SYDNEY : Rafa Nadal brushed off talk of retiring anytime soon after the 22-times Grand Slam champion was stunned by Cameron Norrie in the United Cup mixed team tournament on Saturday, saying he still enjoyed competing at the highest level.Nadal's preparations for his Australian Open title defence got off to a shaky start as Norrie beat him 3-6 6-3 6-4 to seal his first victory over the 36-year-old Spaniard in their fifth career meeting.Faced with a question on whether defeats at this stage in his career left him more determined to play as long as he could or acknowledge that things were getting difficult, Nadal simply said retirement was not on his mind yet."I lost my match.
That's it, no? Every time I come to a press conference it seems that I have to retire. So you are very interested on my retirement.
I mean, that, for the moment, isn't the case," a smiling Nadal told reporters."When the day arrives, I'm going to let you know, guys.
Don't keep going (on) with the retirement, because I'm here to keep playing tennis."Nadal, whose 2022 season began in complete contrast as he went on a 20-match winning spree, said the early defeat ahead of the new season was not a disaster."I can do things better and I need to do it.