In a fitting finale, the towering American’s singles career came to an end in a fifth-set tiebreak on the US Open’s Grandstand court, where the 38-year-old, fighting to the last ball before fighting back tears, was beaten by compatriot Michael Mmoh after leading by two sets to love.

Just for good measure, Isner later returned to lose another final-set super tiebreak, this time alongside Jack Sock, who is following his long-time doubles partner into retirement. 

One of the finest servers in the sport’s history – “the best of all time” according to Andy Murray – Isner rarely relinquished a set without first exploring the opportunities offered by a tiebreak. That tends to happen when you are a 6ft 10in ace machine capable of throwing down deliveries at up to 157mph, as Isner did to set an official ATP record during a Davis Cup match against Australia in 2016. 

Yet for all the ferocity with which he fired a record 14,471 over the course of his 17-year career, Isner has always remained the gentlest of giants. Emotion overwhelmed him after his loss to Mmoh, the veteran covering his face with a towel as the enormity of the moment hit home, and he struggled to speak at times as he addressed the crowd. There were more tears later in the press room, where Isner, who held a match point, attempted to make sense of the day and reflect on his legacy to the sport.

“It’s a range of emotions,” said Isner, who broke his wrist at Flushing Meadows las year and has struggled physically since. “There is, of course, a lot of disappointment with the result of my singles match today, but at the same time a lot of gratitude, as well, just to have one last time playing in an atmosphere like that.

“I like to think I’m a good competitor. I might not win every match, that’s for sure. I might lose a lot of close matches. I might get tight and choke a little bit on the court. That happens. 

“But also, I care. I love this sport, for sure. I want to be remembered as someone who competed pretty hard on the court. I think I did that.  

“Off the court, I think it’s most important within the locker room to have the respect of my colleagues. I think I have that, judging from how many people have spoken to me. Tennis is a… it’s been a huge part of my life. It’s tough to say good-bye. It’s not easy. But eventually this day would come. It’s hard to prepare for the emotions of it.”

Near unbreakable at his best – and often even when far from his best – the former world No 8 was a man made for tiebreaks and attrition. Few will forget his extraordinary victory over Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010, which spanned three days and finally clocked in at 11 hours and five minutes, the longest match in tennis history. Barely less remarkable was his agonising defeat to Kevin Anderson at the All England Club in 2018, which ended 26-24 in the final set after six hours and 36 minutes, a record for a Wimbledon semi-final (and the fourth longest match of all-time). A top-20 player for a decade between 2010 and 2019, Isner was also a mainstay of American tennis at a time when it had little to shout about.

Yet it was not just a day for tears and statistics. Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed and defending champion, later won a match full of smiles and flashy shot-making against South Africa’s Lloyd Harris, the pair frequently delighting in their mutual dexterity. After an all too brief workout in the opening round, where Germany’s Dominic Koepfer retired midway through the second set after suffering an early ankle injury, Alcaraz advanced in straight sets 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), although not before suffering a sharp third-set dip. 

“Sometimes it’s tough to enjoy on court, but I try to most of the time enjoy myself on court, having a smile during the match, making jokes with my team,” said Alcaraz. “It makes me smile and show my best level. 

“I don’t mind if I lose or win, if I’m losing points I [still] high-five with the opponent. I think we did great points. We made entertainment; we’re looking, in every match, to make people enjoy watching tennis.” 

There were some humorous asides, too. Daria Kastakina, who overcame Sofia Kenin 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the third round for the first time, joked about her poor record in New York when asked about her expectations for the tournament.

“I used to have big expectations here,” said Kastakina, the 13th seed. “But then I checked my record and I realised maybe, ‘Dasha, you have to slow down.’”

Kasatkina, who will play Belgian qualifier Greet Minnen for a place in the last 16, also reflected on the difficulty of getting away from tennis during the US Open, where players adorn billboards and the sport dominates the TV schedule. Alcohol, she quipped might be the only solution. “Well, if we play each other, I’ll bring her the bottle myself,” smiled Ons Jabeur, a 7-6 (9-7), 4-6, 6-3 winner over Linda Noskova. “I’ll make sure she’s hydrated.”

There was nothing light-hearted about Matteo Berrettini’s meeting with Arthur Rinderknech, however, the former Wimbledon finalist leaving the court in a wheelchair after turning an ankle while trailing 6-4, 5-3. It continued an appalling run of injury misfortune for the Italian, who collapsed behind the baseline before emitting a howl of anguish. Berrettini underwent surgery on his right hand last year, and has struggled with a persistent abdominal injury this season.

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Earlier, excessive heat had brought the Australian Open grinding to a halt. Now the culprit was a surfeit of drama. Beneath the closed roof of Rod Laver Arena, 15,000 souls held their collective breath. Behind the scenes, Novak Djokovic gazed up at a TV monitor, as mesmerised as the rest of the watching world. Dan Evans, Murray’s erstwhile Davis Cup team-mate, leaned over a Swiss ball, mobile phone in hand, living every moment in between venting his torment in text messages to Tim Henman. 

Finally, Berrettini sent down a first serve, Murray blocked back a return and – not for the first time on a day when the net tape was frequently his friend – the ball flicked up off the tape and died, confirming a 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (10-7) victory for the five-time finalist. There were no scenes of wild celebration from Murray at first, although his emotion was palpable. Only once he had exchanged a few mutually respectful words with Berrettini was the pressure valve released, Murray returning to the court and roaring into the Melbourne night as he soaked up the crowd’s acclaim.

How Murray has worked for this moment. How he has defied the doomsayers who said he would never rekindle past glories, the defeatists who claimed that – at 35, and with a metal hip – he should step aside and let younger men have their day. By the latter stages he was even diving headlong at a forehand volley – hardly the act of man on his last legs, however ill-advised. It is hard to imagine four years have passed since the tearful Australian Open press conference at which Murray suggested the end was near, his ailing body no longer able to withstand the rigours of professional tennis. His ability to endure has been remarkable.

