"I left devastated" - Rafael Nadal's uncle Toni deems Novak Djokovic clash the 'worst defeat' of Spaniard's career, admits he can't bear to watch it

Rafael Nadal's uncle Toni recently described the match between Novak Djokovic and the Spaniard in the final of the 2012 Australian Open as the "worst defeat" of the 22-time Grand Slam champion's career. He also confessed that nowadays, he could not bring himself to watch the match again.

Nadal and Djokovic have faced each other a staggering 60 times on the ATP tour, with the Serb emerging victorious in 31 of those encounters. They have only met twice at the Australian Open - in the 2012 and 2019 finals. Djokovic, a ten-time champion at the Melbourne Major, won both of those finals.

In 2012, Rafael Nadal was seeded second at the Australian Open and defeated players like qualifier Alex Kuznetsov, Tommy Haas, qualifier Lukas Lacko, 18th seed and compatriot Feliciano Lopez in the first four rounds. He then overcame seventh seed Tomas Berdych, and third seed Roger Federer in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, to reach his third final in Melbourne.

In the title clash, the former World No.1 faced defending champion Novak Djokovic .The Serb emerged victorious with a score of 5–7, 6–4, 6–2, 6–7(5), 7–5 in a final that lasted nearly six hours, making it the longest match in Australian Open history and the longest Grand Slam singles final ever

Recently, while speaking with MARCA at the MARCA Sport Weekend, Rafael Nadal's uncle, Toni reflected on the 2012 Australian Open final and labeled it as the "worst defeat" of the Spaniard's career. He also expressed that he felt devastated after the match .

"The worst defeat was the Australian final against Djokovic in 2012. I haven't watched that match again because I left devastated. The injuries made us live with the sword of Damocles without knowing when Rafael's career would end. We always thought it would end soon. The retirements due to injury, at Roland Garros, in Australia... The worst defeat was the 2012 Australian final, I left devastated," Toni said (translated from Spanish).

Rafael Nadal faced Novak Djokovic again at the Australian Open in 2019

Rafael Nadal (L) & Novak Djokovic (R) at the 2019 Australian Open [Source: Getty]

Following the intense 2012 Australian Open final, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic once again met at the Melbourne Major in the 2019 title clash.

Nadal was seeded second in the tournament and defeated the likes of wildcard James Duckworth, Matthew Ebden, 27th seed Alex de Minaur, and Tomas Berdych in the first four rounds rounds. He then triumphed over Frances Tiafoe in the quarterfinals and 14th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals to secure his spot in the final of the Melbourne Major for the fifth time.

Meanwhile, Djokovic was the top seed at the 2019 Australian Open and he defeated qualifier Mitchell Krueger, wildcard Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 25th seed Denis Shapovalov, 15th seed Daniil Medvedev, eighth seed Kei Nishikori, and 28th seed Lucas Pouille to reach the final.

In the championship match, Novak Djokovic defeated the 22-time Grand Slam champion with a score of 6–3, 6–2, 6–3 to claim his seventh Australian Open title and his 15th Grand Slam title overall.