buildup on the border continues. we'll bring you a live report from kyiv. plus, more information on north korea's latest missile test, its 7th this month. we're live in hong kong with the details. and the winter olympics are just around the corner, but the covid case count among olympic personnel is growing. we'll bring you the latest out of beijing. ♪ >> announcer: live from cnn center, this is "cnn newsroom" with rosemary church. good to have you with us. and we begin with a new push for diplomacy as tensions between russia and ukraine remain high. the u.n. security council will convene in the hours ahead with the u.s. ambassador saying this meeting will offer russia another opportunity to find a diplomatic way out of the crisis. this comes as more than 100,000 russian troops remain massed near ukraine, intensifying fears of a possible invasion. the british foreign secretary had this stark assessment. >> we think it's highly likely that he is looking to invade ukraine. that is why we're doing what we can through deterrence on diplomacy to urge him to desist. >> joining us now from kyiv is cnn's melissa bell. good to see you, melissa. so, a new sense of urgency here with the u.n. security council set to discuss the ukraine issue. what is expected to come out of these talks, though? >> reporter: well, another opportunity for the security council and the united states to come face to face with russia and hear from it directly what its intentions are. beyond that, we'll see the united kingdom, russia, germany and france also here in kyiv this week to meet with ukrainian officials. all this against the background, of course, of these rising tensions that we've seen over the course of the last few weeks and the last week specifically when really nato and the united states ratcheted up the pressure on russia. now, these last few days we've really seen a sort of disconnect between ukrainian officials and their assessment of the threat posed by russia, and what the united states has been laying out, doubling down, again, on friday and talking about what it described as the largest buildup since the end of the cold cwar. the ambassador of the united states has been speaking to that on american television this sunday saying, look, there isn't -- it is normal that allies have disagreements, different assessments, but it doesn't mean they're not working together. not too much should be read into this with the ukrainian ambassador also explaining ukraine is grateful the u.s. is at the forefront. this is something we've been hearing here from people in the streets, that ukraine is a country used to tensions with russia, has grown used to huaraz they explained back in 2014. and although its tensions may have risen and fallen since, it has been a constant for ukrainians. here in the streets of kyiv, we saw a demonstration of a few dozen people reaching out with gratitude and zelensky dampening down urging not to panic. we've heard from ukrainian officials. on one hand, they understand the threat is there, but explaining the disconnect from what we've been hearing from the united states and ukraine. today the security council, rosemary, we are likely to hear from the united states about the aggressive assessments on what is happening on ukraine's border and the need to act and hear firmly from russia once and for all its initial response to the proposal laid out by nato and the united states last week, rosemary. >> all right, melissa bell bringing us a live report from kyiv. many thanks. earlier i spoke with cnn and political analyst david sanger about the crisis. i asked him whether he agrees with assessment that a russian invasion is imminent, or if he thinks as some have suggested, that this is all a dramatic way for russia to get western attention. >> it is very possible that putin is doing on a much larger scale right now something he's done on a smaller scale before. he has been known to a mass troops. he did it in april, but nowhere near on this scale. so, what makes this different? first of all, if you put 100, some would say the number is closer to 130,000 out there, he's got to come home with something before he with draws them, or there will be a huge loss of face. so, one question is has he cornered himself at this point? you know, bob gates, the former defense secretary and c.i.a. chief, wrote a column in the f.t. last week. he made the point when you unsheathe the sword like this, you can do anything but sit on it. and so he's either going to have to invade or he's going to have to pull them back. i think the second interesting possibility, rosemary, is that he may just settle for some kind of agreement that ukraine would not enter nato any time soon, any time in the next decade or two. president biden's already sort of said that. but my guess is if he's going to settle for that, he would have done it by now. >> yeah, so do you see any off ramp at all here so that putin can save face during this, this diplomatic process as they try to thrash out some possibilities here? >> i do. so, first of all, the ukrainians who are upset with the united states and britain for coming out and making public all of this data and creating, in their minds, a sense of crisis, might negotiate something on their own with the russians. they've