Following Rafael Nadal's thrilling comeback in the 2022 Australian Open Final, there has been a lot of discussion about where this final ranks compared to other great grand slam finals.

Whilst there always is some recency bias involved, there is no doubt that last Sunday night's match was within the top ten grand slam finals of all time.

What was most impressive of all about this win, however, wasn't the match itself or any of the rounds prior. Instead, it was the fact that 'Rafa' fought through the toughest of adversity to take home his record-breaking 21st grand slam title.

As he revealed in his interview following his big win, "A month and a half ago I didn't know if I would play tennis again at a professional level due to various factors, including the problems I've had with my foot and with COVID."

In order to determine which grand slam final matches since 2000 have been the best, we look through two different criteria:
1. The quality of the match
2. The length of the match (has to be a 5-setter)
3. What it meant for the world of tennis with breaking records etc

Here's our top ten.

8. 2009 Australian Open Final: Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs Roger Federer (SUI)

Scoreline: Nadal wins 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2

This was going to be Nadal and Federer's seventh battle in a grand slam final. By now, this rivalry had just about become the biggest in history and Rafa was desperate to get revenge over Roger after he was beaten by him in 2008.

Early on, Federer looked very shaky, losing his first service game of the match. Following this, the two couldn't be split, keeping their serve for the rest of the first set. As a result, Nadal won that all-important first set.

The rest of the game was a seesawing affair that saw both superstars alternate sets for the rest of the match.

Ultimately, Federer was unable to deal with Nadal's physicality and lost the last set convincingly 6-2. The significance of this game for the tennis world, however, cannot be understated since this night was supposed to be the one where Federer reached Pete Sampras' record of 14 grand slams.

Instead, it seemed as though a relatively new guy on the block could potentially chase down whatever record Federer broke.