Tennis legend Rafael Nadal is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time, alongside Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. However, even with 22 Grand Slam titles, including a record of 14 French Open wins, the Spaniard also has some career regrets and lows, and he recently revealed the one match he would play again.
âI believe that if I could play a game again, maybe it would be the 2014 Australian [Open] final, to see if I donât get hurt,â said Nadal, speaking in a Q&A session on his new TikTok account.
In that 2014 final, the former world No 1 lost 6â3, 6â2, 3â6, 6â3 to Stan Wawrinka, who won his first Grand Slam title. The Swiss also became the first player to defeat the Top seeds, as he also beat No. 2 seed Djokovic in the semifinals.
Ahead of the final, Nadal had a perfect record against the Swiss, with 12 wins and 26 sets. Nadal had arrived to the final having won two the last three Grand Slams, and with a record of 26 consecutive hard-court wins from March to October 2013.
Nadal, who won two Australian Open titles in all his career, injured his back during the pre-match warmup. Despite the discomfort, Nadal chose to play. âI did not want to retire,â he revealed at the time. âIt was not an easy situation for me. I tried hard. I tried to finish the match as well as I could, for the crowd, for the opponent, for me.â
Wawrinka stopped Nadal from the Double Grand Slam
At the time, Nadal was also looking to win a double career Grand Slam, meaning that he would have won all the majors at least twice. However, he would achieve the feat in 2022. Djokovic, on the other hand, has achieved the triple career Grand Slam.
While Nadal is known for being the King of Clay, the Spaniard also had a strong hard-court record. He reached the finals of the Australian Open six times, losing four. He lost twice to Djokovic, once to Federer and another to Wawrinka. He also won four US Open titles, only losing one final against Djokovic in 2011.
