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
For sure, I'm going to play less matches because I think it's very difficult to win the same number of matches as last year. Maybe I'm going to play a little bit less, but I like playing tournaments; so if I feel good, I going to play for sure.
It is unbelievable to me that I can win against the best player in the world, against one of the best in history. It's very important and very special for me, especially because I was three months off the court.
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.
He played good. He played with confidence. I didn't play good in the important moments. When I need my winner, the winner go out. And he played very tough.
He played good and aggressive. In difficult moments, he always had the confidence to win the point, how to play the point well. I fought all match.
I cannot win this year but I can play good on grass
We'll try and be very aggressive, we'll try and speed up and change gears, and we'll see who's going to win.
I just try to win the match by fighting for every point, and running down every ball.
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.
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'd rather lose an argument than get into a long discussion in order to win it.
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.
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.
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.