03:10
Preamble
Day 12 of the Australian Open and that can only mean one thing: it’s men’s semi-finals. Greek fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas goes toe-to-toe with Daniil Medvedev, Russia’s second seed, later on but first up there’s the small matter of Matteo Berrettini, the Italian seventh seed, against Rafa Nadal, the man standing on the cusp of etching his name further into the annals of tennis history.
Nadal is now just two wins away from a 21st grand slam title, one which will put him out on his own above the absent Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. It will be quite some feat should he manage it, but first things first, he faces the tough prospect of finding a way past Berrettini if he is to return to Rod Laver Arena for Sunday’s showpiece and retain the chance of making history.
The pair are due on court “not before 2:30pm” local time so, with the day’s only preceding match already done and dusted, that’s in about 20 minutes. Don’t go anywhere, entertainment is assured.
In the meantime, feel free to get in touch on email or tweet @mike_hytner.
