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
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.
The favorite is always the No. 1. I can win. Blake can win. But the favorite is the No. 1.
It?s already a great feeling to be third on the list. To get past Borg, I will have to reach the final in Barcelona next week. It won?t be easy. I could lose any day. But if I am 100 per cent I know I have a great chance of winning.
I do notice that I am tired.
The young athletes are supposed to mature, to improve their personality.
It should not be a child's only goal to become the best player in the world. That would be a bad, a harmful attitude.
My goal is to improve my game, stay healthy and be competitive. If I have that, I know I can be able to win tournaments, which in the end is what it counts.
You have to accept both losing and winning well. I've stayed calm when I'm winning and I've stayed calm when I've lost.
I would like to believe there is a God, but I think it is better to say I'm not sure there is a God and live your life with kindness and respect for people than to say I know there is a God and then do bad things,
In your career you have a lot of good moments and bad ones. The important thing is to have enough motivation to keep working all the days with humility and trying to be a better player than before. I am going to try to continue doing this.
I would love to learn other languages, maybe French? My uncle speaks German so maybe also German? Chinese seems to be too difficult.
When one gets beaten by somebody better, one has to know how to lose with humility. Sure, I could have served better. Sure, I could have hit my forehand harder. But the truth was this was like an avalanche, and there was no way to stop it.
My motivation and aspiration is the same, being number one or being number five. So that's the truth. And my goal is the same - it's to always be happy playing, it's to enjoy the game and improve always.
I am No. 8 in the world. I am not No. 100.