"I'm a bit tired to be honest," says Khachanov after his defeat in the Toronto Masters 1000 final

Karen Khachanov was close to winning the second Masters 1000 title of his career. Eight years after his triumph at Bercy, the Russian, ranked 16th in the world at the start of the tournament, fell in a nail-biting final at the Toronto tournament against Ben Shelton (6-7, 6-4, 7-6).

After victories against Ruud, Michelsen, and Zverev in the semifinals, the 29-year-old player spoke on court during the awards ceremony, marking the conclusion of his Canadian campaign.

"First, I’d like to congratulate Ben (Shelton) and his team. I remember having a conversation with your father three years ago in Cincinnati when you received that wild card. You were playing college tennis at the time.

You’ve already achieved so much success so far, breaking into the top 10, and now you’ve won your first Masters 1000. I wish you all the best—you’re one of the nicest guys on tour.

As for me, losing in the final is obviously painful. I played six hours over the last two days. I’m a bit tired, to be honest. Yesterday, I won 7-6 in the third set. Today, I lost.

But I want to thank my team for this great result here. I have a lot of people here, and others who stayed home but stayed up to watch the matches, especially my wife and my two sons.

They couldn’t travel with me to Canada. It’s okay because we win and lose together," Khachanov said in recent hours to *The Tennis Letter*.