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 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 like a lot of sports. Especially football - it's my favourite sport. My uncle played football in Barcelona for nine years and played for Spain in three World Cups.
Confidence is the most important thing in this sport, and the confidence from winning Wimbledon would make it easier to win the Olympics, too. Either would be very difficult, both even more-but the player who wins Wimbledon will be the favorite for the Olympics. It can happen.
All sports are continuously developing, but what they all have in common is that the speed is increasing. That's also true of tennis; the ball is getting faster and faster.
For sure, with golf it's not a physically demanding sport like tennis. That's what makes tennis great - you combine both things. It's a very mental sport and at the same time can be dramatically physical. But I do admire the mentality of sport more than the physicality because physical performance is much easier to practice than mental performance.
Two weeks ago, I was in a fantastic situation, winning at Roland Garros. Now, losing in the first round, it's tough. The tour continues. Life continues. This is a sport of victories, not a sport of losses. Nobody remembers the losses. I don't want to remember the loss.
Since I was a kid, I've wanted to do sports for a living. In the beginning, I played a lot of soccer, but in the end I chose tennis. I love sports in general ... But tennis is my passion.
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.
I admire a lot of people, but in terms of sport I've always loved the mentality of Tiger Woods on a golf course. I always love his eyes when he's setting himself and focusing on his decision; he has a really strong, focused face and believes that he can make the shot.
Tennis is a hard sport. There is a lot of competition all year and you play alone.
Hard courts are very negative for the body. I know the sport is a business and creating these courts is easier than clay or grass, but I am 100 per cent sure it is wrong.
Playing well or playing bad, I have to play aggressive. I must play aggressive.
Stay healthy, do sports and above all have fun while doing sport. Competing or just for fun, whatever, simply enjoy and try your best. Working hard, working well with achievable goals normally pays off. Believe in the people that are with you and listen to those who have more experience.
When one player is better than you, at this moment, the only thing you can do is work, try to find solutions and try to wait a little bit for your time. I'm going to wait and I'm going to try a sixth time. And if the sixth doesn't happen, a seventh. It's going to be like this. That's the spirit of sport.