“The last few years, I’ve certainly questioned myself at times,” said Murray, whose last grand slam win over a top-20 opponent came against Kei Nishikori at the 2017 French Open. “There’s certainly a lot of people [who have] questioned me and my ability, whether I could still perform at the biggest events and [in] the biggest matches.  

“I felt very proud of myself after the match. That’s not something that I have generally felt over the years at the end of the tennis matches. But I’m proud of the work that I put in the last few months. I trained really, really hard over in Florida, getting ready to play here. I’m really proud of how I fought through that match at the end, when it could have got away from me, how I played in the tiebreak.

“Tonight I need to give myself some credit, because the last few years have been tough. I’ve lost a few of those types of matches in the slams the last couple years, whether that’s the [Stefanos] Tsitsipas match [at the 2021 US Open] or John Isner at Wimbledon [last summer]. That one could have gone the other way tonight. But I stayed strong and I deserved to win.”

Murray had lost his previous three matches against Berrettini, most recently at Flushing Meadows in September, although you would hardly have guessed it as he swept into a 3-0 lead in just 16 minutes. An indifferent start by the Italian, who struggled to locate the court with his haymaker forehand and attempted a string of injudicious drop shots, only encouraged Murray further. Peppering the 13th seed’s backhand in the baseline exchanges and serving with authority to fend off a pair of break points in the seventh game, Murray was soon a set to the good.  

The pattern continued into the next set, where Murray once again secured an early break, scooping a sharply angled backhand pass beyond Berrettini to establish an advantage he was never in serious danger of relinquishing. By the time Berrettini’s touch deserted him as he attempted to deal with a rather average Murray drop shot at set point down, his senses seemed as scrambled as his game. 

Yet the Italian was not done. He returned from a bathroom break with renewed determination and, though he failed to convert an early break point, he greeted a tenacious hold in the fourth game with a roar of defiance. Clearly the inner fire was still burning, and when he knifed a majestic sliced backhand winner to bring up another opportunity on Murray’s serve, the Scot finally faltered for the first time, hooking a forehand wide. With Berrettini impregnable on serve, the scene was set for a titanic finale. 

The pair matched each other step for step in the fourth, which eventually came down to a tiebreak in which Murray three times stood within two points of victory. Desperate to get over the line, he even attempted a diving volley on one occasion, nudging the ball fractionally over the baseline. But Berrettini was not to be denied and, as they went into the decider, the momentum was firmly on his side. 

The key moment came when Murray faced a match point in the 10th game. With the court at his mercy after a tentative approach-cum-drop-shot, Berrettini rolled a backhand into the net and looked to the heavens with a rueful smile. He would not get another opportunity.

“It’s impressive what he could do after so many surgeries, after all the kilometres that he ran in his career,” said Berrettini. “It’s impressive. It just shows how much he loves the game, how much he loves these kind of matches.”  

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It is a conveniently pithy adage, yet it is only a partial representation of Billie Jean King’s famous words, which continue: “Usually if you have tremendous pressure, it’s because an opportunity comes along.” With the men’s quarter-finals at the US Open shorn of the big three for the second time in three years, a fuller exposition might be in order. 

Opportunity looms large at Flushing Meadows, where a grand slam champion from outside the triumvirate of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will be crowned on Sunday for only the eighth time since Federer won his first Wimbledon title in 2003. On a day of heavy rainfall in New York, the attendant pressures were plain to see. 

Matteo Berrettini was the first to sink without trace. The Italian, a semi-finalist three years ago, was swept aside 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) as Casper Ruud, the fifth seed, rode a tide of inspiration to reach the last four for the first time. 

Many observers expected Berrettini, with his booming serve, flamethrower forehand and superior grand slam pedigree, to have too much for the Norwegian. But on an afternoon when Berrettini barely turned up until he was on the verge of a two-set deficit, a fourth major semi-final was never on the cards.

“I was really bad,” said Berrettini. “I didn’t check my percentage of serve. I didn’t check the stats, but my game wasn’t there.

“He played a really good match, and I played a really bad match. Really nothing I can say, more than [this was] the worst day of the tournament, probably in the most important moment. Nothing today. I mean, I fought through, but it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t feeling my game. I wasn’t feeling my mindset.”

As Berrettini wilted in the face of opportunity, Ruud soared. It was an immaculate performance from the 23-year-old, who reached his first grand slam final this summer at Roland Garros and has a chance to claim the No 1 ranking if he can advance to the title round of a second major in three months.

Having set out to nullify Berrettini’s heavy artillery by making a high percentage of returns and forcing the Italian to contest the baseline exchanges off his weaker backhand side, Ruud executed his strategy to near perfection. The Norwegian surrendered just two unforced errors en route to a 6-1, 5-1 lead and then weathered a belated fightback from Berrettini, who established a 5-2 lead in the third set, to save two set points. 

Buoyed by his growing feel for the rhythms of the five-set format, and increasingly confident on hard courts after reaching the final of the Miami Open earlier this year, Ruud is embracing the possibilities that lie ahead.

“It’s sort of a city of dreams, and I guess that’s helping me with my game and my motivation,” said Ruud, who also reached the last four in Montreal before the US Open. 

“During Paris, something clicked, and I feel like this year I have sort of figured out a better way to play five sets, knowing that it’s very different from playing best of three sets.

“It often becomes much longer matches, and a lot of back and forth. Also realising or knowing that you can sort of let one set go every once in a while, to save some energy for the rest of the sets. So I think I matured and learned how to play five sets better than I did last year.”

The same might be said of Nick Kyrgios, whose run to the Wimbledon final has been the catalyst for a remarkable summer in which he has emerged as the tour’s form player, claiming the Washington title and twice defeating Daniil Medvedev, the current world No 1. 

