Rafael Nadal has given his insight into which match he would most like to \u2018replay\u2019 if he was given the opportunity \u2013 and his answer may be surprising to some.<\/p>\n
The Spaniard has done it all, winning 22 Grand Slams \u2013 14 times at Roland Garros \u2013 achieving world No 1 status, and lifting countless Masters 1000 titles.<\/p>\n
However, Nadal<\/a> has \u2013 somewhat inevitably \u2013 also had many heartbreaking losses.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that if I could play a game again, maybe it would be the 2014 Australian [Open] final, to see if I don\u2019t get hurt,\u201d said Nadal, speaking in a Q&A session on his new TikTok account.<\/p>\n In that 2014 final, the former world No 1 lost 6\u20133, 6\u20132, 3\u20136, 6\u20133 to Stan Wawrinka \u2013 who collected his first Grand Slam title.<\/p>\n However, whilst it may seem like a \u2018typical\u2019 final loss, Nadal tweaked his back during the pre-match warmup.<\/p>\n The discomfort quickly became evident, especially within his serve and movement, and would have been a major blow to the Spaniard.<\/p>\n Heading into that match, Nadal had won all 12 matches and 26 sets contested against the Swiss. Additionally, he had won two of the last three Grand Slams \u2013 winning 26 consecutive hard-court matches from March to October 2013.<\/p>\n \u201cI did not want to retire,\u201d stated the 22-time Grand Slam champion after the loss.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was not an easy situation for me. I tried hard. I tried to finish the match as good as I can, for the crowd, for the opponent, for me.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it was impossible to win this way. I have talked enough about the back. That\u2019s life. I\u2019ve had a lot of great moments in my career, and that was a tough one.<\/p>\n That is part of life, part of sport. It is not the end of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Nadal, in his usual humble style, stated: \u201cA lot of people in this world have lots of very tough days. I\u2019m not that kind of person. I feel very lucky to be able to work at something I love to do.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is tough tonight, and in a few weeks that\u2019s going to pass. I\u2019m going to keep working, training hard. I\u2019m going to keep enjoying this world of tennis.<\/p>\n \u201cBut this is Stan\u2019s day, not my day. It is very tough to stop him when he\u2019s playing that way. He\u2019s playing better and better, with amazing confidence, hitting every ball very, very hard, moving great.\u201d<\/p>\n The Australian Open<\/a> has been the site of numerous tough losses for Nadal, the most prominent of which was the record-breaking 2012 final against Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n That match is the longest Grand Slam final at five hours and fifty-three minutes, with the scoreline ultimately being 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 in Djokovic\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n The Spaniard had lost his last two Grand Slam finals against the Serb and missed a routine backhand wide whilst leading 4-2, 30-15 in the fifth set \u2013 ultimately being broken back as a result.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not frustrated: I competed to the maximum,\u201d said Nadal about the match, in a 2024 interview.<\/p>\n \u201cI am satisfied. I have given the most I had. I have played well. I have fought until the end. I lost. The other one beat me.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is sport: if you dedicate yourself to this, you either win or you lose.\u201d<\/p>\n Novak Djokovic-Jakub Mensik Miami Open final preview: prize money, what the players have said & more<\/a><\/p>\n Andy Murray reveals what he said to Lionel Messi at the Miami Open<\/a><\/p>\n Another \u2018regretful\u2019 match is likely his 2007 Wimbledon match against Roger Federer.<\/p>\n Heading into the showpiece match, the pair had won the last nine Grand Slam events \u2013 with Federer having also won the last four Wimbledon titles.<\/p>\n By 2007, it was clear to see that Nadal\u2019s grass-court game had improved vastly and was as equal to the Swiss\u2019 as any other opponent.<\/p>\n After 3 hours and 45 minutes, Federer\u2019s domination continued with a 7\u20136(7), 4\u20136, 7\u20136(3), 2\u20136, 6\u20132 victory over his young rival.<\/p>\n Similarly to his final against Djokovic in Melbourne, Nadal had multiple chances to gain a crucial lead in the fifth set \u2013 unable to take the opportunities at 2-2 on Federer\u2019s serve.<\/p>\n The post Rafael Nadal reveals which match he would love to replay \u2013 and it\u2019s not epic against Novak Djokovic<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rafael Nadal has given his insight into which match he would most like to \u2018replay\u2019 if he was given the opportunity \u2013 and his answer may be surprising to some. The Spaniard has done it all, winning 22 Grand Slams \u2013 14 times at Roland Garros \u2013 achieving world No 1 status, and lifting countless […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Latest ATP News<\/h3>\n