certainly had some back channels going. the second possibility is that another nato member like germany may formally say, we're going to block ukraine's accession to nato the next 20 or 30 years. the third possibility is that the u.s. and its nato allies could come to an agreement to negotiate a new intermediate nuclear forces agreement with russia. they may come to the conclusion to renew some kind of an agreement that would make exercises limited in size and pull them away from borders, and maybe the russians will declare that was enough. but it doesn't sound like that right now. >> david sanger with great analysis as always. well, north korea is confirming what analysts suspected. the country's state-run news agency reports pyongyang test fired an intermediate range missile known as the hwasong 12 on sunday. this is the most powerful ballistic missile north korea has tested since 2017, and the seventh missile test this month alone. the biden administration says it would like to return to diplomatic talks with pyongyang, but they are still waiting for an official response. for more on all of this, we want to bring in ivan watson. he joins us live from hong kong. great to see you, ivan. what more are you learning about the missile test and what kim jong-un actually wants? >> reporter: well, it's been part of this missile launching binge that north korea has been on throughout the month of january, the seventh test launch in just one month. and in this case, identified as an intermediate range ballistic missile, one that could reach a maximum amount of 2 to approximately 2,000 kilometers, and would have flown a distance of about 800 kilometers. it was detected by the south korean military, by the japanese government, by the u.s. military. all of these allies have come out criticizing the missile launch, saying it is a violation of united nations security council resolutions. the south korean defense ministry on monday morning went to visit with the military unit who are in charge of defense against things like missile attacks, telling them to please be on the ready. and the south korean president, moon jae-in, he convened his national security council at an emergency meeting sunday soon after the morning launch took place from north korea. and in comments to journalists basically said that he thinks that north korea could be heading towards lifting its self-imposed moratorium on inter-continental ballistic launches and on nuclear tests which has been in place, basically, since 2018. that would, of course, ratchet up the tensions significantly on the korean peninsula. we have not seen missile launches at this tempo really since 2017. if you can think back to when president trump was in office in the white house, hurling insults at the north korean dictator, calling him little rocketman, who was firing insults back. this is before the two leaders engaged in their historic face to face diplomacy. the white house has made clear that it is reaching out to the north korean government. it would like to conduct talks, but not at the level of heads of state. and a senior white house official tells cnn that it appears that the north koreans would want that kind of high-level, high-stakes diplomacy, but that's not something that washington right now is inclined to do. rosemary? >> all right, ivan watson joining us from hong kong. many thanks. we turn now to the middle east where the united arab emirates says it destroyed a houthi ballistic missile in yemen. the u.a.e. showed this video which they say shows the damage. the launch site was destroyed after their forces intercepted and destroyed another ballistic missile targeting the u.a.e. now, this comes after a series of attacks initiated by the iran-backed houthis this month. for more on this, we want to bring in cnn's jumanna caratachea on the eastern shore. what are you learning about this? >> reporter: rosemary, the ministry defense in the u.a.e. said it intercepted this ballistic missile targeting the the u.a.e. it says the remains, the fragments landed outside a residential area, so there are no reports of casualty or damage. as you mentioned a short time after, they released the footage of what they said was a strike that destroyed the launch site of that missile in yemen. this is, of course, coming at a time of that historic visit by the israeli president to the u.a.e. and the israeli spokesman saying herzog and his entourage was in no danger. this was the third attack or attempted attack by the iranian-backed houthi rebels targeting the u.a.e. this month. a couple weeks ago, at least three foreign workers were killed in a drone and missile attack that targeted the u.a.e. last week the attack was thwarted by u.s. and u.a.e. forces when ballistic missiles targeted the airbase outside abu dhabi. this is really a continuing escalation that was promised by the yemeni houthi rebels saying they are going to continue what they are describing this campaign, targeting the u.a.e., trying, they say, they wanted to end its involvement in the war in yemen. of course, the u.a.e. a key member of the saudi-led coalition. it did withdraw its troops from yemen back in 2019, but recent l recently, rosemary, it backed groups engaged in intense fighting with the houthis in a number of