Rafa Nadal stares down Australian Open fan for disrupting final as umpire steps in

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Rafael Nadal was noticeably furious at someone in the Australian Open crowd for calling out during an intense game during the fifth set against Daniil Medvdev. The Spaniard looked down and out in his 29th Grand Slam final as Medvedev raced to a two-set lead early on.

And the world No 2 had all the momentum in the third set as he looked to break Nadal’s serve at 3-3.

Nadal somehow dug deep to save three break points though and stayed in the set before taking his chance to extend the match even further.

That clearly gave Nadal some confidence heading into the fourth set and he was first to break serve in what was soon developing into a classic.

Medvedev immediately broke back, but Nadal specatuclarly regained his lead in the very next game despite his opponent’s defensive efforts.

The Australian Open crowd were up on their feet for every rally from that point on with both players putting on a spectacle.

Medvedev was still doing his best to try and draw level in the fourth, but Nadal did just enough to keep him at bay and force a deciding set.

From there, the momentum had completely swung into Nadal’s favour with the 35-year-old amazingly looking fitter than the opponent 10 years his junior.

And the 20-time Grand Slam champion took the lead for the first time in the match in dramatic fashion at 3-2.

Medvedev, sensing the match was getting away from him, tried to break back immediately on Nadal’s serve.

The crowd were getting louder and louder with each point with the pair challenging each other to the extreme.

And someone was guilty of angering Nadal at one stage in the game as he turned around in a fit of rage after someone seemingly called out which distracted him, giving Medvedev another break point opportunity.

The chair umpire even stepped in to issue a warning to the crowd to keep quiet during the rallies.

“The players are waiting, thank you,” John Blom said.

Play eventually got back underway and Nadal was able to recompose himself to save serve an consolidate his own break at 4-2.

Medvedev still wasn’t going away without a fight though and continued to bring out the best of his rival.

The Russian served a love-service game to follow before Nadal held his own to move within one of winning Grand Slam number 21.

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