World number one Rafael Nadal said he would hate to quit a Grand Slam final despite the back injury that derailed his Australian Open hopes.
Nadal lost 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3 to Stanislas Wawrinka, ending his bid for a second Australian and 14th Grand Slam title.
The Spaniard, 27, had been hoping to become only the third man to win all four major titles at least twice.
“The last thing that I wanted to do was retire. No, I hate to do that, especially in a final,” he said.
“At the same time, it’s tough to see yourself during the whole year, working for a moment like this, and the moment arrives and you feel that you are not able to play at your best.”
The Spaniard revealed that he had felt an issue with his back even before the match had started.
“Since the beginning I felt it a little bit, from the warm-up,” he said. “At the end of the first set, I started to feel worse.
“Then at the beginning of the second was the key moment that I felt, during a serve in a bad movement, it was very stiff, very bad.”
Nadal then left the court for a medical timeout, unaware of the exact nature of the problem.
Source-BBC