oil-rich provinces. now, the big question when it comes to these attacks is how involved is iran in all of this? how much knowledge does it have of its proxies launching these attacks targeting the u.a.e.? how much of a green light could it have given to these attacks? because it's really coming at a time where we're seeing the region headed toward de-escalation on so many different levels with diplomatic talks between the u.a.e. and iran, saudi arabia, and in iran you have the nuclear talks going on between the west and iran. so a lot of questions about iran's involvement, possibly in all of this, and what role it may or may not have played in the attacks targeting the u.a.e. questions remain unanswered, rosemary. >> jumanna caratachea joining us live. many thanks. coming up, the latest mutation of the omicron variant now spreading to dozens of countries. plus the kremlin steps up its propaganda push as tensions rise between russia and ukraine. . what about rob's dry cough? works on that too, and lasts 12 hours. 12 hours?! who studies that long? mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs. the reality of living with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's disease... means you might be dealing with a lot of symptoms... which can change your plans at any time gut-focused entyvio is made for you. entyvio is the only medicine just for uc and cd that is gut-focused. entyvio has helped many patients achieve long-term relief and remission. it may help you, too. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen... during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection which can be serious. although unlikely, a risk of pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection cannot be ruled out. tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. liver problems can occur with entyvio. if other treatments haven't worked well enough, ask your doctor about entyvio. find out if entyvioconnect can help... with the cost of treatment, whether you are insured or not. entyvio, made for the gut, made for remission, made for you. do you struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep? qunol sleep formula combines 5 key nutrients that can help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed. the brand i trust is qunol. we are now learning more about the newest coronavirus mutation. it is a version of omicron called ba-2 and was first identified in early december. it's already infected people in at least 49 countries, including the united states. early data suggests the new variant appears to be more contagious, but health experts say it is not a cause for alarm. here's what the former commissioner of the fda has to say. >> if you had omicron infection, you should have protection against subsequent infection from this new variant. that's why i don't think this is going to create a huge wave of infection. what's likely to happen is as we were coming down, we were coming down quite sharply in the northeast, florida, the mid-atlantic. you might see as the new strain starts to pickup, you might see we start to slow down in decline. the decline will happen nonetheless. >> a new study from england found similar results. transmission is likely to be higher with ba-2 although vaccines will be effective. europe will be lifting covid restrictions in the coming days. jim bittermann joins me now live from paris. what is the situation across europe? >> reporter: rosemary, in fact, february is going to be a month where i think we're going to see a number of restrictions lifted here. sometimes with reason, sometimes without. in any case in france, for example, starting on wednesday there is going to be a reduction in rules here, restrictions that have been in place, for example outdoor masking no longer required when you're outdoors. the number of people allowed in certain venues will go up. there will be a number of changes that people will have, for example, you won't have to be required to work from home. employers aren't required to have their workers work from home. they still recommend it, but nonetheless. in austria, for example, there is going to be a lifting of restrictions on saturday. the bars and clubs and stuff will be able to open up a little longer during the day, and despite the fact they are seeing a record number of infection rates, but there are some countries that aren't reducing restrictions. one is germany, for example, where they just hit a record high incidence rate. so it's a mixed bag across europe, but i think we're going to see some restrictions reduces. >> jim bittermann joining us live from paris. many thanks. well, denmark is expected to lift all its covid restrictions on tuesday. health officials say they are confident about making this move due to high levels of immunity there. for more on this, want to bring in dr. kamala holton in copenhagen with the institute. thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks, good morning. >> so, why does denmark think now is the right time to lift all covid restrictions? and do you worry at all that this could prove premature? >> well, it is, of course, ode to the omicron variant we heard from my colleague here. what we are seeing is case counts are still going up in denmark as well, but we also do see