NADAL: "IT IS NOT THE END"

On Wednesday at Roland Garros,Rafael Nadal experienced something for the just the second time in his illustrious career: a defeat at the clay-court Grand Slam.

Novak Djokovic joined Robin Soderling as the only men to topple the King of Clay in his sandbox, derailing Nadal in his bid for an unprecedented 10th title on the terre battue.

For the first time, the Spaniard failed to claim a European clay-court crown and it's something the nine-time champion says he will use as motivation to return even stronger. It's merely a chink in the armour; a blip on the radar according to the former World No. 1.

"I accept the defeats and there is only one sure thing: I want to work harder even than before to come back stronger," Nadal said following the match.

"I am going to fight. I lost in 2009 and it was not the end. I lost in 2015 and it is not the end. I hope to be back here next year with another chance."

Nadal fought hard to pull the first set level at 4-all after falling down an immediate double break as Wednesday's quarter-final commenced. His warrior mentality never waned, even as the Manacor native dropped serve again to relinquish the opener. Djokovic would need nearly two and a half hours to dismiss his rival and Nadal stressed that it was a loss like any other. That is, a disappointing defeat, but one that drives him to return to the pinnacle of the sport.

"This month was quite positive," said Nadal. "Even though, I must say that today was not the greatest of all days. But as I said earlier on, whether you win or lose, life must go on. Next week we will have other competitions and such is life. In my case, life will continue whether I win or lose."

Nadal's blueprint for recovery? Acceptance, analysis and more hard work.

"The first set was key. But then when you lose in the way I lost today, I'd say c'est la vie. It's the way it is. If you look at the score I'd say I didn't win enough games. He played better than I did. You have to accept it and congratulate the other player. Then you have to analyse the reasons and then work really hard. This is what I think I'll have to do now."

The 29 year old returns to the grind as the grass-court season begins with the MercedesCup in Stuttgart 

next week, followed by the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club and Wimbledon.

Source:http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2015/06/22/Roland-Garros-Wednesday-Nadal-Reaction.aspx