Bookmakers promptly installed Kyrgios as the title favourite following Nadal’s shock defeat to Frances Tiafoe in the last 16, but expectation caught up with the volatile Australian against Karen Khachanov, who consigned Kyrgios to a 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 defeat that left the 23rd seed smashing his rackets in frustration.

“I’m just devastated,” said Kyrgios, who was troubled by a sore knee in the early stages of a predictably service-dominated contest. 

“I just feel like it was either winning it all or nothing at all, to be honest. I feel like I’ve just failed at this event right now.

“I honestly feel like shit. I feel like I’ve let so many people down.”

At the heart of Kyrgios’s disappointment lay an appreciation that, with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer absent and Nadal beaten – and having ended Medvedev’s reign as champion in the previous round – he may never have a better opportunity to win a grand slam title. He will have known, too, that had he converted either of the two break points he held in the ninth game of the third set, the outcome might have been different. Instead, Khachanov served an ace before Kyrgios, to his evident, racket-smashing dismay, blasted an inviting forehand long.

They were not the only chances that went begging – Khachanov twice served his way out of trouble in the opening game of that set – and although Kyrgios recovered well to force a decider, an early break proved fatal to his ambitions. 

Huge credit must go to Khachanov, who embraced the chance to reach his first grand slam semi-final with a performance full of steel and resilience. 

“I would say it was quite open for all the guys because everybody [could] see that there is [an] opportunity to take the trophy,” said the 26-year-old. “I would say maybe it even increased the level for everyone.”

Some more than others, it would be fair to say.

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No one would deny that the retractable roof installed above Arthur Ashe Stadium six years ago was a needful addition at a tournament where rain once caused the postponement of the men’s final for five consecutive years. Yet the solution has not come without problems, and one of those is the awkward expanse of shade that envelops one end of the court between late morning and early afternoon, making it difficult to pick up the ball as it comes out of the shadows. 

Against a player possessed of a service like Matteo Berrettini’s, that is quite a problem, as Murray discovered. Barely visible at the best of times, the 6ft 5in Italian’s delivery regularly hurtles down at speeds in excess of 130mph; allowing it to pass through a change of light is a bit like equipping Sonic the Hedgehog with a turbocharged engine. For two sets, that must have been pretty much how it felt to Murray. Five games in, the former world No 1 was already chuntering to his box about being unable to track his returns in the shadows. 

Curiously, though, Murray’s 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (1-7), 6-3 defeat was ultimately determined as much by his own serve as Berrettini’s – and more by the blinding glare at one end of the court than the veil of darkness at the other. Time and again, the Scot sped through his service games in the shade, only to falter in the sun. The tone was set early, a trio of forehand winners gifting Berrettini a first break point. Murray fended off the danger to hold, but he would go on to drop serve three times in two sets from the sunny end, double faults costing him dearly on each occasion.

“I served pretty poorly for a large part of the match, which hurt me a lot,” said Murray, who made just 53% of his first serves. “It’s always tough down one end at that time of day. So from one end probably understandable, but, you know, I just couldn’t find any rhythm on serve.  

“I hung in really well in the third set, and could see from the stats and stuff that were coming up that when I was getting into rallies, I was getting comfortably the better of those exchanges when I got past the first few shots. He served extremely well, got loads of free points on his serve. I didn’t. That was the difference.”

Yet for all Murray’s deficiencies on serve, his stubborn fighting spirit remains boundless, and it is a reflection of his enduring resilience that he survived eight break points in the third set to establish a foothold in the contest. A break at the start of the fourth offered hope of more, but Murray promptly lost his serve to love, and from there Berrettini did not look back.

“Had I got through that game, maybe that changes things, but I didn’t play a good game,” said Murray. 

“I’ve not been in loads of those matches recently, and, you know, maybe that showed a little bit in those moments. But I’m surprised that I was able to compete as well as I did with someone that’s as good as him, with the situation that I’m in.

“I’ve got a metal hip. It’s not easy playing with that. It’s really difficult. 

“Matches like this, I’m really proud that I have worked myself into a position where I’m able to do that.”

For Berretini, who also defeated Murray on the grass courts of Stuttgart earlier this summer, the victory continues a welcome return to form after a season blighted by injury and illness. The 26-year-old, a semi-finalist at Flushing Meadows three years ago, will face Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the next round after the Spaniard came through 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 against Colombian qualifier Daniel Galan.

On a disappointing day for British tennis, Murray was followed out of the tournament by Jack Draper, who was forced to retire with a hamstring injury while trailing Russia’s Karen Khachanov 3-6, 6-4, 6-5. Draper, who defeated sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the previous round, led 5-3 in the third set. 

“It’s been a really positive week for me,” said Draper. “This is my second slam on merit. It’s very different playing the five-set matches. I beata couple of really good players, and I felt like today I was coming back. I would have had a chance to win that match if I was injury free.  

“I think in terms of reflecting, I can be very positive about the year I’ve had so far as well. When I look back, in 2020 I was thinking about stopping tennis during Covid. So to think I’m here now and I’ve broken the top 50 this week, I’m very proud of myself.”

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Six months of setbacks have infused Djokovic’s quest for another Wimbledon victory with real urgency. Nadal, who capitalised on his rival’s absence to win the Australian Open and then rubbed salt in the wound by claiming a record-extending 22nd slam in Paris, now stands two wins clear on the all-time list of men’s major winners. Daniil Medvedev has usurped him as world No 1. Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated him when they met for the first time at last month’s Madrid Open, is coming up fast on the rails. Suddenly, Djokovic is no longer the main man.

It is a scenario that would barely have seemed conceivable last September, when Djokovic went into the US Open final just one victory away from completing the first calendar-year grand slam in more than half a century. Then, history seemed his to shape. Now, having lost that career-defining match to Medvedev, Djokovic finds himself playing catch-up in the race to be proclaimed the greatest men’s player of all time. 

