Rafael Nadal lost to Del Potro in the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open yesterday – 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3). Nadal was up two breaks in the third set, but del Potro scraped his way back and won it in the tie breaker. Rafa summed up this roller coaster ride of a match in his post-match presser, saying: “(It was) wonderful for the crowd.  Terrible for me.”

More from Nadal on his third set melt down:

Q. You came back very strong and won the second set.  Up two breaks in the third.  What happened in that moment?
RAFAEL NADAL: No, I didn’t came back very strong, no?  He start to had a lot of mistakes, no?  I think I played really bad all the time.  That’s the true of the match.  Later when I have 3-0 in the third I played worse.  So, yeah, I have the match — it’s 6-4, 2-1 I playing terrible.  Later he have mistakes and I was there.  And later with 3-0, it was amazing disaster.  Yeah.

Rafa, on his work-horse ways:

Q. 40 some unforced errors and the whole tournament was kind of iffy.  Are you going to take a break?
RAFAEL NADAL: Two days, three days, yeah. I have to adapt to clay another time.  I have to be 100% ready mentally, physically.  The most important thing, playing well, so for Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, Rome, and Madrid maybe.  So, yeah, no, I am really happy to come back to clay.  I am excited to start to play on clay, try to play good matches on clay another time.

Q. Does Indian Wells carryover just eventually wear you down when you go to the finals every year at Indian Wells and win it and then come right here?
RAFAEL NADAL: No, no, no.  I don’t know.  No excuse.  Last week I played much better than this one.  Yeah, and maybe it’s one month, Indian Wells and Miami.  One month is a lot, because when you finish Indian Wells you have one week practicing here.  So after I came back from Australia I have Rotterdam after three days.  Later, Davis Cup.  So it’s a long, long time.  But anyway, you can say one thousand things about this, but in the end, the important thing is I didn’t play well.  I lose and he play better than me.

Q. How many days will you rest before working?
RAFAEL NADAL: Maybe I gonna arrive Saturday in Mallorca, so I start Monday.

Rafa, I know you love your clay, but geeze, man, you’ve earned a vacation! Go fishing, hang with Xisca (who’s probably needy after all your flirting with Ivanovic and Shakira this week), and whatever you do – DON’T PLAY TENNIS. Trust me, you’ll still be good.

Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images