that the severity of the illness is actually very much less than we saw during the delta wave, and that is why we can lift these restrictions at the current situation. and, of course -- >> so, how will denmark protect vulnerable groups, and what plans do they have in place to ensure that young children, for instance, in schools are safe? >> so, the plan is still to protect our vulnerable groups. we started offering the fourth vaccination to immunocompromised patients. also we are still advised to wear a mask or be tested if you visit nursing homes or hospitals. also we do test nursing home coworkers once weekly. we screen them simply with pcr tests to ensure no outbreaks in nursing homes. twice weekly we recommend screening tests in schools. it is recommended during february. >> and denmark boasts a high vaccination rate. so will residents still be wearing masks? >> well, you can choose yourself whether you want to wear a mask. it is still recommended in some situations, especially if you are going to collect children in schools or day care, you should still wear a mask. of course, also it will be recommended in visitors in nursing homes and hospitals. otherwise it is also lifted simply, so it does more or less your own call whether to decide to wear a mask. >> so what lessons can the rest of the world learn from what denmark's done? >> well, this is what we call precision epidemiology. what we do is try to lift possibly all restrictions in a situation where we can see ahead that this is going to be, of course, still a wave with omicron during february. but we also expect that patients going to hospital will not be ill. a lot will present with other illnesses, but just testing positive for covid. so we, of course, still need to handle that situation, but overall to lift what is possible as soon as possible, that's the strategy here in denmark. >> do you think it's only because denmark has this high vaccination rate that it's possible to go ahead and do this? or would you recommend that this is perhaps we are maybe at a time where other nations need to consider whether to have high vaccination rates or not, to go forward and do this? we need to learn to live with covid? >> we do see that the omicron variant is a breakthrough infection. meaning we see people who are fully vaccinated having the infection. but what is really important to stress is that we also see that booster vaccinated very less likely to be admitted to hospital with severe illness. that i think we can owe to denmark lifting restriction as the high vaccination is part of the story, yes. >> all right. dr. kamala holton mueller, thank you so much for talking with us. we appreciate it. >> welcome. amid rising tensions with ukraine, russian state tv is ramping up its propaganda war. one american host is getting a lot of air time. details after the break. and u.s. republican senator lindsey graham has nothing but praise for one of the nominees on president biden's short l li. that story ahead. a delightful cw with pepto bismol chews. did you know that your fabrics trap more than just odors? 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>> reporter: russian media landscape is very different to western media landscape. quite simply, the kremlin here has taken control of media over the last few years. very few independent media. indeed, they have accelerated that pushing down and pushing out the independent media over the last year and a half, and that's left a landscape where the population here is largely fed, largely given the views of the kremlin, and that, in sort of building that view, they particularly pick on any western commentators who are giving views that sort of support the kremlin's lines. and in this case, that has made fox's tucker carlson a significant figure at the moment on pro-kremlin tv. on russian state tv, russian media are getting ridiculed. whether or not they think western journalists are propagandists creating provocation for war. >> you have no idea what's happening in our mind. you have no idea about history. you have no idea what russia is about. you have no idea what ukraine about. why we have a problem? >> reporter: he hosts his own show, proudly pushes the kremlin's views, and fox anchor tucker carlson's. >> he's funny. has his own point of view. he hates biden. he likes trump. so what? >> we start today with breaking news. >> reporter: no irony that in russia, unlike america, criticizing the president is off limits, and never more so than now. in the past year, independent media here have been almost completely crushed. >> feeling tense all the time. you can never be -- you can never be sure that tomorrow you will be, you will be all right. you can never be sure tomorrow your tv station will still be alive. >> reporter: she is an anchor at tv rain, one of russia's last independent stations. it is designated a foreign agent. kremlin lore can snuff it out. she is all too familiar with state tv manipulation, how they use western media and play carlson against broadcast colleagues. >> they like that there is a person who says, are we going to fight russia because of this corrupted eastern european country that we even cannot find on the map? so, as soon as he says something that is not in this, you know, direction that