Unable to play at Flushing Meadows under current US entry rules, which require all foreign arrivals to be vaccinated against Covid, Djokovic knows that this is likely to be his last chance to directly influence Nadal’s quest to complete a grand-slam season of his own. Should the pair meet in the final, as the seedings suggest they will, Djokovic will not want for motivation.

“As of today, I am not allowed to enter the States,” said Djokovic, who will play South Korea’s Kwon Soon-woo in Monday’s opening match on Centre Court. “Of course, I’m aware of that, and that is an extra motivation to do well here. So hopefully I can have a very good tournament, as I have done in the last three editions, and then I’ll just have to wait and see. 

“I’d love to go to the States, but as of today that’s not possible. There’s not much I can do any more, it’s really up to the US government to make a decision whether they allow unvaccinated people to go into the country.”

One thing he could do, of course, is get inoculated. Yet the stubborn streak that has so often underpinned his success on the court also extends beyond it. Asked at Wimbledon’s media day if he had closed his mind to vaccination, Djokovic replied with a succinct affirmative and a quiet smile. Wimbledon will therefore define not only his season, but quite possibly his place in the pantheon. Win it, and he will once again be on Nadal’s coat-tails; lose it, and the gap to the Spaniard could become unbridgeable.

The draw has fallen relatively kindly for the 35-year-old. If the seedings hold, Djokovic will face a last-eight appointment with Alcaraz before meeting Casper Ruud, the third seed and French Open finalist. Whether either of those contests will actually materialise is another question. 

Alcaraz has all the tools required to succeed on grass, but little by way of experience. Brushed aside by Medvedev on his debut at the All England Club last summer, the 19-yer-old has not played a competitive match since losing to Alexander Zverev in the French Open quarter-finals, and comes into Wimbledon short of match practice after suffering an elbow injury that kept him out of Queen’s. Alcaraz played an exhibition event at the Hurlingham Club with his elbow strapped, losing both his matches in straight sets, and there may be more to his insistence that he is not yet ready to win on grass than the standard downplaying of expectations. 

The second of those losses came against Ruud, whose antipathy to the surface is hardly a secret. The Norwegian third seed, who joked earlier this year that grass is for golfers, was beaten by British wildcard Ryan Peniston at Queen’s and has failed to advance beyond the opening round in two previous attempts.

That leaves Hubert Hurkacz, the champion in Halle final last week and a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year, as arguably the biggest threat to Djokovic’s prospects of contesting an eighth final. With John Isner and Reilly Opelka in his quarter, Djokovic will be well attuned to facing big servers should the Pole advance to the last four again. 

The big unknown in Djokovic’s quarter is Andy Murray, the champion of 2013 and 2016, who could play Alcaraz in the last 16. Murray played some of his best tennis in years en route to the Stuttgart final a fortnight ago, only to suffer an abdominal injury that rendered him lame down the stretch against Matteo Berrettini. Forced to pull out of Queen’s, where he is a five-time winner, Murray has been feeling his way back gradually, but only started serving and hitting overheads again this week. Much will depend on how his body holds up.   

“I think I showed a couple weeks ago that there is still good tennis left in me,” said Murray, who faces James Duckworth of Australia in the third match on Centre Court. 

“I beat a guy in the top five in the world [Stefanos Tsitsipas] and was neck-and-neck with Berrettini, who is one of the best grass court players in the world, before the injury. I played well against [Nick] Kyrgios as well for the first set, [it] was a good level, and I have been doing pretty well in practices, so I know the tennis is in there, I just need to bring it out during the event now.”

Nadal nevertheless remains the man of the moment in grand slam competition, and Djokovic will be grateful the second-seeded Spaniard is in the opposite half of the draw this time around. Four years ago, the pair contested an epic semi-final that spanned two days and more than five hours before Djokovic – helped on his way by the egregious decision to close the Centre Court roof on a brilliant summer’s day – squeaked home 10-8 in the fifth. The Spaniard struck a potentially significant psychological blow with his recent victory over Djokovic in Paris and, crucially, would go into their 60th meeting free of pain for the first time in more than a year and a half after undergoing radiofrequency ablation treatment to deaden the nerve in his foot.

“Things are going better, if not I would not be here,” said Nadal, who needed multiple anaesthetic injections to get through the French Open. “I’m quite happy about how things have evolved. I can’t be super happy, because I don’t know what can happen, but I only can speak about the feelings that I’m having the last few weeks, and there are a couple of things that are so important for me. 

“First of all, I can walk normal most of the days, almost every single day – that’s for me the main issue, when I wake up I don’t have this pain that I was having for the last year and a half.

“Second thing, practising, I have been overall better, honestly, no? Since the last two weeks I didn’t have one day of those terrible days [where] I can’t move at all. Of course, there are days that are better, days that are worse, but the overall feelings are positive. I am in a positive way in terms of pain, and that’s the main thing.”

In the 11 years since he last reached the final, Nadal has often been vulnerable to a big server in the early rounds. Sam Querrey and Marin Cilic both fall firmly into that category, as do his prospective quarter- and semi-final opponents, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Berrettini. 

Of that quartet, it is Berrettini who poses the greatest danger. The powerful Italian arrives in SW19 in optimal condition, his confidence bolstered by title runs in Stuttgart and at Queen’s Club, but otherwise lightly raced after three months out following hand surgery. Seeded eighth, Berrettini is expected to meet Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals, although the Greek must first advance beyond the opening round for the first time since 2018. The auspices are encouraging for Tsitsipas, who warmed up for Wimbledon by winning the first grass-court title of his career at the Mallorca Championships. Berrettini, who has been beaten just once in 21 outings on grass, would nonetheless go in as the de facto favourite.

Nadal has won his two previous encounters with Berrettini, at the US Open three years ago and at Melbourne Park in January, but he is not one for looking back. Now, more than ever, the Mallorcan’s eyes are fixed only on the road ahead.

