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.

9. 2020 US Open: Dominic Thiem (AUT) vs Alexander Zverev (GER)

Scoreline: 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6)

Having lost the Australian Open earlier in the year, Dominic Thiem was hungry for his first Grand Slam.

However, it seemed destined that Novak Djokovic would once again be a Grand Slam champion given his great record and world number one status.

In what transpired to be a massive shock for the tennis world, Djokovic was shockingly pulled from the tournament after striking a line umpire with the ball.

This eventually opened a door of opportunity for the German and the Austrian, one which they both utilised.

After gaining a two-set lead, the German looked in complete control and it seemed a certainty that he would win. However, after finally getting into the match thanks to some big-hitting, Thiem was flying and Zverev seemingly had no way of dealing with it.

The last set saw Zverev serve for the match at 5-3, a lead that should have seen him hold up the trophy. But, ultimately Thiem's grit saw him win the final set in a tiebreak in potentially the best US Open Finals ever.

Zverev has claimed that this match still "haunts" him to this day.