When Rafael Nadal called for the ATP Tour to make a major change at the Australian Open in 2018

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Rafael Nadal is one of the greatest tennis players of all time, forging a career based on his unrelenting tenacity and supreme technical quality.

However, with such a physical play style, injuries were always bound to play a huge role in his career.

Sadly, their impact was far worse than many could have anticipated, preventing him from featuring in so many events that he surely would have challenged for.

The fact that he won 22 Grand Slam titles amongst so many other elite honours stands as a testament to his undying spirit and ability to play through the pain.

And yet, in 2018, he snapped.

When Rafael Nadal called for the Australian Open to make a change

Often a reserved figure when speaking to the media, after the Australian Open in 2018, Rafael Nadal was left really frustrated.

After all, he entered the event as the top seed, and having breezed into the quarter-finals, was favoured to challenge once again.

However, as he entered a deciding fifth set against Marin Cilic, he was forced to retire.

Nadal then claimed: “Somebody who is running the tour should think a little bit about what’s going on. Too many people are getting injured.

“I don’t know if they have to think a little bit about the health of the players. Not for now that we are playing, but there is life after tennis.

“I don’t know if we keep playing on these very, very hard surfaces what’s going to happen in the future with our lives.

“It’s a negative thing, but I [am not] going to complain because [it] happened to me more than others.

“But on other hand, I was winning more than almost anyone. That’s the real thing. But who knows, if I didn’t have all these injuries.”

Remembering Rafael Nadal’s greatest-ever comeback at the Australian Open

The Miracle in Melbourne.

That is what Nadal’s greatest-ever comeback was famously dubbed, as he fought from two sets to love down in the final of the Australian Open to snatch the title.

However, the context for this event is important to truly emphasise just how big an achievement this was for the supreme Spaniard.

Daniil Medvedev headed into the clash as the overwhelming favourite, despite Nadal leading their head-to-head 3-1.

After all, whilst the legendary veteran had just endured a six-month absence from tennis the year prior, his Russian opponent was enjoying a 13-match win streak at the majors, having beaten Novak Djokovic at the US Open just months prior.

Few gave Nadal a chance, and when he fell into a two-set deficit, it felt like the writing was on the wall.

However, to discount the 39-year-old at any point in his career was foolish, even at his age and physical condition.

The match ended at 1:11 am, with Nadal winning 2–6, 6–7(5–7), 6–4, 6–4, 7–5, in 5 hours and 24 minutes. It was the second-longest major final in history, and saw Nadal become the first man to ever win a record 21st Grand Slam title.

Medvedev admitted that Nadal left him in awe that day. In reality, the whole tennis world was too.