“Past is past, and sport – and life – goes so quick,” said Nadal, who faces Argentina’s Francisco Cerúndolo in the opening round. “I am not a big fan of keep living on the things that you achieved, because sport doesn’t give you that time.”

For Nadal, as for Djokovic, the next fortnight is all that matters. 

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Berrettini, who completed his defence of the title he won on his debut last year with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic, has now won nine straight matches on grass, following his win over Andy Murray in Stuttgart last weekend. In his past four tournaments on the surface, a run encompassing 21 matches stretching back to Queen’s last year, only Novak Djokovic has bettered him, the Serb coming from a set down to win the Wimbledon final last summer.

It is a compelling body of work, the most recent additions to which are all the more impressive for the fact that Berrettini is only a fortnight into his return from a three-month absence after undergoing surgery on his right hand in late March. His huge serve and flamethrower forehand mark him out as a natural threat on grass, yet it is the more overlooked aspects of the 6ft 5in Italian’s game – his biting sliced backhand, his blocked returns and chipped approach shots, the dexterity with which he utilises his formidable wingspan at the net – that truly distinguish him from the pack. Berrettini is a hybrid champion, a player who, in combining the big weapons that have become de rigueur in the modern game with traditional grass-court skills that are increasingly overlooked, has one foot in the present and the other in the past.

It does nothing to hurt Berrettini’s marketability that he also exudes a quiet charm and charisma. His engaging character, so apparent when he invited a ball girl who was standing over him with an umbrella to shelter beside him during a rain delay in his semi-final against Botic van de Zandschulp, was again in evidence after the final as he spoke with humility of what the victory meant to him.  

“It’s too many emotions,” said Berrettini. “The last thing that I expected was coming back from surgery and winning two titles in a row and defending my title here, one of the most prestigious tournaments that we have. I don’t want to cry, but I just cannot believe it.

“My team can tell you, I arrived in Stuttgart and I wasn’t feeling great, I wasn’t hitting the ball the way I wanted, the way I used to do, and I was like, ‘Guys, I think it’s going to be tough.’ But it went pretty well. I guess I am Italian, so I’m always complaining. I cannot complain now.”

Some monstrous early ball-striking from Berrettini threatened to make Krajinovic look like the grass-court novice he was before this week, when he registered his first wins on the surface. But having clubbed his way to two break points in the opening game, the Italian was denied by some clutch play from Krajinovic. The Serb underlined his resilience further when he immediately cancelled out a break in the fifth game, punching away a backhand volley to punish some sloppy play by Berrettini. 

Krajinovic was nonetheless forced to toil relentlessly on serve, in marked contrast with Berrettini, and at 5-5 the pressure finally told. Either side of some untimely backhand errors from Krajinovic, the Italian produced a brilliant flicked forehand winner and a lunging drop volley to secure a decisive second break. He was on his way.

Berrettini talked warmly afterwards of the tournament’s history, saying it gave him goosebumps to know that his name would now appear twice alongside those of the great champions of the past on the clubhouse wall. Having savoured his second victory at an event that he insist is an end in its own right, his focus will now switch to the bigger prize that lies ahead.   

“I think I couldn’t ask for a better start and preparation,” said Berrettini. “But this tournament wasn’t a preparation for Wimbledon. This is Queen’s. I came here to defend my title. Like I said, it is one of the most prestigious titles that we have. From next week, there is another goal.”

In the Halle final, Daniil Medvedev was beaten 6-1, 6-4 by Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz. The match was notable for the abrupt departure of Medvedev’s coach Gilles Cervara, who left his courtside seat early in the second set after the Russian world No 1 launched a verbal tirade in his direction. The match was later interrupted by a protester who ran on court and unsuccessfully attempted to tie himself to the net ,in an echo of a similar incident that occurred during the French Open final a fortnight ago. 

Medvedev later apologised to his wife, Daria, who was seated beside Cervara before the Frenchman’s hasty departure. 

“’Daria, thanks a lot for this week,” said Medvedev, who was also beaten in the ‘s-Hertogenbosch final last weekend. “Not easy to be with me on the court sometimes, but hopefully next time will be easier and much better.”

The finals of the WTA events in Birmingham and Berlin were both cut short by injury.

At the Birmingham Classic, Beatriz Haddad Maia won her second title in a week after China’s Zhang Shuai succumbed to a neck injury as she trailed 5-4 in the opening set. Haddad Maia, the Brazilian world No 32, beat former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep in the semi-finals and has now won 10 successive matches on grass.

In Berlin, Ons Jabeur claimed the third title of her career after Belinda Bencic suffered an ankle injury late in the opening set. Jabeur, who won her first title on grass in Birmingham last year before winning on the clay courts of Madrid last month, was 6-3, 2-1 ahead when the Swiss was forced to call it quits.

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“My achilles still isn’t right, so I’ll see you next time,” the former world No 1 wrote on Twitter, shortly after her name appeared on an updated withdrawals’ list published by the tournament.

“Trying to find the positives in a negative situation, so all love,” Osaka later added on Instagram, alongside photos of her undergoing ultrasound treatment and acupuncture on the injury. “But there goes my grass dreams.”

Osaka, who has never been beyond the third round at the All England Club, has not played at Wimbledon since 2019. The 24-year-old withdrew last year to take time away from tennis following the furore caused by her decision to skip media duties at the French Open.

Osaka’s withdrawal comes after she suggested last month that she might not play at Wimbledon in light of the WTA’s decision to strip the event of ranking points in retaliation for the tournament’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players.

“The decision is kind of affecting my mentality going into grass, like I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to go there,” Osaka said following her opening-round defeat to Amanda Anisimova at the French Open. 

