Crowd's boos add to pain for Rafael Nadal, says coach Toni

THEY should show him more respect, says the star's uncle, Toni.

AFTER midnight, when the lights were turned out and Rod Laver Arena was empty, when the requirement no longer existed for Rafael Nadal to demonstrate the brave face, it became apparent to his camp how wounding the hostile crowd reception had been during his Australian Open defeat to Stan Wawrinka.

Nadal's coach and uncle, Toni, told The Australian in the early hours of yesterday morning that Nadal refused to retire at Melbourne Park because he wanted to give the capacity crowd its money's worth and allow Wawrinka the honour of being triumphant in a properly completed final of a major championship.

"Just my opinion, but I don't think the crowd should be doing this," Toni Nadal said.

"Rafael has always given his best at this tournament, all tournaments. He tries to treat all of the people with respect.

"He had to continue. He knows that people have paid money for tickets to be here for the match, the grand slam final. He knows a lot of people are seeing the television. He does not want them to have, how do I say, the stopped show.

"Whatever happens to his body, he will finish for them. The crowd here had always been very good for him and Rafael will not complain about no thing, ever.

"But he is disappointed, of course. I wish it had not been like this for him. He wanted to play for the crowd and if he was not going to win, he wanted Wawrinka to be winning a match point. Not shaking hands when a match is stopped. This is important."

Nadal's back injury occurred during the warm-up. Wawrinka sped to a two-sets lead. Nerves and indecision gripped him as Nadal - returning to about 60 per cent of his capabilities thanks to the power of painkillers - won the third set.

Wawrinka steadied just enough to land his first major and leap to third on the world rankings. Post-match, Nadal was publicly gracious, but there was no masking the despondency. Speaking to the media, his cap was pulled over his eyes. Leaving Melbourne Park, he offered rueful and embarrassed shrugs. A wholly deflated, despondent sight.

"The crowd was great with me in the whole weeks, no?" Nadal said. Well, not entirely.

"Sometimes it's tough for the crowd to understand," he continued. "The crowd, only thing wants to do is enjoy great match. They paid for tickets to watch best match possible.

"I was not able to offer them that for moments. I wanted to try my best until the end. But I can understand, very well, the reaction. I was trying all that I can try, on the court, with the situation. the crowd was great with me during both weeks.

"Support has been enormous, more than ever. I feel very, very proud about how they treat and support me here. You never will hear me talk badly about the crowd here."

Wawrinka said: "I think it was not that nice (of the crowd), especially for Rafa. We all know that he's a great guy, great player. He's always a really fair player. He always tries his best. He's always fighting.

"The problem for me was not that he's taking a physio, that he left the court. I just wanted to know why, what was the problem, just to know for the rest of the match. It was quite strange that the crowd started to boo him."

On his agitated discussion with the umpire, Wawrinka said: "Normally when the physio is coming on the court, the umpire always tell the opponent why he's coming. He didn't want to tell me, so I get pissed (off). And I think that's my right."

Nadal's inconvenience was minimal in the first set; Wawrinka was at his superb, bullish best. The Spaniard refused to speak poorly of an Australia Day crowd that had treated him so ruthlessly, but Toni was irked by the negativity that was clearly in response to Nadal's reputation for time-wasting throughout the tournament.

Wawrinka was furious when Nadal left the court, making a point of sprinting to his baseline before Nadal had reappeared, jumping on the spot, ready to go.

"He does this every match," Wawrinka barked at the umpire, Carlos Ramos. When it became clear that Nadal could barely serve or run, initially at least, silence fell over Rod Laver Arena for a good 25 minutes.

There was a vibe of shock at the seriousness of the injury. Regret about the initial response from the bleachers? Nadal was given a rousing reception at the presentation ceremony but talking outside the locker rooms, Toni was still struggling to fathom the mid-match boos and hisses.

Nadal has been complicit in two of the tournament's most unforgettable moments: his defeat of Roger Federer in the 2009 final before the Swiss cried on his shoulder; and the six-hour marathon against Novak Djokovic in the championship match of 2012.

His recovery from career-threatening knee surgery last year was one of the more mighty comebacks in all of sport. For all of his faffing around between points, and for all of the borderline gamesmanship attached, faking an injury has never been part of the Nadal make-up.

"The crowd did not know what was happening," Toni said. "I see this. But I think if you do not know something for sure, why say anything?

"Rafael enjoys this tournament, he enjoys this crowd, he loves Rod Laver court. There are good memories here. But I wish people knew what Rafael was trying to do.

"The crowd goes here and there with what they think. They go up and down. Sometimes the crowd don't think, maybe. They are allowed to be whatever they want, but they should know that Rafael played for them. He knows that if he cannot win, he must finish for the crowd.

"I think they should think about this. He had spirit, I would say, to finish."