2019 Madrid Open SF Rafael Nadal vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas 4-6 6-2 3-6
“I think that it's more normal what is happening right now, than what happened in the past 14 years. I think I have tennis ahead of me. I have time ahead of me. I'll be able to try to win this kind of tournament that I was not able to win this year. And what I have to do is to be fit and to play properly and a high tennis level" .
“If I manage to do that next year, I think I will still have a very good opportunity to fight for all of these titles and for the rest of the year, I still have two [clay-court] tournaments. And we will see what happens there.”
“Tennis is about winning or losing. I have been able to win a lot for a lot of years on this surface. And this year, it seems that's not the way and I am really close to it, but not managing to win. You just have to accept it and I have to accept it naturally. But to accept things does not mean to try to change things.
“But during all my life, I think I have taken the victories very naturally and with a lot of normality. With the losses I'll do the same. It will be normal and I'm going to accept it naturally.”
“We can try and find as many excuses, or ifs, or possibilities, or whys, but at the end, it's a matter of playing good tennis and if you play at a good level, I think I would have been able to win today's match. I wasn't able to play as good as I wanted to play. So, the consequence is that I was not able to win the match.”
“It's a defeat. It's a lost possibility to be able to play a final in an important tournament for me, a lovely tournament. I've lost that opportunity. It just means that I'm not going to be playing a match tomorrow, another day in front of all of these great people who come here to support me. And what they give me, it is impossible to describe and thank them enough.”
“Being honest, my feeling is it was more about me tonight. He is young, he is improving and he has good talent. But I don't see myself losing that match if I play the same level that I played in Barcelona 2018 final, or in Australia at the beginning of the season. That's my feeling. Maybe it's not the truth, but that is my feeling."
Photos: Getty Images; AFP; ZUMA Press; EFE; REUTERS; AP
• Press conference (ENG)
• Press conference (ESP)