Dubai: It was a case of so-near-yet-so-far for singles finalist Fernando Verdasco as he ended the Dubai Tennis Championships week with a sense of regret late on Saturday.
Going from their past experiences on court, the Spaniard well knew that only his best would suffice to beat world No. 1 Andy Murray. The Briton had a 12-1 career record — his lone loss coming in five sets in Round 16 of the 2009 Australian Open.
On Saturday, Verdasco was in an ATP-500 final after exactly five years — the previous coming at Acapulco in 2012, where he lost to David Ferrer — in the very same week Murray lost to Roger Federer in Dubai.
The 33-year-old Verdasco just couldn’t step forward, and he was well aware of this even though Murray varied between awesome shot-making to his errant best. “Being in the final of an ATP-500 after five years is a great week for me, and I have to take the positive things from this week. I’m happy that I tried everything, even if the things were not going my way and I didn’t really have my best day. But I tried and I fought, and it was just not coming,” Verdasco admitted.
“So I have to take all the positive things, all the good victories I had and the level that I made this week and take it with me to Indian Wells and Miami now, and then after, Houston and try to keep going and keep even improving to make good weeks like this one. Hopefully I will have another chance to win a 500 soon. And if I have it, hopefully, I will take it,” he added.
“Of course it’s the nerves of the final. You have more or less the pressure to win. And today I had nothing to lose, because I was up against the No. 1 in the world. But physically I was not that fresh and he pushed me. He pushed me more than anybody else during the week,” Verdasco admitted.
“If you start counting things after things, then at the end you don’t hit the ball that easy, sometimes far away from your body, tough to control, tough to put the ball where you want, tough to make the ball run and make winners. So at the end there are many things that make you change your game. But like I said, I have to try and get only the positive things. Also see what was wrong and try to change it for the next tournament,” he added.
“So I believe in myself before the match that if I had my best day or for sure a great day, I could have chances to win, but obviously if you don’t really play your best tennis it’s really tough.”
