Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their final match at the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco April 21, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

Grand slam

Nadal tried to make light of a loss which could be a milestone on the way to the French Open, the only Grand Slam event Djokovic has not won.

"It's no tragedy. I lost after eight years without losing here. That's the normal thing," he said.

"I think it was a positive week. I just practised here before the tournament. With not much practice, I was able to play the final."

After light rain delayed the start of the match for 45 minutes, Djokovic punished an error-prone Nadal to go 5-0 up in the first set.

"Even if it's true that he started strongly, my feeling was that 4-0 was too much," Nadal said.

"He was playing great, yes, probably better than me, but I had that feeling that I was not playing that bad," added the Spaniard, who took a month-long break before the tournament after winning three titles following his return from seven months out with a knee injury.

"I need to put in a little more physical performance. That's the real thing, play all the points with the same intensity.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia (R) holds with his trophy as Rafael Nadal of Spain leaves the podium after the final match of the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco April 21, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

The match had little in common with last year's Monte Carlo final, when Nadal overwhelmed Djokovic 6-3 6-1 in the first big claycourt event of the season a month before he secured his seventh French Open crown.

Nadal saved five set points on his own serve and fought back to 5-2, only to hand his opponent the set with a double fault.

A more aggressive Nadal put Djokovic under pressure by taking a 4-2 lead in the second set.

But Djokovic dug in to level at 4-4, and after another exchange of breaks the Serbian ran away with the tiebreaker 7-1 as Nadal made the last of his 34 unforced errors.