managed an instant break back and won eight of 10 points following the first changeover, as he slowly worked his way through the gears. Medvedev survived 12- and 14-point service games on the way to 5-all, but serving to stay in the set, he succumbed to some next-level stuff from Nadal.
As the match wore on, Nadal fine-tuned his assault, dialing in from the baseline with the height and spin he's famous for. His returns—some chipped, some looped—edged closer to the baseline, putting the Russian under unrelenting pressure.
After escaping a love-40 hole in the fourth game of set two, Medvedev yielded a break to 15, and Nadal comfortably served out.
It looked like more of the same in set three, until the Russian's late heroics turned a foregone conclusion into a five-set epic. After struggling early in the decider, Nadal opened up a two-break lead. He needed both, as Medvedev introduced one last plot twist, breaking on Nadal's first attempt at serving out the championship.
"It has been an amazing final," Nadal said, on the podium. "It seems that I had, more or less, the match under control."
Meanwhile, Medvedev admitted to letting his thoughts wander to his post-match speech after falling behind by a break in the third set.
WHAT IT MEANS: In the "global perspective," to borrow a phrase Nadal used in his semifinal press conference, it means that the Spaniard has 19 Grand Slam singles titles—one shy of Roger Federer's record 20. He's now completed the French Open-US Open double for the second time in three years.
"When I was looking, on the screen, they were showing No. 1, No. 2, No. 19," Medvedev said, after receiving his finalist trophy. "I was like, 'If I would win, what would they show?' "
For the Russian, his journey from heel to hero came full circle when, late in set three, the Ashe crowd chanted his name. Of course, they were rooting for more tennis just as much as the were rooting for the man, but the Russian delivered. While he fell short of the title, he succeeded in giving Nadal one of the toughest challenges of his now-27 career Grand Slam finals.
While Medvedev's 12-match winning streak came to an end—and Nadal extended his own run to 11 matches (dating back to Rogers Cup)—the Russian will have plenty more chances to string together seven of those victories at a major.
MATCH POINT: The old guard held firm in this matchup. The champion, Nadal, was the oldest men's finalist since Federer (34) in 2015. Medvedev was the youngest since Novak Djokovic (23) in 2010. Djokovic met the same fate as the Russian in that match, losing to Nadal.
The Big 3 has now swept the last three years' worth of majors, winning all 12 since the start of 2017.
Medvedev nearly became the first man to win a US Open final from two sets down since 1949, when Pancho Gonzales defeated Ted Schroeder at what was then called the U.S. Nationals.
By staving off Medvedev's comeback attempt, Nadal improves to 209-1 lifetime in Grand Slam matches in which he won the opening two sets. The lone defeat came against Fabio Fognini at the 2015 US Open.
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