Across the 20 seasons that Rafael Nadal has spent travelling the world as a professional tennis player, he has slowly and with great difficulty compiled one of the greatest sporting CVs the world has seen. He has won at his best, when his body has been close to crumbling and also so many times in the vast grey area in between, but what he has achieved so far this year already stands high on his endless list of achievements.
After a six-month lay-off due to a chronic foot injury, a recent bout of Covid-19 and swirling doubts about whether he would ever return to competition, at the age of 35 Nadal has risen to produce one of his most improbable runs to a grand slam final at the Australian Open.
