Complete Interview:

Rafael Nadal

"I've cried enough"

Rafael Nadal admits he is lucky in his sports and personal life. But he also says that he’s afraid and worries about the evil of the world, like others. The difference is is that he is anxious to improve, and he says he does not understand that people who have it all and still are not happy. Defeats hurt, like the last final at Roland Garros , but he notes that he isn’t a Quemao, that he has always had self-control.

At 23, Rafael Nadal shows a very high degree of maturity. The tennis star is ready to talk about almost everything, from injuries this season, to his successes and his setbacks, but also things of life, war, poverty, of his ideal world. Nadal seems psyched to tackle the difficult seasons that are on the horizon, with increasingly strong rivals, and therefore thinks he can "be better without winning as much as before."

While waiting for the Davis Cup, how would you evaluate the season with these two clearly distinct parts and marked by injuries?
If I had not suffered an injury, the season could be classified as excellent. I won a Grand Slam (Australia), three Masters Series, two finals in two Masters, a final in Rotterdam and Godo; I think it is very good. I do not know how many people have won five titles this season, but all the tournaments I’ve conquered have been important. For me it’s a good, remarkable year. I thought that it had started off well, but it's a shame because the end of the clay season I've had to play without being a hundred percent. I tried to go to Wimbledon, but my knee hurt too much and I hadn’t any choice. I had to stop two months, and when I returned I did so with a little fear [?], I lost the rhythm of the competition and all that eventually affects you. But I'm back, and the results were better than expected. The trouble is that after I tore my abdomen, and had another stop that broke me. I made it to the quarterfinals in Cincinnati, won matches playing at a good level, but in the U.S. Open I went for a match and a half without hurting myself, but after that the pain was worse. When I finished the U.S. Open, I had a two-centimeter tear.

But that has been a constant. You have always been winning with pain, perhaps has asked more of the body than it could give.

All elite athletes have injuries or play with pain. But when the pain begins to limit you in all ways, in movement, in running, and when you play at a very high level, it is almost impossible for you to be able to aspire to the fullest.

That happens a lot with the motorbike riders who are accustomed to running with pain.

They are overexertions that one can say can happen to the body because of the calendar obligations, which is in charge, but it is clear that playing hurt is not positive. In the motorbikes you do the training, the race lasts 20-25 laps, and you go one or two weeks to rest. In tennis, first, you run every ball, and second, you do not know how long or how tough the match will be, whether it will last one hour, three or five. If you win, the next day you return to play. It is one day after another that ends where you mentally can make an effort for a while, but ultimately it’s impossible. Pain limits you. There are others who can endure it. Still, the results after my return have been very good.

What does pressure mean to you? Who puts pressure on a player like you?

If you’re referring to media obligations, it doesn’t mean very much to me. The pressure I suffer is more personal. If an athlete is guided by what the press says, really it’s bad or it can end badly. First, because the media’s values are questionable and the media may decide that a semfinal means nothing, and titles other than a Grand Slam or Masters Series may not be worth much. It's a bad philosophy, it seems that only the majors matter. For me, every match is vital and every match is important. The pressure is the same with each one. I'm calm knowing know that it is very hard to do everything I've done in the past five years, I've had very good results, better than I could have imagined. From this base, everything is taken more calmly. If my career ended today, it would be assessed as being very good. Then comes the aspect of motivating yourself to improve, wanting to be the best. All that is pressure. I want to play well every time I go on court, I want to win, but if I lose the final in Shanghai, I'm not going home sad about anything. I’m going happy with my level of play and aware that you can’t win them all, especially if your opponent is better than you. Matches like the one I lost in Beijing with Marin Cilic, in contrast, left a bad taste because he was playing well and that day I did very badly. But all this prepares you to win, it’s part of the game, but it is strange how I left and didn’t get into a match like the one with Cilic. That day I was f**ked up, I was enraged at not having competed, but it’s all about picking up the rhythm, taking the dynamics and being confident that you will win.

Do you think the media hasn’t valued your successes, as you said in La Stampa?

No, no. This interview was mistranslated. I do not criticize the press about anything. What I said is that when you’ve reached a certain level, you go to Umag, you win the tournament and everyone thinks that should be normal. I'm not saying it's wrong on the part of the press. It is what it is. To enter into that dynamic is bad for us; in the end we’d only play Grand Slams because there is more media.

How do you gain confidence? Only through victory?

Training well gives you confidence, and the other key, of course, is winning. When you are on a winning streak, you leave the court feeling like you can’t lose.

This year, you only lost ten times. How much is a painful defeat?

There are painful defeats, of course. The last match of Roland Garros this year was painful. (He said, “final de Roland Garros” which I interpreted to mean the last match and not “the finals”).

Anyway, you are a happy man whom life has smiled upon.

Of course I am lucky in life, I have no doubt whatsoever. To work in what I like, in one of my hobbies, which is playing tennis, and more at these times. Also I’m outstanding in this sport. I'm number two in the world and have been for the past five years. I have also been number one. I have a good family, united, I don’t have any problems at all. I have my group of friends I’ve had my entire life, a positive environment, and health, in general, I and the people around me. Sportswise, I have been fortunate.

