Offering no regrets, just pride, Rafael Nadal accepted his gut-wrenching Australian Open final loss to Novak Djokovic with the grace and class we’ve come to expect from the humble Spaniard.
For the third time in six months, Djokovic thwarted Nadal’s quest for an 11th career major with a gripping 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-7 (7-5) 7-5 victory in the longest men’s grand slam final in tennis history.
Instead of joining living legends Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg in equal fourth place on the all-time grand slam title leaderboard, Nadal departed Melbourne Park with a somewhat dubious and undeserving place in the record books.
The 25-year-old Majorcan is now the only man in the 45-year open era to lose three successive grand slam finals after his latest disappointment followed four-set defeats to Djokovic at Wimbledon and the US Open last year.
But rather than dwell on his five-hour, 53-minute near miss, Nadal hailed Djokovic as a worthy champion and celebrated their gladiatorial showdown at Rod Laver Arena.
“I just accept,” Nadal said.
“I think we played a great tennis match. It was, I think, a very good show. I enjoyed being part of this event and this match. That’s the truth.
“Physically, it was the toughest match I ever played. I wanted to win, but I am happy about how I did. I had my chances against the best player of the world today.”
Nadal candidly conceded Djokovic had psychologically wounded him last year, but believed he’d now conquered his mental demons – even in defeat.
“I really had real, very real, chances to have the title and to win against a player who I lost to six times last year,” the world No.2 said.
“I never put him in this situation during 2011, all 2011, so that’s another positive thing for me. I didn’t have mental problems today against him. I had in 2011 all these mental problems.
“I played more aggressive. I played with more winners than ever. My serve worked well. The mentality and the passion was there another time, better than probably never before.
“So I just lost the final of a grand slam – I am not happy to lose the final, yes – but that’s one of the losses that I am more happy about in my career.”
Nadal’s efforts were even more remarkable considering he was in hospital in tears, thinking his Open was over before it began after his knee locked up on the eve of the championships.
“Seriously, 20 hours before the tournament start for me, I was more worried and try to play the first round, try to play the tournament, because I had a really strange thing the Sunday afternoon,” he said.
“I was lucky. Recovery was fantastic. But I am lucky that I have all of this team around me. Without them, probably I am going to be at home two weeks earlier.”