“I would love to go just to get some experience on the grass courts, but at the same time, for me, it’s kind of like – I don’t want to say pointless, no pun intended – but I’m the type of player that gets motivated by seeing my ranking go up, stuff like that. I think the intention was really good, but the execution is kind of all over the place.

Osaka, who is ranked 43rd in the world, added: “I feel like if I play Wimbledon without points, it’s more like an exhibition. I know this isn’t true, right? But my brain just like feels that way. Whenever I think something is like an exhibition, I just can’t go at it 100%.”

The 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard, whose name appeared alongside Osaka’s on the list of withdrawals, likewise cited concerns about the absence of ranking points as she returns from the shoulder injury that has kept her out since March of last year. 

“I have decided to withdraw from Wimbledon due to the WTA’s decision to not award ranking points at this year’s Championships,” said Bouchard, who would have needed to use her protected ranking to enter.

“Due to my shoulder surgery, I get a limited number of protected ranking [PR] entries. As much as I love Wimbledon and skipping it makes me sad, using a PR entry at a tournament with no ranking points doesn’t make sense.

“I must choose wisely and use my PR entries at tournaments that will help me get back to where I want to be.”

In Berlin, Belinda Bencic survived an epic match against Maria Sakkari, prevailing 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-4 in three hours and seven minutes to reach the final for a second successive year. 

“I thought that was an incredible match,” said Bencic, the eighth seed. “We both kind of pushed really hard, we both didn’t give each other anything. I think it was high quality, of course we held our serves as much as we could, and I really felt like we put on a show.”

Bencic, who lost out to Liudmila Samsonova in the final last year, will play Ons Jabeur on Sunday after the Tunisian top seed saw off French Open finalist Coco Gauff 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

Matteo Berrettini, the defending champion, will play Filip Krajinovic of Serbia in the final at Queen’s Club. 

Berrettini, who is aiming to win a second successive title on grass following his victory over Andy Murray in Stuttgart last weekend, came through a rain-delayed match against Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-3. The Italian second seed, a finalist at Wimbledon last summer, has won all but one of his past 20 matches on grass. 

“It feels unbelievable, I’m really happy” said Berrettini. “Today was a really tough match, we stopped for the rain, I had a lot of chances, I got broken when I was serving for the first set, windy again today – so really tough to play, but I think I played my best match of the week.”

Krajinovic, meanwhile, who had never won a tour-level match on grass before this week, upset seventh seed Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-3 to reach the fifth final of his career. The 30-year-old has lost the previous four.

“It’s just a dream for me,” said the 48th-ranked Krajinovic. “To be honest, I don’t like to play on grass. Every year, I find a way to skip the tournaments, just coming to Wimbledon, losing first round, and for the last 10 years it’s been like that. Maybe it will change, I don’t know. I’ve started to like it, actually, so let’s see how it’s going to go.”

In Halle, Daniil Medvedev is also through to his second grass court final in as many weeks after defeating Oscar Otte of Germany 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Medvedev, who was beaten by Tim van Rijthoven of the Netherlands in ‘s-Hertogenbosch a week ago, will face Hubert Kurkacz in the final after the Polish fifth seed beat Nick Kyrgios 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4).

“I didn’t play well in Halle last year, so I’m happy that this year I managed to raise my level,” said Medvedev, the world No 1, who lost to Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany in the opening round last year.

“As I’ve always said, I love playing on grass, so I’m happy to show to myself that I’m capable of being in the final of one of the greatest tournaments, especially on grass.”

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All week long, Murray has defied the odds at the Boss Open in Stuttgart, making a mockery of his world ranking of 68th to defeat top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas – his first victory over a top-five player since 2016 – either side of wins over Alexander Bublik and Nick Kyrgios. 

And for the better part of two hours and 40 minutes he defied them again, pushing the 10th-ranked Berrettini, a finalist at Wimbledon last summer, all the way to a decider before an abdominal injury effectively ended the match as a contest. 

At 2-4 in the final set Murray looked ready to call it quits, trudging back to his chair midway through his service game to receive treatment. It was to no avail. The former world No 1 had already been limping after having the trainer on earlier in the set, and from that point on he was unable to reach up properly on his serve, bowling his delivery in at reduced pace to ease Berrettini’s path to a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 victory.

“I got some pain in my ab when I was serving,” said Murray. “Not something that I’ve had before. I need to get it checked when I get home.” 

With Wimbledon only a fortnight away, it is a bitter turn of events for Murray. After suffering countless minor injury setbacks and niggles since undergoing hip surgery almost three and a half years ago, he had hit a rich vein of form in Stuttgart, vindicating his decision to skip the French Open in favour of starting his grass-court preparations early. He will now move inside the top 50 for the first time in four years, but his involvement at Queen’s Club next week hangs by a thread. 

A deep run in west London, where he has won a record five titles and was due to face Berrettini’s compatriot Lorenzo Sonego in his opening match, would have all but guaranteed Murray a seeded position at Wimbledon. Instead, only a day after reaching his first grass-court final since 2016, he finds himself hoping that he will not face a race against time to be fit for Wimbledon.

“It’s a really long time [since] I have played nine matches in 14 days,” said Murray, who reached the semi-finals of the Surbiton Trophy last week. “I also played Thursday through Saturday last week and then Thursday through to Sunday here. So it is probably normal that I would feel some stuff in my body, but I don’t really know the severity of it. I’ll need to get it checked out. Hopefully it is all right.”

For Berrettini, playing his first tournament in three months after undergoing minor hand surgery in March, a first title since he won at Queen’s Club last year was an unexpected boost. His firepower off the forehand and serve remains undiminished, while his touch shots and the dexterity with which he deployed his sliced backhand belied his inactivity. He is now unbeaten in nine matches at the Tennis Club Weissenhof, where he also won the title in 2019, and on this evidence the 26-year-old will once again be a major force in SW19.

