Australian Open: Rafael Nadal set for Matteo Berrettini semi-final showdown in Melbourne
Rafael Nadal and Matteo Berrettini will take to the court in Melbourne not before 3:30am GMT on Friday; their semi-final will be followed by Stefanos Tsitsipas against Daniil Medvedev; Nadal is aiming to stay on course for a record 21st Grand Slam title
Friday 28 January 2022 06:32, UK
As Rafael Nadal prepares for his seventh Australian Open semi-final, he says his love of the game is a great driver and not the pursuit of overall records.
Nadal will take on Matteo Berrettini in the first semi-final on Friday before Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev meet in the other last-four match.
If the 35-year-old is successful and then wins the final, he would secure a 21st Grand Slam title and surpass the total won by both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
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Nadal only committed to compete in the Australian Open a couple of days before his flight, having doubted he would be back at all while he battled foot problems last season.
But, so far, he has been too good for all his opponents and again showed his determination and resilience to come through a five-set examination by Denis Shapovalov in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
"I am just enjoying playing tennis," Nadal said, ahead of his semi-final against Berrettini.
"Of course, I want to keep winning, but more than because I want to achieve or I want to have more than the others, it's because I love what I am doing. I want to keep doing this as long as possible.
"In the last six months there have been a lot of doubts if I would be able to keep going, but now I feel good. We are in a position that we won a tournament, we are in the semi-finals of the Australian Open, so that's amazing for me.
"In terms of what can happen in the future, honestly I really don't care that much. I don't believe that my future happiness is going to depend on if I achieve one more Grand Slam than the others or if the others achieve more Grand Slams than me."
Nadal still wants this title, though, and he finds himself in the position that Djokovic has occupied so often recently of trying to hold off the next generation.
First up is seventh-seeded Italian Berrettini, who has become a consistent performer at the Slams and is looking to follow up his Wimbledon final appearance by reaching a second Sunday showdown.
The 25-year-old lost his only previous meeting with Nadal at the US Open in 2019, and said: "This is a great opportunity again for me.
"I watched him so many times in this tournament and other tournaments, cheering for him, and playing with him in Rod Laver in the semi-finals is something that I dreamed about when I was a kid.
"But now, I really want to win this match and I know I can do it. It's going to be a really tough one but I'm in the semis in a Slam for the third time, so it means that this is my level and I want to get further."
The other match is a repeat of last year's semi-final between second-seed Medvedev and fourth-seed Tsitsipas.
Medvedev won comfortably 12 months ago but comes into this match having recovered from two sets to love down and saved a match point in a dramatic and draining quarter-final against Felix Auger-Aliassime on Wednesday night.
"I never had this experience," said the Russian. "I played some long matches but never like four hours and never won it to be able to play in two days.
"If we look at the best, they were able to do it somehow. I don't know how. So, if I want to be a part of this group, even if I'm really far right now, I want to try to make it happen.
"I'm going to try to recover as well as possible, to be ready to play against Stefanos, because he's a great player. I need to be at my best to beat him."
Medvedev is bidding to make his own bit of history by becoming the first man in the Open era to follow up a maiden Grand Slam title by winning the next major tournament.
"It's a good challenge," he said. "I'm two matches away. The US Open gave me a lot of confidence, I need to continue fighting."
Tsitsipas came into the tournament with doubts over his fitness after elbow surgery in November and has had several scares but produced an exemplary performance to defeat Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals.
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