Rafael Nadal was overcome with emotion while watching a two-minute video montage of his 19 Grand Slam titles after he won the U.S. Open on Sunday.
Nadal began crying and wiped his face with his hands. He had just won a 4-hour, 51-minute epic over Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4.
“At the end with the video, the crowd that have been as always amazing, all these facts that make the moment super special, no?” he said. “Unforgettable moment.”
Nadal, with his fourth U.S. Open title, moved one Grand Slam title shy of Roger Federer‘s record 20.
At 33, he became the first man to win five Slams in his 30s and the second-oldest U.S. Open men’s champion in the Open Era after Ken Rosewall in 1970.
“See all the things I went through, be able to still being here is so special for me,” Nadal said of the video. “I went through some tough moments, physically especially. When you have physical issues, then mentally things became much more difficult, no? The emotions have been there watching all the success, all the moments that came to my mind in that moment. Yeah, I tried to hold the emotion, but some moments was impossible.”
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Rafa Nadal got emotional after winning his 19th Grand Slam. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/MvnVTDG4Hy
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 9, 2019