Two years after his defeat in the final of the 2014 Australian Open, Rafael Nadal still cannot forget about that match against Stan Wawrinka, calling it the toughest and worst loss in his entire career.

Nadal admitted to bazonline.ch that injury played a major part in his poor performance at the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne, Australia. Nadal lost in four sets, 3-6 2-6 6-3 3-6 in that championship round and couldn’t avoid the upset loss to the eighth-seeded Wawrinka, who bagged his first majors title with the Australian victory.

Wawrinka completely dominated an injured Nadal in that match-up, firing 19 aces and breaking Nadal five times. That championship was actually the start of Wawrinka’s rise to the elite group in the men’s singles competition as the Swiss climbed the ATP rankings and also won the 2015 French Open a few months later.Nadal also called the French Open final as the “biggest surprise” for him for the 2015 ATP season but admitted that Wawrinka’s performance against Djokovic in the championship round was “amazing”. Wawrinka defeated Djokovic, 4–6,6–4 6–3 6–4 at the Roland Garros final.

Nadal has since dropped in the ATP rankings, moving outside the elite group that still includes rivals Djokovic, Federer and Andy Murray. Nadal is currently ranked at No. 7, his lowest ranking in recent years.

However, Nadal admitted that he’s improved mentally of late, saying the feelings of anxiety are now gone and that he’s motivated to play better in 2016. Nadal, who struggled with various injuries the past two years, said 2015 was not the ideal season but that it was not a total disaster.

As for main rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, Nadal said that both are excellent players, and that he considers the Serbian the best tennis player in the world right now. Nadal also stated that Federer would continue to battle for a Grand Slam title despite being already 34 years old.

Meanwhile, Nadal averted disaster on Monday after pulling off the comeback victory over Lukas Rosol in the first round of the 2015 Swiss Indoors Basel. Nadal lost the first set, 1-6 but won the next two, 7-5, 7-6 (4) to advance to the next round where the Spaniard will face the winner of the Sergiy Stakhovsky-Grigor Dimitrov match-up.

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