“We’ve been through tough times, the first surgery of my life,” said Berrettini on court afterwards. “I thought for a second that I wouldn’t be able to play this tournament, that I was short a little bit, and now I’m here holding the trophy. It doesn’t seem real.”

To Murray, the ferocious early onslaught from Berrettini will have felt all too real. A series of huge forehands earned the Italian a break in the third game, and once he had fended off four break points with some thunderous serving to consolidate the advantage, he was on his way. Murray continued to probe for weaknesses, however, first going crosscourt to deny Berrettini the chance to dominate with his inside-out forehand, then switching the angle of attack with a probing assault on the backhand wing. 

Some excellent serving dug Murray out of a hole in the ninth game of the second set, and having saved three break points he was gifted the set at 6-5 as a double fault and a wayward forehand from Berrettini saw him broken for the first time.

But Murray was broken in the opening game of the decider after receiving a time violation, and was treated for what looked like a groin problem at the changeover. He clutched that area after making a return at the start of the fourth game, and not long afterwards he was effectively rendered lame, his service speed dropping off alarmingly as his abdominal injury kicked in.

“Sorry I couldn’t get over the line today,” Murray told the crowd afterwards. “But there’s been a lot of progress the last few weeks, and I’m looking forward to what the future has to hold. I’m feeling a lot better about my game, and hopefully my body can hold up a little while longer.”

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This ability to see the big picture perhaps explains why Nadal, who defeated Italy’s Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to reach his sixth Australian Open final, stands within one win of claiming a historic 21st major. Over the course of an injury-plagued career, the Spaniard’s ability to roll with life’s punches has contributed every bit as much to his success as his famed tenacity or the number of revolutions per minute on his forehand. Time and again, he has shrugged off physical setbacks and kept pushing forwards. Now he has reached the point where merely being able to play the sport at all feels like a triumph.

It is only a few weeks since his latest injury blow, an escalation of the chronic foot problem that he has suffered since childhood, threatened to end his career. Nadal lost six months of last season to the problem and, when he returned in December only to contract Covid, it looked unlikely he would even make it to Australia. Nine successive wins later, a sequence that began with a title run in Melbourne, this most grounded and humble of athletes is playing with a joy that was plain to see as he broke down in tears after subduing Berrettini.

It was a rare display of emotion from Nadal, particularly with a final to come against Daniil Medvedev, who later prevailed 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in a bad-tempered encounter with Stefanos Tsitsipas. Yet his reaction owed nothing to the possibility of finally moving clear of long-time rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, with whom he is currently level on 20 majors. Others might see numbers and records; for Nadal, the game’s the thing.

“For me, it’s a present just to be here and play tennis,” said the 35-year-old, whose only previous title at Melbourne Park came in 2009. “I am taking things a little bit in a different way now. Of course, always with the competitive spirit that I have, because I can’t go against that. It’s my personal DNA. 

“But in some way, just to be what I am and be able to have the chance to compete at this level, it’s a positive energy for me to keep going, because at the end of the day, and being very honest, for me it is much more important to have the chance to play tennis than win the 21, no? It makes me more happy, in terms of general life, to be able to do the thing that I like to do – more than achieving another grand slam. At the end of the day, life is about happiness.”

Last year, when Nadal suggested Djokovic was more obsessed than him with winning majors and breaking records, many dismissed it as sour grapes. The man from Manacor knew it was inevitable the world No 1 would eventually overtake his grand slam tally, and was getting his excuses in early – so the argument went. Yet Nadal seems genuine when he says his primary satisfaction comes simply from enjoying the sport and whatever moments it has left for him.

“For me, at the end, it’s about more than all these statistics, it’s about being in the final of the Australian Open one more time. That means a lot to me. To me, it’s more important to be in the final of the Australian Open, and fight to win another Australian Open, than the rest of the statistics that I know for the sport, maybe for the history of the sport, and possibly for you are very important, no? 

“I really feel like this. For me, I just feel happy to be part of this amazing era of tennis, sharing all these things with another two players. That’s it. In some ways it doesn’t matter if somebody achieves one more or one less, no? I think we did amazing things, and things that will be very difficult to equal. So I don’t think much about this, all this stuff.”

Against Berrettini, the only thing on Nadal’s mind seemed to be neutralising the Italian’s power game with a relentless assault on his weaker backhand side. In principle, the closure of the Rod Laver Arena roof due to torrential rain should have favoured Berrettini, making the court more receptive to his thunderous serve and heavy forehand while counteracting Nadal’s whirring topspin. In practice, while Berrettini struggled to adapt to the changed conditions, Nadal executed his game plan to perfection, dominating with his own serve, returning brilliantly and commanding the baseline exchanges. 

“It was the first time that I played with the roof,” said Berrettini, the seventh seed, who came through the section of the draw vacated by Djokovic. “I struggled. At the beginning I couldn’t really find the rhythm, and the conditions were a little bit different. It took me a while to adapt, but at the same time Rafa was playing really good. 

“It’s a sport that you have to be able to adapt to everything that is happening. Today he was just way better than me.”

That was certainly the case for the first two sets, which Nadal agreed were probably the best he had played at the tournament. Berrettini threatened a revival when he conjured a brutal forehand to convert his first break point of the match late in the third set. Having established a relentless rhythm on serve, the Italian’s chance to test the extent of Nadal’s recovery from his gruelling quarter-final win over Denis Shapovalov came at 3-3 in the fourth set, when he had the former champion on the ropes at 15-30. But a pair of forehand errors proved costly and, when the same wing betrayed him again in the next game, Nadal served out for a place in his 29th grand slam final.

The Spaniard will face Medvedev in a repeat of the US Open final of three years ago, when Nadal prevailed over five arduous sets. The Russian’s win over Tsitsipas was a turbulent affair, with Medvedev rounding on chair umpire Jaume Campistol after a wretched sequence of errors cost him a break of serve in the ninth game of the second set. He responded with a gesture that earned him a “visible obscenity” warning from Campistol, at which point Medvedev – who claimed his actions had been misinterpreted – completely lost the plot. The focus of his ire was Tsitsipas’s father, Apostolos, who Medvedev insisted was coaching the Greek from his position at courtside.

