The Spring Festival holiday has passed halfway, and the smoke of the Australian Open has also dissipated. Watching the Australian Open during the Spring Festival every year seems to have become a customary habit for Chinese tennis fans. This year's Australian Open is not much different from the time of previous years, but because of the lunar calendar, the tournament ended just before the year.

Counting the men's singles champions in the history of the Australian Open, in addition to Djokovic and Federer, another giant Nadal is also worth mentioning. Just three years ago, Nadal miraculously staged a comeback in Melbourne. This is not only the second Australian Open men's singles title of his career, but also the last.

In fact, as early as 2009, he won the first Australian Open, but it took the Spaniard a full 13 years from the first title to the second crown. Let's take a look back at the journey along the way.

Although he won the Australian Open in 2009 and reached the semifinals of the US Open that year, Nadal's hard court strength is not yet super-notch. In 2010 and 2011, he reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open twice in a row; After reaching the final of the Australian Open again in 2012, the Spaniard was defeated 7-5 4-6 2-6 7-6 5-7 after facing defending champion Novak Djokovic in a battle that was hailed as one of the greatest tournaments in tennis history. The scene of the two men being too tired to stand up at the award ceremony is still a historical classic, and the match is still the longest Grand Slam final in tennis history.

Every year, the end of the year and the beginning of the year are the peak period of Nadal's injury. In 2013, he missed the Australian Open that year due to a knee injury. In 2014, the Spaniard made a comeback, beating Federer and others to reach the final, but he also suffered a recurrence of a back injury and eventually lost to Wawrinka, who reached the final of the Grand Slam for the first time, and finished runners-up again.

In 2016, Nadal suffered a Waterloo in Melbourne for the second Grand Slam first round of his career, and was upset against compatriot Verdasco, who had played a five-set classic match with him at the Australian Open in '09.

After a two-year hiatus at the Australian Open, Nadal reached the final again in 2017. Facing his old rival Federer, Nadal was eventually reversed from a 3-1 lead in the deciding set to win the runner-up, and Federer broke the drought of Grand Slam titles after more than four years.

In 2019, Nadal reached the final of the Australian Open again, but against Djokovic, who had already come out of the doldrums and had just won his last two Grand Slam titles, Nadal lost three sets in a row and finally had to hold his fourth set at the Australian Open.

As he gets older, perhaps even the most determined bean fans may feel that Nadal is destined to drift away from his second Australian Open championship trophy. In 2022, Nadal staged a stunning comeback from 2-6 6-7 2-3 (0-40) to defeat Medvedev to win his second Australian Open title, pushing the men's singles Grand Slam title record to a new high of 21.

If you don't forget, there will be an echo! The moment he won the championship, Nadal threw away his racket, as if he couldn't believe it! What was your most memorable Australian Open moment for Nadal?(Source: Tennis Home Author: Luo Cheng Qiye)