Australian Open: Daniil Medvedev's childhood dream realised on biggest stage against Rafael Nadal

Daniil Medvedev and Rafael Nadal before their 2019 US Open final clash. Photo / Getty

He's the snarling Russian party pooper who is again planning to deny one of the greatest ever players a piece of history.

Daniil Medvedev clearly enjoys playing the villain and on Sunday night he will have no friends inside Rod Laver Arena given he stands between Rafael Nadal and a magical 21st grand slam title.

The No. 2 seed has been there and done it already, ensuring the deadlock on 20 major single titles remained for Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic when he won the US Open last year.

Medvedev, 25, stunned Djokovic at Flushing Meadows and he's now focused on crushing Nadal's Melbourne Park fairytale.

"I'm happy to have the chance to try to stop one more time, somebody from making history," Medvedev said after his fiery semi-final victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas.

"I'm not lying, I know what's happening. I know what Rafa is going for, I knew what Novak was going for.

"But it's kind of their thing, not mine. I'm going for my second one."

Medvedev is going for a slice of his own history given no man has ever backed up their maiden slam with a second on the trot.

Andy Murray got close, winning the 2012 US Open before losing the 2013 Australian Open to Djokovic.

And it's fitting he's doing it against Nadal given when he was child growing up in Moscow hitting balls against a brick wall he used to pretend he was playing the great Spaniard.

"When I was like eight, ten years old I was playing against the wall and I was imagining that it's Rafa on the other side," Medvedev said.

Nadal leads the career head-to-head 3-1 including a five-set victory in the 2019 US Open final.

Medvedev won their last meeting in the 2019 ATP Cup Finals semi-final.

While the Russian was expected to be in the final Sunday, particularly after the deportation of Djokovic on the eve of the tournament, Nadal is surprised to have made it to his 29th grand slam final.

He didn't think he'd even make it to Melbourne after a foot injury and then Covid-19 derailed his preparation.

"It's something completely unexpected," Nadal said after defeating Italy's Matteo Berrettini in the semi-finals.

"I went through a lot of challenging moments, a lot of days of hard work without seeing a light there.

"A lot of conversations with the team, with the family, about what can happen or what's going to happen if things continue like this, thinking that maybe it's a chance to say goodbye.

"That was not a lot of months ago. To be able to be where I am today, I really can't explain in words how important it is for me in terms of energy, in terms of personal satisfaction, in terms of being very thankful for all the support that I received from the fans and especially from the people really close to me.

"It's much more important to have the chance to play tennis than to win the 21." For me it's all about the Australian Open more than anything else. It's an amazing event. I've been unlucky with a few injuries. I was close a couple of times.

"I feel very lucky that I won it once in my career in 2009 but I never thought about another chance in 2022."

At 35 years 241 days, Nadal is bidding to become the third man in the Open Era to win the Australian Open title after turning 35 — after Federer and Ken Rosewall.

Since reaching his first of 13 French Open finals on debut in 2005, Rafael Nadal has won a grand slam in every season apart from 2015, 2016 and 2021 — but the latter of those two years were particularly hit by injury.

He's won 20 of his 28 grand slam finals, including all 13 of those at the French Open, but four of those eight defeats have come in Melbourne.