Nadal gets angry?

Yes, it’s normal, like everyone else. I'm not a quemao [I think this means big wave as in surf, but I’m not sure], I've always had enough self-control in everything. I'm not a guy who gets angry and screams, no.

Do you remember the last time you cried?

Yes, I've cried plenty of times, but counting them is irrelevant now. Everybody cries.

In a tournament, like Federer?

Also, I've cried about losing, but not on the court. When I lost Wimbledon in 2007 I cried, but in the locker room. I do not like to do it in front of people.

What concerns beyond good health?
In this life you’d be unconscious if you're not concerned with what you see every day. I worry about poverty, kidnappings, wars, those who die from lack of food, the global crisis. This can be a tough factor, but it’s much more to see children die of hunger or war.

A friend goes to war in Afghanistan with the Spanish army. Do you have a few words?

It's hard to say anything. It seems so incredible to me that you go to war! Just saying, "I go to war," seems inconceivable. Virtually all the bad things that happen in life are the fault of the radicalism of any kind, that trigger problems that could be avoided. You can have hobbies, sympathies, beliefs, but always with respect for the opinions of others, without fail. Same with religion. One can be religious, atheist, Christian, Muslim, whatever, but there have been too many atrocities to get here that have been made by religion. For me religion is the biggest killer in history. Note: someone on MTF says that the editors deleted "in the radical version" after "religion", which really, really changes the meaning of the sentence.

What would your ideal world?

I do not think that an ideal world would be possible. We can hope for a much better world than we live in, not for me, I am lucky that it’s almost ideal, but for many other people.

Do you have an idea of what you would change?

All weapons of the world, gone. It would be vital for a better world. We always talk about poverty, but, for example, I’ve been in India, in Chennai, several times, and I can assure you that in the poverty I see happiness in people’s faces. And we should apply all of that to us. There you have practically nothing, living on the street, but you see their faces and they do not deceive you. Here, many people have practically everything and in the morning they go to work and their faces do not exactly reflect happiness. They are the bomb. Here we do not value what we have; it happens to me too.

A globetrotter like you, what has affected you the most?
I have seen many things, but it really is difficult to value certain things in certain countries, especially since I'm usually in a more favorable environment. It's difficult to live as its citizens live. No doubt, what has struck me most were the Twin Towers. I was caught playing a match in Madrid trying to get my first ATP point, I lost the match with 13 balls in the match. I finished and went to see it. Six months earlier I had been there on vacation with my family. The following year I went to see Ground Zero. The images of the plane and of the moment when the towers fell still make my hair stand on end.

Are you afraid of something?
I think fear is part of life. I have fear.

What tennis player do you admire most?

The best in the history that I've seen is Roger Federer. (Google translated this as “The best I’ve ever seen” but he said “the best in the history”. There may be a subtlety here!) Mainly it’s the talent that he has to do things. I've seen him train many times and rarely have seen him do it with the intensity with which I have done all my life. In fact, never. That impresses me. A player like him has really worked hard since childhood, but you see him train and don’t pay much attention. He has this ease where with little concentration inspiration comes and grabs the feeling right away, and he makes the most difficult things become very easy.

Do you envy that ability?

I do not want to be confusing: I have no envy whatsoever. Of course, I would like to win what he has won. Everyone has what he has, I am very happy with what I have won up to now, and the truth is that he has some special, innate qualities.

Rafael Nadal has a limit?

I don’t think that this can be known. The daily limit is attempting to do everything possible to improve. To go to the limit training every day with enthusiasm, with motivation and not just to think about winning but about wanting to improve, to play better. Tennis doesn’t allow you to sleep because every day there is competition. I set my limits. Winning or losing sometimes doesn’t say much, one can be the best player without winning as much as before. It is a matter of mentality, to maintain the freshness to win.

How much does your girlfriend help to maintain motivation, to keep growing?
I believe in nothing. In continuing to grow as an athlete no one can help you, not your family, your coach, nobody. It is you who has to continue to have the motivation, enthusiasm and the conviction that you can make the effort to remain the best. Or you have it or you’ve told yourself 200 times, that if you don’t want, you don’t want. (not sure about the last part of that last sentence! Also, Google translated "nada" as "anything" but my understanding is that it means "nothing".)

Do you still have all that?

The day that I do not feel all of this I will think about other things. Of course I have it.

The Spanish team returns to play the Davis Cup final, this time with you.

Davis is the main goal I have left this year, which is closer to our grasp. Last year I couldn’t be and I was annoyed. Playing at the Palau Sant Jordi, where the torchbearer was in 2000, to live it now as a player and not as a spectator are as beautiful experiences as you could have.

How significant is it to own a replica of the actual Conde de Godo Trophy?

Everything I has happened over the last five years is special. Winning in Barcelona five times is unthinkable. You have to get through many matches, to maintain high concentration, not being injured, and to be good every day. The fact of winning at a club is different from doing it in big stadiums because it keeps the essence of tennis. Furthermore, it is my club where I feel at home. I always have a distinct feeling. The first time was a dream, winning five times, unimaginable. The trophy will be in a special place in my house.