Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal
Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parerais a Spanish professional tennis player currently ranked world No. 4. He is widely regarded as the greatest clay-court player in history, and owing to his dominance and success on the surface, he has been titled "The King of Clay". His evolution into an all-court threat has established him as one of the greatest players in tennis history, with some considering Nadal to be the greatest player of all time...
NationalitySpanish
ProfessionTennis Player
Date of Birth3 June 1986
CityManacor, Spain
CountrySpain
I have always tried to avoid regrets. Could I have done differently some things in my career? Maybe.
It is no longer enough to play very well. You need to be able to give an answer at all times and everywhere. You cannot hide. This has something to do with maturity, and that is something you only acquire over the years.
I have the same bedroom I've always had. It's clean and tidy when I get home, and after two or three days it gets messy and my mother nags me.
It's hard to say, 'I don't believe in God.' I would love to know if God exists. But it's a very difficult thing for me to believe.
I play because I have fun, if I don't have fun on the court, there is something wrong. I am just a 19 year old boy that likes to do what he likes, nothing else.
Tennis is beautiful when you can see tactics, when players don't just react but are able to act and think.
The bad thing about the [tennis] calendar is how it is made and obligates you to play tournaments all year. If you want to achieve the most you can (and) go as high up (in the rankings) as you can, you have to play from the start to the finish because there are important tournaments from the beginning to the end.
I'm only superstitious on the tennis court.
I don't have any idols, any heroes, nothing, no.
Today people hit the ball with much more strength. Almost every player is capable of playing a winning stroke from any position. This means the balls arrive more quickly. If you want to reach them, you have to slow down from a high speed or suddenly change direction. These are moments when you can injure yourself, and that's what wears us out.
You know, a lot of things changed. What never changed is the illusion to keep playing tennis, the illusion to keep doing well the things, and the illusion to be in a good position of the ranking and play these kind of matches.
I will work day after day like I did my whole life ... I'm not going to change anything.
I am No. 8 in the world. I am not No. 100.
I've stayed calm when I'm winning and I've stayed calm when I've lost. Tennis is a sport where we have a lot of tournaments every week, so you can't celebrate a lot when you have big victories, and you cannot get too down when you're losing, as in a few days you'll be in the next tournament and you'll have to be ready with that.