Australian Open 2022: Rafael Nadal vs Daniil Medvedev preview, head-to-head and prediction

Match Details

Fixture: [6] Rafael Nadal vs [2] Daniil Medvedev

Date: 30 January 2022

Tournament: Australian Open

Round: Final

Venue: Melbourne Park

Category: Grand Slam

Surface: Hard

Prize Money: $75,000,000

Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Eurosport | India - Sony Six, Sony Liv

Rafael Nadal vs Daniil Medvedev preview

Rafael Nadal will play in his sixth Australian Open fiinal

Sixth seed Rafael Nadal will take on second seed Daniil Medvedev in the final of the Australian Open on Sunday. The Spaniard is one win away from a record 21st Grand Slam title, while the Russian is on the brink of dethroning Novak Djokovic as World No. 1.

Nadal started the 2022 season by winning the Melbourne Summer Set. He has carried that momentum into the Australian Open. He advanced to the third round without dropping a set, before beating Karen Khachanov in four sets and Adrian Mannarino in straight sets to make it to the quarterfinals.

Nadal survived a massive scare from Denis Shapovalov in the last eight, eventually prevailing 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3. He then defeated big-hitting Italian Matteo Berrettini to advance to his sixth Australian Open final.

Medvedev, meanwhile, started his Australian Open campaign with a straight-sets win over Henri Laaksonen. He was pushed to four sets by Nick Kyrgios in the second round but was able to come out on top.

The Russian had little trouble beating Botic van de Zandschulp in the third round, but survived a stern test from Maxime Cressy in the fourth. Medvedev had to claw his way back from a two-set deficit in the quarterfinals against Felix Auger-Aliassime, saving a match point en route to victory.

He then battled past Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach his fourth Grand Slam final.

Rafael Nadal vs Daniil Medvedev head-to-head

Sunday's final will be the fifth meeting between Nadal and Medvedev. The Spaniard currently leads the head-to-head 3-1.

Nadal won their only meeting in a Grand Slam in five sets in the 2019 US Open final. Medvedev won their most recent encounter at the 2020 ATP Finals in three sets.

Rafael Nadal vs Daniil Medvedev prediction

Daniil Medvedev was widely considered to be the favorite to win the tournament following the withdrawal of World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. The Russian has lived up to the billing so far, but will face arguably his toughest test yet in the shape of Nadal, who has been in terrific form.

The Spaniard will rely heavily on his top-spin forehand to trouble Medvedev. He will also look to bring Medvedev to the net as the Russian does not enjoy venturing forward.

Medvedev, on his part, will need to serve big and return well to put Nadal under pressure. He will also need to play a little more aggressively than he is accustomed to in order to prevent the Spaniard from settling into a rhythm and dominating from the baseline.

What could tilt the scales in Nadal's favor is the crowd support. The Spaniard will undoubtedly receive the lion's share of the support from the Melbourne fans and it remains to be seen how Medvedev will deal with that.

The match could well turn out to be one of the finest Grand Slam finals in recent years, with Nadal just about edging out Medvedev to become the first man to win 21 Majors.

Prediction: Nadal to win in five sets.