they need, he's not going to be a friend any more. >> reporter: in russia's prop d propoganda war, america is fomenting. >> the idea is to torment vladimir putin. >> reporter: facing accusations of being a pro-putin stooge, carlson has defended some of his pro-russia comments and said he is not a russian agent. so, will he lose his war-stopping value with russia? >> come on. this poor guy from fox news -- well, i like the idea of him being russian spy, russian services. >> reporter: yeah, it's not really the way any respectable journalist is going to want to be portrayed, but that's the thing once caught up in the kremlin spin cycle here. there's really no clear way of knowing how you're actually going to be spat out at the end of it, rosemary. >> very true. great report there. nic robertson joining us live from moscow. many thanks. former u.s. president donald trump is still insisting then vice president mike pence had the power to overturn the 2020 election. he issued a statement sunday with the false claim, saying the bipartisan group of lawmakers working to reform the electoral count act proves his point. it doesn't. the act makes clear the vice president's role is ceremonial. meanwhile, at a weekend rally, trump indicated he would pardon the january 6 rioters if he runs again and wins. >> if i run, and if i win, we will treat those people from january 6th fairly. we will treat them fairly. and if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly. >> in the days and weeks after the riot, five police officers who worked that day died, four by suicide. about 140 other officers were injured. zoe lofgren is a member of the house committee investigating the insurrection. >> this was a crime. and to suggest that the people who did that should be pardoned is really contrary to our system of law and order. >> republican senator lyndsay graham is praising one of u.s. president's joe biden's picks to replace retiring justice breyer. he called u.s. district judge j. michelle childs, a highly gifted jurist and said he could not think of a better person for the job. here's more. >> it would be good for the court to have somebody who is not at harvard or yale. she's a graduate of the university of south carolina, a public education background. she's been a workers' comp judge. she's highly qualified. she's a good character, and we'll see how she does if she's nominated. but i cannot say anything bad about michelle childs. she is an awesome person. >> republican support from graham helps relieve pressure on president biden as he weighs which candidate to select. meantime, other women rumored to be on mr. biden's short list include california supreme court justice leandra krueger, cheryl ann iffel and several others. the president is expected to officially select his supreme court nominee next month. and still to come, can china curb the surge in covid cases with only days to go until the start of the beijing winter olympics? 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talk to your doctor and say yess to linzess. learn how abbvie and ironwood could help you save on linzess. everyone needs health insurance. covered california is making sure more people can get it. new federal funding of $3 billion is available to help more californians get covered. julie and bob are paying $700 less every month. dee now gets comprehensive coverage with no monthly premium. and the novarros are paying under $100 per month. check coveredca.com to see your new lower price. covered california. this way to health insurance. enrollment ends january 31st. welcome back, everyone. well, all eyes are on china this week as the country gears up for two big events in the midst of the pandemic. the lunar new year and the winter olympics. and with just four days to go before the opening ceremony in beijing, china is reporting 37 more infections among olympic personnel. cnn's steven jung joins me now. what more are you learning about this? >> reporter: the fact we are having infections inside this closed loop is inevitable, chinese officials have acknowledged. they are stressing the number of positive cases accounts for a tiny percentage of all the games' personnel in those bubbles and they intend to keep it that way. and state media has reported there is no community spread of the virus within this closed loop so far, and this, of course, is an increasingly daunting task as time goes on, and with more events kicking off. and that, of course, is also in the context of omicron being so contagious. but as of now, most of cnn's colleagues covering these games within the bubble have also arrived, and one offer their first impressions was the walls and the fences around their hotel, and also around all the olympic venues. that, of course, in a way is almost a metaphor for the sense of disconnect a lot of ordinary chinese seem to feel about the winter olympics this time around. not only there is not a single ticket available for sale to the general public because of the pandemic, a lot of them have also seen their travel plans runed or ruined or disrupted. the lunar new year is on the chinese calendar. a lot of people are unfortunately stuck now instead of going home to see their loved ones. this is probably a reason for the stark contrast for those of us