A devastated Rafael Nadal wiped away tears Sunday as he said a sudden back problem made it "impossible" to win the Australian Open final, after his latest injury nightmare at Melbourne Park.
The top seed was denied a 14th Grand Slam title by in-form Swiss star Stanislas Wawrinka, who was crowned champion with a 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3 victory.
Nadal, who was still distraught and fighting back tears as his press conference started, said he first felt a twinge during the warm-up, and the problem gradually got worse.
"It was a little bit worse in the first set. End of the first set, I start to feel worse," he said.
"Then at the beginning of the second was the key moment that I felt, during a serve in a bad movement, it's very stiff, very bad."
He took a medical timeout when 2-1 down in the second set and bravely battled on, but his movement was restricted and the pace of his serves dropped significantly.
Despite clearly being in pain, the Spaniard never considered calling it quits.
"Last thing that I wanted to do was a retirement. No, I hate to do that, especially in a final," he said.
"Same time, it's tough... During the whole year you are working for a moment like this, and it arrives and you feel that you are not able to play at your best.
"So it was not an easy situation for me to be on court like this, but I tried hard until the end, trying to finish the match as good as I can for the crowd, for the opponent, for me.
