Press Trust Of India
New York, Sept 5: Rafa Nadal said Sunday that he was sad to have squandered an opportunity to do something special at the US Open with his fourth round loss at Flushing Meadows here, but happy with his effort and prospects going forward this season.
“I fight until the end,” Nadal said after his five-set loss to Lucas Pouille. “There were things I could do better. I had the right attitude. I fought right up to the last ball. But I need something else, I needed something more that was not there today. I am going to keep working to try to find that.”
Nadal returned from more than two months of inaction at the Rio Games, where he won the doubles gold. While he reports continued improvement in his left wrist, the 30-year-old Spaniard said that he has a long way to go to reach his peak.
“Is true that I don’t have lot of matches on my shoulders for the last three, four months, but even like this I lost an opportunity,” Nadal said. I lost an opportunity to have a very good event here. I am sad for that. I need to keep improving the level of tennis to be back where I was before the injury.”
Nadal stated that although the Grand Slam season was over, he still has goals. “I have the motivation to keep working,” he asserted. “I needed to serve better in some moments. I needed to create more pain on the opponent with my shots. That was something that I didn’t make today (Sunday).”