By Raymond Lee | Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Rafael Nadal won his lone AO title in 2009 fighting off Fernando Verdasco and Roger Federer in epic classics.
Photo credit: Getty
The title Warrior has been used for many sports figures but rarely has the term been more appropriate then when Rafael Nadal played the 2009 Australian Open.
When the 2009 Australian Open started Nadal was clearly the No. 1 player in the world finally overtaking the great Roger Federer who was in the prime of his career.
More: Nadal Rises Into Round Three
Nadal in 2008 won the French Open for his fourth straight time defeating Federer with a loss of only four games in the final. Nadal also overtook Federer at Wimbledon that same year defeating him in a match which some call the greatest of all time in five sets 9-7 in the fifth set.
Both Nadal and Federer reached the 2009 Australian semifinals as expected. Federer did have big problems with Tomas Berdych in the fourth round coming back from a two set deficit to win 6-2 in the fifth. As usual at the time everyone was anticipating another Nadal-Federer final.
The stylish Swiss took care of his part by defeating Andy Roddick in straight sets to reach the final for the fourth time.
However, Spanish left-hander Fernando Verdasco had other plans to spoil the seemingly inevitable Federer-Nadal final. Nadal entered that semifinal as a huge favorite over Verdasco. Nadal was the top seed and Verdasco was the 14th seed. You add to that fact that Verdasco had up to that point lost all six matches that he and Nadal had playing, winning only one set in those six matches!
The match looked like a huge mismatch and it seemed Nadal was all but assured to be in the final! Nadal, as most tennis fans know is almost the human equivalent of a tennis wall. No matter where you hit it the ball seems to come back, often to spots when you wouldn’t expect, often for outright winners! No one in those days could outgrind Nadal, you had to hit winners and try to avoid errors. Even if you played superbly the odds were that you would lose.
Verdasco won the first set in a tiebreaker 7 points to 4. Nadal settled down and won the next two sets 6-4, 7-6 (2) but Verdasco won another tiebreaker easily 7 points to 1 and it went in the fifth set.
The match at this point was already over four hours. They all held to 5-4 in the fifth in favor of Nadal. Verdasco served to level the set at 5-all. Nadal won the first three points of the game to have Verdasco pinned down at triple match point 0-40!
A tiring Verdasco saved the first two but double faulted at 30-40 and Nadal was in the 2009 Australian Open final.
The match lasted for five hours and 14 minutes, the longest match in Australian Open history! Verdasco had perhaps played the match of his life but still lost to the relentless Nadal 6-4 in the fifth. It was one of the great matches in Australian Open history.
After a gallant Nadal fought off Verdasco, he confronted a grim reality conceding he was physically spent, pained by a chronic foot injury and confided to his coach, Uncle Toni Nadal “I can’t run” hours before the AO final against Roger Federer.
“I told Rafael: if there was a sniper shooting, you could run all night,” Toni Nadal recalled, adding he quoted both Winston Churchill and Barack Obama’s “Yes we can” to inspire his nephew a couple hours before he faced Federer.
The final was in less than 48 hours.
Even though Nadal was very young at age 22 could even he recover in time?
Waiting in the finals as he always it seemed was the terrifying presence of Roger Federer. Federer even at that point in his career at age 27 was already considered by many to be the greatest player that ever played. Nadal even at top strength would have problems winning, how could he possibly defeat the great Federer after such an exhausting and emotional match? Federer, even though he was the second seed to Nadal’s top seed was considered by many to be the clear favorite to win the final because of the grueling match that Nadal had two days before with Fernando Verdasco.
The first set had five breaks of serve with Federer leading 4-2 at one point. Nadal won the last five of the last six games to win the set 7-5 from 2-4 and the last three games from 4-5. The first set was considered to be more important for Nadal to take because the thought was that Nadal could not last in a long extended match. The second set was now crucial for Federer because coming back from two sets down even against a Nadal that may be somewhat worn would be seemingly almost impossible.
The second set started with Federer serving and continued on serve until 2 all in the set. Nadal broke serve to lead 3-2 in the second. Federer immediately broke back on Nadal’s first double fault of the match and two uncharacteristic unforced errors by Nadal to tie the set at 3. Federer held to 4-3 and then broke Nadal in a long game to lead 5-3. He served out with the loss of only one point to win the set 6-3.
The match was now tied at one set apiece.
In the third set both held serve until 4 all with Nadal serving. Federer played some excellent points to put Nadal into a hole at 0-40, three break points. Nadal, amazingly enough, despite feeling the effects (he had called the trainer earlier) of the previous match held serve to go ahead 5-4 in the set!
Federer held serve fairly easily to tie the set at 5 but in the next game Federer again had Nadal in trouble at 15-40 two break points against Rafa! At this point Federer won only 4 of 14 break points against Nadal which often seemed to be the case in many of his matches against Nadal. Nadal, serving only to Federer’s backhand won the next two points so now Federer was 4 out of 16 on break points! Roger won the next point to have another break point against Nadal’s serve. Again Rafa served to the Federer backhand and Nadal hit a great angle topspin winner with his great forehand to bring it to deuce. Eventually Nadal won this important game to go ahead in the set 6-5 when it seemed that he should have lost the set already!
