Djokovic takes positive from Rome final saying "I am pleased with my fighting spirit"

It was a disappointing end for Djokovic who had a 2nd set surge against Nadal only to be bested in the 3rd set.

Djokovic faced a mammoth challenge against Nadal in the Rome Masters final having had to play almost 5 hours the day earlier. Nadal won the first set with Djokovic winning the 2nd one 6-1. In the end, it was Nadal who prevailed. On the match Djokovic said:

“[We played] almost three hours of high-quality tennis. Of course, I'm disappointed not to win it, but at the same time I'm very pleased with the level of tennis that I managed to find in the later stages of this tournament"

Djokovic highlighted the need of having a good result in Rome in order to leave for Paris in the right mindset. He said:

"Going into Paris brings me good sensation. I actually now [am starting] to feel like I actually want to feel on clay. So I think if I manage to play the way I played last night and today, I think I have a good chance to go all the way to Paris.”

Djokovic realistically spoke about how the tournament went for him admitting he might have gone out in the quarters. He underlined his fighting spirit as key to progressing to the final and almost winning it:

“I could have easily gone out from this tournament in quarters. I'm very pleased with my fighting spirit. The level of tennis was higher and higher, actually. Yesterday I played great. Today I thought I also played a high level. Unfortunately [the] decisive moments in the first and third sets [today] just went his way. It was a bit unfortunate.”

Djokovic was adamant he did not feel any fatigue and could have gone for several more hours but in the end, he simply concluded that he had a lot of positives to take away:

"He was just [the] better player in the decisive moments, and he took the victory away from me, but [it] was very close. I have a lot of positives to take away from today."