who have covered the 2008 games. back then you felt a lot of sense of excitement, anticipation, embracing the outside world palpable in the city. right now if you talk to people, on their social media post, there is more of a sense of frustration or annoyance or sometimes hostility toward westerners, especially americans with the u.s. government's diplomatic boycott, very much reported and criticized here in the chinese state media. rosemary? >> all right, steven jung joining us live from beijing. many thanks. it will now add a content advisory to all pod casts that mention covid-19. the move comes after several artists said they will leave the platform as it continues to host joe rogan who has spread misleading claims about the virus. cnn's ma tasha chen has our report. >> reporter: spotify c.e.o. daniel eck wrote a public letter on the platform's website sunday explaining spotify's rules and how he says they'll do more to combat covid-19 misinformation. eck says, quote, it is important to me that we don't take on the position of being content censor, while also making sure there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them. he says, spotify is working to add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes discussion about covid-19. it will direct listeners to a covid-19 hub that provides data-driven facts and up to date information from trusted sources in the public health community. in an effort to be more transparent, spotify also published its long-standing platform rules. the part of the rules addressing false or deceptive medical information says content cannot cause off-line harm or pose a direct threat to public health. some examples spotify gave is claiming covid-19 is a hoax or vaccines are designed to kill people. pod casts by joe rogan are available exclusively on the platform. his is cited by 250 doctors, nurses and scientists in an open letter to spotify earlier this month calling for a stronger enforceable policy on misinformation. then within the last week, neil young, joni mitchell said they would remove their music from spotify. brene brown will remove her pod casts. and prince harry and duchess meghan released a statement through their foundation spokesperson that said they urge spotify to meet the moment and have been talking to spotify about this issue as early as april of last year. spotify shares are down 7.7% over the past week. back to you. well, this weekend's powerful winter storm on the u.s. east coast has left behind bone-chilling temperatures and record snowfall in some areas. the bitter cold stretches all the way down to florida where millions are under freeze alerts. the dangerous conditions have also made travel a mess, with about 5,000 flights canceled this weekend alone. so, let's turn to our meteorologist pedram javaheri. he's been taking a very close look at this. so, good to see you, pedram. what's the latest on this u.s. winter storm, and when can we expect to see improved temperatures? >> you know, i think wednesday, thursday. so, we've got a couple days left and conditions go back downhill again later in the week. want to touch on this because the amount of snowfall as you noted is pretty impressive. record values in some cases, 10 inches above what was the previous record for the day. the airport, previous record sits at 1. you see the incredible disparity in most locations where about twice as much or more what was the above -- the record for the day. the satellite perspective kind of tells the tale as far as the significant amount of coverage around the northeastern u.s. of course, in some of these areas we saw as much as 30 inches come down. state maxim 31 inches. boston picked up 2 feet of snow which was the most they've seen since 2003 for a single day's worth of snow. again, that's the element that's tapering off now, quieting down. we expect warmer temperatures mid week. but not the case across parts of florida. we do have freeze alerts, widespread across portions of central, even southern florida, the temperature this morning down into the 40s, even into the keys getting down into the upper 40s and lower 50s. incredible cold by their standards for any time of year. of course, even ft. myers 36 degrees. that trend begins warming up here the next couple days as well, but we're watching carefully what's across portions of the interior northwest. another storm sils temperature and the elements for the storm system migrate west. as early as tuesday night extending into thursday night, we see an event line up potentially for not only more snowfall, but even a 2,000 mile stretched of land where ice can accumulate. a decent amount of ice. we have to see where this plays out. notice the significant threat here. next time you see the color pink on a weather map, we know that's an ice accretion potential and the coverage is what's potentially most impressive because some of the areas could see as much as 3/4 of an inch of ice in the region. story will follow as the week progresses. >> pedram javaheri, appreciate it. at least 18 people are dead after heavy rain in sao paulo, brazil. floods, landslides and road closures are reported throughout the state. officials say five people are still missing and 500 have been left homeless. the state's governor says almost $3 million will be allocated to the hardest-hit areas. coming up here on "cnn newsroom," tennis star rafael nadal is now the all-time leader in men's grand slam titles. how the spaniard battled back to win in epic fashion at the australian open. for an exhilarating blend of essential oils. curated with citrus and mint to uplift the senses and transform your mood. air wick essential mist aroma. it's time for sleep number's january sale on the sleep number 360 smart bed. what if i sleep hot? 