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 think the tennis is only a game. You can lose. You can win. After that? In life, there are much more important things than tennis.
I take pleasure in tennis and the hope that it requires.
There are many moments during a match when you are tense, wrestling with yourself. Tennis is a lesson in self-control.
Is only a tennis match. At the end, that's life. There is much more important things.
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.
It's more a tennis problem than a mental problem. The transition is difficult. It depends how much time you have. Playing on grass can sometimes be a bit of a lottery.
My uncle developed the training philosophy. His idea of good tennis training is basically quite simple: you must try to gain time.
I was passionate about soccer. I still am. Odd, though - playing soccer always made me much more anxious than playing tennis. On soccer days, I'd be out of bed by 6 in the morning, all nervous. But I was always calm when it was time for a tennis match. I still don't know why.
In tennis, because of the way it's scored, I don't think that scoring one point out of luck is ever decisive in winning. But, of course, it depends on the moment.
I'm not the best player in the history of tennis. I think I'm amongst the best. That's true. That's enough for me.
My tennis is aggressive, though I wouldn't say that it's more physical than technical. I rely more on technique than physique, but being physical is always a help to me.
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.
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.