Rafael Nadal regrets the vital mishit of the fifth set in the Australian Open final – Tennis News
World number two, Rafael Nadal, lost an epic five-set marathon to his arch rival, world number one, Novak Djokovic in the final of the Australian Open on Sunday. The Spaniard still can’t believe that he missed the forceful
backhand in the seventh game of the fifth set at scores of 30-15. Djokovic was all drained out and had already given up trying a return on that point but Nadal over hit the backhand that landed just long.
He had it reviewed but just to increase the pain of losing such a crucial point at that stage. Had he won that point, he would have been 40-15 up in the game and in a much more commanding position. Unfortunately Djokovic
broke his serve; if Nadal had held his serve at that stage he would have taken a monumental lead of 5-2 but luck had written a different script for him. He still regrets his crucial miss at that stage.
Talking about that crucial rally, he stated, “It’s true I had a big mistake with 30-15. But it’s not the moment to think about that. That’s just another moment in an almost six-hour match. Forget about that knowing that 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.”
Everyone was absolutely thrilled by watching such an action-packed encounter between the two masters of tennis. Spanish number one will definitely feel the pain of losing the seventh final match in a row from the Serb. It
hurts losing so many close matches in a row but it’s a game and there is only one winner; Djokovic was lucky at the end. Last year, the Serb won six back-to-back finales against Nadal and this year he commences the rivalry in the same fashion.
One positive that the Spaniard took from the six hours thriller on Sunday was that he fought till the end and extended the match to five sets without any psychological pressure. He stated, “I didn’t have mental problems today
against him. I had, in 2011, all these mental problems. Today I didn’t. I compete with normal conditions against him, no?”
Playing against Djokovic only makes him better and he loves to raise his composure, tempo and level of play against the Serb to match his class. It is just a start to the New Year; Nadal will have his chances and who knows
he will be able to turn around the results in his favour in the next battle.
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