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
To be a friend means that they are always there, for the good or the bad.
If the plane moves, some turbulence, I am nervous flyer.
I think when you compete every week, when you play under pressure daily, you find your rituals to be 100 percent focused on what you're doing.
I just was in the second round. That's painful, because always is tough to lose, but well, that's sport. You win, you lose.
I started to travel like this at the age of 15 so for me, it's normal. Some days you get tired and you feel, 'I want to stay at home a little bit more,' but it's only the moment.
I'm ambidextrous when I eat. But playing tennis right-handed - I can't do it. I'm clueless.
Being home alone at night makes me a bit nervous. If I'm at home alone, I have to sleep on the sofa - I can't face going to bed. I'm there with the TV on and all the lights on. I'm not very brave about anything in life. In tennis, yes. In everything else, not very.
You fight, you try your best, but if you lose, you don't have to break five racquets and smash up the locker room. You can do those things, but when you've finished, nothing's changed. You've still lost. If something positive came from that, I probably would do it. But I see only negativity.
If you don't lose, you cannot enjoy the victories. So I have to accept both things.
It's important to have people around you with enough confidence to say if you are not acting in a good way. Normally, when you are at the top, people say everything is fantastic. Probably in that moment it is what you want to hear, but it's best to be reminded how to act properly.
This is good for me, to be third in history on clay. One day I'm going to lose. I hope it's not next week (in Barcelona).
I think it is unbelievable to win against the best player in the world - perhaps the best in the history of the game. It was also special because I was out of the game for more than three months. I cried because I was happy.
I always think about victory. It was very important for me to stay in this final. If I play my best I have a chance (against Federer). I'm going to play aggressively, with determination.
He was playing with very good rhythm, but I can play with rhythm too if I feel good like today.