His Rafa Slam was evaporating. The 25-match winning streak in Grand Slams and his bid to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major titles at once was three games from ending.
He was hurt. He was down two sets and a break. It was the same court, and the same round where he retired in the Australian Open last year. Yet the idea of packing it in didn't even enter his mind.
"I hate the retirements," he said, "This wasn't the day. I did last year. I hate that moment. ... Didn't want to repeat that."
Six games later, Nadal was out of the tournament, losing 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer on Wednesday in Rod Laver Arena, the centre court at Melbourne Park named after the Australian great whose four consecutive majors he was trying to match.
"It's a victory for me. But it's not a victory really," Ferrer said.
Laver, who lives in Carlsbad, California, was surprised to hear of Nadal's loss.
"I'll be darned," Laver said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "I thought he'd come all the way through. They were all counting that he was going to be the defending champion in all four tournaments.
"That's disappointing for him, really. In a way, that was an effort to put all those tournaments together through last year. It really was a good performance. I had him as being favored, even to beat Federer, the way he was playing. He just has got a game that's difficult for Roger."
Laver is the last man to win a true Grand Slam, made up of the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in a calendar year. He did it twice, as an amateur in 1962 and again in 1969.
Again, it was Australia Day. Again, Nadal's match was interrupted by fireworks for the national day celebrations. Again, the match was a dud.
Nadal received treatment to his upper left thigh after the third game. He had the thigh heavily strapped. He needed treatment again after the first set.
"I can say nothing about the injury," he said. "Seriously, I would prefer to not talk a lot about the injury.
"For respect to the winner and to a friend, I prefer to talk about the match. I think he played at a very high level. I just congratulate him and wish him all the best for the semifinal."
He was later quoted in Spanish as saying he had a small tear in a muscle in his upper left leg.
Unlike last year, when he retired to eventual finalist Andy Murray in the quarterfinals, Nadal was more confident about having another successful season.
"It is different because last year was the knees. I had a problem, big problem, in the knee in the past," he said.
"This year everything is a little bit different. I have three more Grand Slams. ... This year we start with a little bit of bad luck. I'm gonna work hard to come back and to keep having chances and to compete against the best players and to keep being in the top positions of the ranking."
