Nadal: Giving All Is Ultimate Victory
Winning isn’t everything.Rafael Nadal continues to put everything into winning.Watch: US Open Live Blog Blown out in the opening set, Nadal showed fierce fight edging a determined Dominic Thiem, 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5) in a US Open quarterfinal epic for the ages.The top seed, who was limited to just seven points in the opening set, relied on guts and guile to pull out the fifth-set tiebreak in a match that ended at 2:03 a.m.The 17-time Grand Slam champion said at this stage of his career, he draws almost as much satisfaction from pure effort as he does winning.“Of course for me, I played a lot of long and tough matches in my career,” Nadal said. “That’s one more today. I like this feeling, but at the same time you feel tired after that.“But, you know, winning, losing, I lost in Wimbledon a match like this, today was for me. In some way when you give everything that you have, win or lose, is just that someone have to lose, someone have to win, that’s part of the game. But the personal satisfaction when you give everything and you play with the right attitude is the same.”
The 32-year-old Spaniard has won 27 of his last 28 matches with his lone loss a gut-wrenching 10-8 in the fifth set defeat to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon semifinals.Nadal said giving it all is the ultimate satisfaction.“For me, very happy to be in the semifinals. But being honest, after Wimbledon, I was happy about my attitude and my match there,” Nadal said. “When you win or when you lose like this, you come back home with the feeling that you did all the things that you can do.”Photo credit: US Open Facebook ]]>On my way back to the hotel now. Amazing match against a great player and great guy! And thanks #newyork for the amazing atmosphere and support @usopen pic.twitter.com/DuT2N9YcPg
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) September 5, 2018
