Rafael Nadal says he would have rather seen Dominic Thiem win the Australian Open than his long-time rival Novak Djokovic as it would have allowed him to hold on to the world number one spot.

Nadal was knocked out in the quarter-finals in Melbourne by the Austrian Thiem, who was seeded fifth in the tournament and was seeking his first Grand Slam title win.

He ran Djokovic close in the final, taking a 2-1 lead at one stage and taking the match to the final set before losing out 6-4 in the deciding set as the Serb regained top spot in the world from Nadal.

The Spaniard was speaking to Spanish publication Marca about the next generation of tennis stars that has emerged to challenge the traditional ‘big three’ of Nadal, Djokovic and Roger Federer.

And asked if he would rather have seen the Austrian triumph in order to have preserved his own status as the world’s top-ranked player, Nadal said: “Obviously, yes. You don’t have to be a hypocrite, right? It would have been better for me personally if Thiem won.

“But, to be honest, I slept exactly as well the last two days. In that regard it doesn’t matter if Dominic had won or if Novak won. It is part of our sport. Novak is particularly good at this tournament. And right now he is, today, the best player in the world.

“Obviously, in the ‘Next Gen’ there are many good, young players, and in the semi-finals there has been one, which was (Alexander) Zverev, because Thiem can no longer be considered ‘Next Gen’.

“He is already 26 years old. He is not 20, nor 21 and, of course, there are many good players who are at a high level and who will have their chances in the coming months.”