So Roger now was serving at 5-6 hoping to win the set in a tiebreak. Federer won the first two points on an excellent drop shot and a great drop volley. Nadal won the next three points and all of a sudden Nadal had a set point for the two sets to one lead! Federer saved the break point and after a few deuces held to take the set into a tiebreaker.
Points went to 3 all in the tiebreaker with Federer serving. Nadal returned and Federer hit a forehand that went way long to make it 4-3 in favor of Nadal. Nadal hit a good first serve to Federer’s backhand which Federer returned short near the middle of the court which Nadal pounced on and hit a great short angle crosscourt forehand winner to make it 5 points to 3 in Nadal’s favor. On the next point Nadal hit a serve to Federer’s forehand which after a rally led to Nadal hitting a strong approach to Federer’s backhand which Federer could only slice back defensively. Nadal hit an excellent sharp angled backhand volley winner from a bit past midcourt to make it 6-3 in Rafa’s favor in the tiebreaker. It was now triple set point! Federer hit a double fault at this point and the set stunningly was Nadal’s at 7-6. Nadal now had two sets to one lead in a set Federer seemingly had a million chances to win! It seemed crucial for Nadal to win the third because of the length of the Verdasco match which had to wear Nadal out somewhat at least.
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Federer held serve easily to win the first game of the fourth and broke Nadal to lead 2-0 in the fourth set. Nadal of course as you would expect almost immediately retaliated and broke back with a few of his patented super down the line topspin forehands. Nadal won his serve after losing the first two points to tie the set at 2 apiece.
Immediately it seemed in the next game Nadal had Federer down at 15-40, double break point. If Federer lost that game it would seem that the match was over. Federer got back to 30-40 and a second serve coming. On a fairly good topspin shot by Nadal to Roger’s backhand Roger hit an incredible down the line backhand for an outright winner! Later in the game at deuce again there was an incredibly high-quality rally in which both players were attacking and defending and running all over the court. Federer hit one of his patented great inside out forehands to Nadal’s forehand side which Nadal lunged for and somehow flicked a forehand winner down the line! Speaking of patents, I do think Nadal has patented the down the line topspin forehand winner. It was break point to Nadal again. Federer was fighting to stay in the match. He responded with an ace on break point to bring it back to deuce! Not unexpected for Federer!
After an unforced error by Federer he had another break point against him which he erased with an inside out forehand winner on a weak return by Nadal. Federer eventually won the game to lead the set 3 games to 2. The game itself had more drama and great rallies in it than it seems in most matches!
Just unbelievable how both players covered the court with defensives get and often winners off the other player’s seeming winners. Driving through his shots, Federer broke in the next game to lead 4-2. Roger got four first serves in and won the next game at love to lead 5-2 in the fourth. It seemed like they were headed to another five set match! Nadal held serve to close the gap to 3-5 but Federer held serve to win the set 6-3 to go to a fifth set. It was the first five set final at the Australian Open since 1988 when Mats Wilander defeated Pat Cash in the final.
Many of the experts at this point had Federer as a heavy favorite to win the fifth set I suppose again it was due to the fatigue that they assumed would affect Nadal due to his previous match. Nadal led off the fifth by holding his serve and Federer did the same to tie the set at 1-all.
On the first point of the third game Nadal hit a super crosscourt sliced backhand that forced a Federer error. It was described as Rosewall-like which is the ultimate compliment for anyone who hits a sliced backhand. Nadal kept his nose in front of Federer 2 games to 1. Nadal proceeded to break Federer in the next game on a few errors by Federer to go ahead 3-1 in the fifth. Nadal held at 30 to consolidate his break to lead 4-1 in the final set.
Federer held to get to 2-4 on a forehand winner, a backhand winner and two serves that were not returned. Nadal came back and held at love to get to 5-2, one game away from his first Australian Open title. Federer went down 15-40 double match point before getting back to the safety of deuce. However Nadal was not to be denied. He broke Federer to win the set 6-2 and with it the 2009 Australian Open title!
It was truly a performance of excellence that was out of this world by Nadal. He battled for every point and won games you never thought he had a chance of winning. The rallies in the match were breathtaking and I would venture to say of a higher quality than they normally play which is a super compliment.
This was a match Federer clearly should have won. In fact Federer won one more point than Nadal at 174 to 173. Federer also hit a super 71 winners compared to 64 unforced errors but it wasn’t enough. Nadal as it seems he often does snatched victory for the jaws of defeat. Federer was obviously very upset after the match and some thought he may have problems catching Pete Sampras for the record for most majors won with 14.
Well as we all know now Nadal had an injury later in the year to his knees which give Federer the opening to win the French Open for the first and so far only time and of course Wimbledon breaking Sampras’ record. Federer, Nadal and Djokovic blew way past Sampras’ record with all of them at 20 majors apiece as of 2021.
To me at least this was Nadal’s greatest performance in a tournament.
Yes I know he’s won many a French Open in devastating style and has been awesome at the other majors also. But in this Australian Open in 2009, he overcame incredible obstacles to win the title, not the least was defeating the great Roger Federer who was totally rested, healthy and at his peak in a match that can be argued to be their best match overall.
Raymond Lee is a Tennis Now contributing writer and tennis historian who lives in New York. He has written about tennis for decades serving as a contributing writer for Tennis Week Magazine and TennisWeek.com. Check out Raymond Lee's Article: Holy Grail: Why Winning the Calendar Grand Slam is Toughest Task in Sport.