“Bro, are you mad? For what?” he stormed at Campistol. “And his father can talk every point? Are you stupid?” When the Spanish umpire failed to engage, Medvedev screamed: “Oh my God you are so bad man, how can you be so bad in the semi-final of a grand slam? Look at me, I’m talking to you!”

Medvedev, who went on to call Campistol “a small cat” after losing the set, later expressed contrition for the outburst.

“I regret it,” he said, “because I don’t think it’s nice. I know that every referee is trying to do their best.

“But, yeah, when you are there, tennis, you know, we don’t fight with the fists, but tennis is a fight. It’s a one-on-one against another player. So I’m actually really respectful to players who never, almost never show their emotions because, I mean, it’s tough. It’s tough, because I get – I can get – really emotional. I have been working on it.

“Many, many matches I handle it. I think if we look back at myself five years ago when I started playing, just started playing, there was less attention on me, but I was just insanely crazy.

“You know, I’m working on it. Helps me to win matches, I know. So I do regret it 100%, but again, in the heat of the moment, I just lost it.”

After leaving the court to change his clothes, Medvedev returned in more patient mood, biding his time in the baseline exchanges before capitalising on some loose play by Tsitsipas at the business end of the set to reclaim the lead. At 1-1 in the fourth set, the Greek umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore, who was now stationed in the tunnel below the players’ box, indicated to Campistol that Tsitsipas’s father was coaching. A warning followed and the Greek failed to win another game. He later denied he was receiving advice from the sidelines – “I cannot hear anything when I’m playing, it’s impossible” – and insisted Medvedev’s antics had not put him off.

“I don’t pay attention,” said the Greek fourth seed. “I know players like to do this stuff to throw you off mentally. Could be maybe a tactic. It’s all right. He’s not the most mature person anyways.”

Medvedev, 10 years Nadal’s junior and seeded second, goes into the final as the title favourite. History, though, is against him: no man in the open era has won their second grand slam title immediately after their first.

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The pain in his left foot had become unbearable. Every morning, he would go on court to practice. Some days he would last only 20 minutes. On a good day, his body might allow him to train for 45 minutes or more. 

“Everybody around me, me included, had a lot of doubts,” Nadal recalled. “Not about the Australian Open, but about coming back on the tour, because the foot was bothering me a lot of days.

The chronic injury is not one that can be addressed surgically but, for the time being, it is at least under control sufficiently to allow him to compete. And so, with the ordeal of those dark weeks behind him, Nadal is determined to make the most of every opportunity he gets at the Australian Open.

On Friday, Karen Khachanov felt the full force of that determination. The Russian 28th seed had lost all seven of his previous matches against the former champion. When Nadal won 12 of the first 13 points, there was little sign of that pattern changing. Yet the Spaniard’s 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory was more complicated than the scoreline might suggest.

The opening two sets were like an extended Nadal highlights reel. There was the scorching crosscourt backhand with which he sealed the first break. There was an immaculate, backpedalling bounce smash, hit for a clean winner from just inside the baseline. There was a crisp, angled slice that pulled Khachanov into the doubles alley, an abundance of lethal whipcrack forehands. There was even a run of four successive love holds by the Spaniard. Nadal was beating the big-serving Khachanov at his own game. 

Then things got interesting.

Khachanov, a 6ft 6in powerhouse who wields the racket on his forehand as though shovelling snow, decided it was time to open his shoulders. With the Muscovite suddenly landing hammer blows, Nadal was broken for the first time, losing a game he had led 40-0 as his opponent landed a series of mighty backhands.

Nadal soon went into defensive mode, retreating deep behind the baseline. But with midnight approaching and a fourth set beckoning, the 35-year-old knew he needed to change the direction of travel. He elected to bide his time, waiting to see if his defensive instincts would bring reward, but ready to switch to a more aggressive key if required. 

“I think I lost little bit the court I was playing,” said the sixth-seeded Nadal. “After that I started to play a little bit too far from the baseline. I said, ‘OK, let’s try to finish the set like this. If I am able to have the break back, fantastic. If not, in the fourth I am going to start playing more aggressive again.”

Early in the fourth set, he made his move. Some extraordinary retrieving encouraged Khachanov to overpress on a forehand, handing Nadal a break point. He converted it with a running backhand pass that had him fist-pumping like he was 17 again. Khachanov would win only one more game.

“I think I played a great fourth set,” said Nadal, who will play Adrian Mannarino of Fraance in the last 16 after the French veteran defeated Aslan Karatsev, the 18th seed, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-4 in a contest spanning almost five hours.

“You need to be quick in making the right decisions, analyse what’s happening. This is something that, when you are not playing, doesn’t come [back] that quick sometimes.

“Today I was able to analyse, I think, in the proper way. I made the right decisions. The quality of shots and the position on court and movements today [were] a very high level, no? To win against a great opponent like him, I needed to play well, and I think I did.”

The same could be said for Matteo Berrettini, who edged out Nadal’s compatriot Carlos Alcaraz in a five-set thriller, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 2-6, 7-6 (10-5) despite turning his ankle early in the fifth set. 

“I really fought hard,” said the Italian seventh seed, who will play another Spaniard, 19th seed Pablo Carreño Busta, in round four. “That’s what I think made the difference.”

Alexander Zverev, the third seed, moved a step closer to a projected quarter-final showdown against Nadal with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot. 

“I’m through the first week without losing a set,” said Zverev, who will face Denis Shapovalov, the 14th seed, in the last 16. “I think that’s always very positive. I’m still quite full of energy, which is good for me as well, going into the next matches.”

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