World number two Rafael Nadal says he still considers his 2012 season to be great, stating that his perfect run during the recent claycourt season is something that could consider the best highlight of the season.
Nadal just suffered his worst defeat in seven years at a Grand Slam event, losing his second round match against 100th ranked Lukas Rosol of Czech Republic. Nadal, who just won his 7th Roland Garros title earlier this month, was a finalist in this tournament last year.
“That’s sport. You win, you lose. The last four months were great for me. It was probably one of the best four months of my career, playing unbelievable in the clay-court season,” he said.
“You play against an inspired opponent and I am out. That’s all. It’s not a tragedy. It’s only a tennis match. At the end, that’s life. There are much more important things. Sure, I wanted to win, but I lost. That’s it,” he added.
The two-time Wimbledon winner said that he was “very, very disappointed” with the loss considering that this happened earlier in a tournament which he thought he could go as far as to winning it.
“In the end is a second round match. It’s not the semifinals or the final, so that bothers [me] more, because then you feel that you had the chance to win the title,” he said.
“I’m not going to say in the point of my career today the only thing that going to work for me is the victory, but more or less. So I was very far to win the tournament. I just was in the second round. That’s painful, because it’s always tough to lose,” the Spaniard admitted.
Nadal is now setting his sights at the upcoming 2012 London Olympics tournament which will also take place at the All England Club in Wimbledon next month. He is the defending champion, having won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
