Rafael Nadal: Injuries Hardly a Hindrance to Rafa at Australian Open

Sore shoulder? So what? Bad knee? No problem.

Rafael Nadal's body may be in shambles at the 2012 Australian Open, but his desire (and ability) to win clearly remains well intact.

Rafa withstood his own aches and pains, a brilliant performance by Roger Federer and an pyrotechnic interruption for Australia Day to advance to the final at Melbourne Park.

The victory improved Nadal's head-to-head mark against Federer to 18-9, including an 8-2 record in Grand Slam meetings, and moves Rafa to the last round of a major for the fourth time in his last four appearances.

This, despite Nadal announcing in early January that he'd miss all of February with shoulder soreness and nearly withdrawing from the Aussie before it began on account of a balky knee.

This, despite Nadal having to play with heavy bandages all over his body, despite checking into a hospital on Sunday to make sure he was still intact enough to play.

This, my friends, is what's often referred to as the heart of a champion. Like all great athletes—be it Tiger Woods winning the 2008 U.S. Open on one leg or Kobe Bryant playing through his own litany of debilitating injuries—Nadal has proven, time and again, that pain is no match for his insatiable desire to win, bodily consequences be damned. 

Neither can pain restrain him from performing at a world-class level on the court. That much was clear on Thursday at Rod Laver Arena, where Nadal persevered through four sets of spellbinding tennis, and the betrayal of his own body. A hamstring injury pulled him out of the running in the quarters Down Under last year.

Fat chance he'd let that happen again, if he could help it.

So now, Nadal awaits either Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray in Sunday's finale, which gives him a full two days to rest his weary body as he pursues the 11th Grand Slam title of his decorated career.

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