By Douglas J. Lanzo
Copyright 2022

First published in Academy of the Heart and Mind (June 8, 2022)

Leading Rafa two sets to love
despite no fan base from above,
Medvedev was poised to win
his first Australian Mens’ Open,
for back–to-back Grand Slam crowns,
a tennis feat of great renown.

But the master of hard courts
faced a legend of the sport,
one resilient beyond words,
who raised his level upwards…
higher and higher soaring past
those who doubted he could last
given last year’s injuries
from a chronic foot disease
that sidelined him for half a year,
causing him to disappear
from all ATP events,
his career caught in suspense.

Even the announcers said
his title dreams were now dead
with no chance to be acclaimed
all-timer leader to his name;
but they knew not Rafa’s heart
filled with desire and stalwart,
pushing him past all they knew,
understood or could construe.

Rafa battled for five sets
to win or lose without regrets
at the age of thirty-five
with mental fortitude and drive,
using power, then finesse,
so his rival could not guess,
where the next shot would appear,
drop-shot at net or to his rear.

Playing each point as if the last
with spinning forehands unsurpassed,
Rafa stunned the world today
prevailing with relentless play,
adored by fans for giving all,
not giving up, and standing tall,
earning Grand Slam twenty-one
Rafa surpassed everyone.