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get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! well, we now know who will play in super bowl lvi, and it's a match-up few would have predicted when the season began. the cincinnati bengals will meet the los angeles rams on february 13th. the bengals led by star quarterback joe borough won the afc title on sunday over the heavily-favored kansas city chiefs. cincinnati overcame an 18-point deficit for a 27-24 overtime victory. and in the nfc, the rams beat the san francisco 49ers 20-17. they'll be hosting the super bowl in l.a. the second straight year a team will play the title game in their home stadium. well, it was an australian open final for the ages as spanish superstar rafael nadal rallied back from two sets down to win the men's singles title. the win puts nadal's name in the record books with his 21st grand slam title, the most ever by a men's tennis player. the 35-year-old beat russia's daniil medvedev in five sets at a sold-out rod laver arena. joining me now from london is cnn tennis contributor robbie. good to have you with us. so, what a win for rafael nadal. i mean, after all the drama at the start of this tournament surrounding novak djokovic and also nadal's injury concerns, but he pulled it off, didn't he? >> rosemary, great to be with you. and he did pull it off. i have to say i never saw it coming. i never saw it coming before the tournament because he was coming back from a long-standing foot problem. didn't have a lot of matches. and then in the actual match itself, rosemary, when he was down two sets, he's almost down two sets and a break, he is 35. i didn't think he would have the stamina to play more than four hours against one of the fittest guys in all of tennis. and also a guy, rosemary, who is probably the best hard court player or the second best hard court player in all of tennis. this comeback, i don't think it's a stretch to say, rosemary, it's probably or could be the biggest comeback in find grand slam set. >> that is saying something. nadal broke the record up against the likes of djokovic and federer. all three fitting on 20 majors leading into this australian open. let's talk about just how remarkable this was for him. >> yeah, it's absolutely remarkable. because of all the injury problems he has had, he was saying a few months ago he didn't know if he would be able to come back. he had some very difficult conversations with his team. was it going to be worth it? would he be able to get fit to be in the situation? rosemary, not only his foot. his wrist, he's had appendicitis. he's had knee issues throughout his career. also, rosemary, i think people may feel some of it, but rafael is a clay court player. the australian title is on a different surface. to pass federer and djokovic, people will be looking at rafa a little differently now. recall also, rosemary, this was the grand slam, the australian open, where he has had the most heart break in his career, absolutely no question. he lost two finals. he was up by a break in a fifth. he was injured in another final. to do it in this fashion, it seemed like, rosemary, a bit of destiny novak djokovic wasn't there, his nemesis, in terms of beat being him on a hard court. the stars aligned for rafa. >> amazing. then gave a heart felt news conference after the match. he certainly didn't much respect from the melbourne crowds, did he? >> yeah, he's a polarizing figure, rosemary. in a sense that's a bit unfortunate because he does bring a lot to the game. and you know what? he's a little bit like kyrgios. in the semi final, there is a big greek community. he should have known that the crowd was going to be overwhelmingly for rafa in this final, but as rafa said after the match, he hopes in the years to come maybe he's going to have fans behind him. still the other player will be playing the next ten years hopefully, even though he said in the press conference when he was down beat the way the crowd was, he thought maybe he wasn't going to play past the age of 30. i believe there is more to come from medvedev. it reflected a nice way, that level is going to come in years ahead. >> all right. robbie, thank you so much. appreciate it. a spacex launch has been delayed after a cruise ship ventured too close to the no-go zone. spacex was supposed to send an italian satellite system into orbit on sunday, but the company says the cruise ship couldn't get clear of the flight path in time to make the launch happen. bad weather around florida's cape canaveral had already delayed the launch three times. spacex says they'll try again in the coming hours. and thank you so much for your company. i'm rosemary church. have yourselves a wonderful day. 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