Now, after being the first man in 21 years to beat the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked players en route to a major title, Wawrinka will move from No. 8 to No. 3.
In doing so, he'll surpass 17-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer -- who lost to Nadal in the semifinals -- to become the highest-ranked Swiss player for the first time in his career.
"I need to say many thanks to Stan, you really deserve it," Nadal said. "Luck was against me today but you really deserve it.
"Last thing that I wanted to do was retire. I hate to do that, especially in a final. Same time, is tough to see yourself during the whole year you are working for a moment like this, and arrives the moment and you feel that you are not able to play at your best. "
Nadal has had a terrible stretch with injuries at the Australian Open, and has described it as his unluckiest Grand Slam. He won the title in 2009, and lost an epic five-set final to Djokovic in 2012. But he missed the 2013 edition during a seven-month layoff with knee injuries and illness, and his quarterfinal losses in 2010 and 2011 were affected by injuries.
"It has been a very emotional two weeks -- I'm sorry to finish this way," he told the Rod Laver Arena crowd. "I tried very, very hard -- this year was one of the more emotional tournaments in my career."
There hadn't been a retirement in a men's final here since the 1990, when Stefan Edberg quit in the third, after splitting the first two sets with Ivan Lendl.
