Found a L'Equipe Interview, long, & detailed with Rafa Nadal, he talks about 2009, his health, his family, very moving..It was taken place in Monte-Carlo & was published today.Found on France2.fr forums thank u to Nadalfan!


Monte-Carlo, Saturday, April 10. The tournament began the next day. Rafael Nadal had not yet regained the clay. He had not yet regained the taste for victory, who fled for eleven months. But he believed in hard like earth. Because he felt strong. Her body betrayed him more. He just had to follow the head. He would win again. He was sure. He was right. That day, beside the swimming pool of a private fitness center overlooking the harbor, he had agreed to return in detail to the previous year. A rotten year. With creaky knees and desperate defeat at Roland Garros, the court where he had never lost. Before an audience that did not want the property, to his surprise. A painful experience. Combined with the breakup of his family. But the pain, Rafael Nadal knows how to fight adversity as well. Its engine? The taste of the competition. With others, with himself. It is that desire to improve, to excel he finds his happiness. An happiness that victory is just one component.

MONTE CARLO -our envoy

"That was it really happened last year in the weeks before Roland Garros. Before Madrid, everything seemed to go well. What happened this time?

- My knee problems began in Monte-Carlo. But it was not too bad. In Rome, it has worsened slightly. But I thought it would go through the week of rest before Madrid Madrid ... And then it was the inaugural tournament on clay. I was seeded No. 1, I had a lot of points. I earned a lot of matches. And I thought if I played well in Madrid, I assured almost the number 1 at the end of the year ... So, it was worth it. But during the tournament, it has continued to worsen. I made a mistake, but it was impossible to know before the tournament.

- The semi-final marathon won there against Djokovic (3-6, 7-6, 7-6 in 4 hours 2 ') you also very expensive ...

- No, it did not have before. Two days earlier, I went to sit examinations at the hospital. They told me I had a problem, but I was in the tournament, pain was already there, so ...

- The pain was aggravated it in Paris at the tournament?

- No, I could play, but I could not run. Or rather, I had no strength in my support, I had no power in my legs, yet it is essential to control the depth and intensity in typing.

- What percentage of your optimal shape would you rate your level when you defeat against Söderling in the second round?

- I do not want to do this kind of evaluation. We have the impression that I look for excuses. I lost. Yes, I was not ready physically and probably mentally. My knee bothered me, the divorce of my parents too, all that, and then Söderling played well.

- If you had won that game there, could you win the tournament?

- Maybe. Once in the quarter-finals, I might have chosen to increase the dose of anti-inflammatory ...

- You receive many treatments during the tournament?

- Every day. Many. Anti-inflammatory, mesotherapy ...

- What was the hardest that day? The defeat or public attitudes?

- The defeat, by far. The public, when I lost, it was good. People applauded me a lot off the court. Of course, during the game, they have endured much Robin.

- Your uncle Toni was not yet satisfied with spectators ...

- It was more angry than me. I can understand the sport. I have nothing against the public. At the same time, it made me sad. Because it is the tournament that is the most important of my career. So when in a place so important to you, you feel that the public wants to see eliminated, it is not pleasant.

- How do you interpret this attitude?

- I do not know. As I won several times, they probably like to see another win ...

- Your uncle has complained several times that of France was a country in which the media have done on several occasions about you veiled allusions to doping. Do you think that these references may have an influence on the attitude of the spectators?

- I do not think so. But this rumor is what is the worst for me. I can understand that the public does not favor me. I've always done my best to be honest with the public and everyone there. I would love that the public loves me but that does not depend on me. The subject of doping, that's terrible! To get where I am, I trained hard all my life. I give the maximum every workout, every day of my life. I'll never do something like that. I am a lover of sport, not just tennis. And in most sports, that is strength. I do not cheat on it. And to hear that people, especially in France, peddling nonsense like that, it hurts. Tennis in general is a clean sport.

- We hope ...

- I know how many controls in tennis. Two more days before I left for Monte Carlo, they came home. I tested at Indian Wells, Miami, Australia. At Bercy, the last year, I was checked at 8:00 am by the French authority, that I also arrived at Roland Garros. I want control. But they are not facts as they are. If people knew how much we are controlled, how we are continuing every day, they could not write things like that.

- Another reason why the public can sometimes take a dislike is that you very often wait for your opponents on the court ...

- Everybody is free to love Murray or Djokovic Del Potro. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but rules are rules and I never received a point penalty. Only warnings. And there is a good time we did not tell me given.

- But can you understand that some viewers do not appreciate it?

- I fully understand that some viewers might not love me.

- At night you defeat against Söderling, it does not seem strange to you to leave the tournament for the first time before the end?

- Very strange. In previous years, I was gone last. But I accepted. And then I went back to Manacor evening.

- Your parents were in a difficult situation too ...

- Yes, you come home ... Your mother is not well, your father not too good either ... You lost, you're wrong ... Many things were not going well.

- Has it been difficult to decide not to play at Wimbledon?

- Not really difficult. I was not ready to play well. It would have had to suffer more than I could bear.

- Were you worried about your knees?

- I'm always worried about my injury. Sometimes, luck is with you. Sometimes not. This year I hope to be ready.

- In addition to physical concerns you, you have also decided last year to make some changes to your game, your forehand, your service ....

- No, I did not intend to change my forehand. But the fact that I can not bend the knees as eventually affect my forehand (he mimes). It was unintentional. Subconsciously, I probably gradually dropped my racket head (in preparation) and the move has escalated. I had more power in the knees. My forehand is much better when I hit him as now, starting with the racket head held high. Last year, I could not play along, I had no power, the ball was there (mime), my racquet ... then I could not do anything but get the ball. I worked very hard for one month in Majorca to find my forehand with a normal preparation.

- It had nothing to do with the fact that you wanted to shorten your stroke to play better on hard courts ...

- No, no. I played well enough on short fast in 2008 and 2009. When my forehand is good, it is good for all surfaces. On land, I put a little more lift, to fast, I hit a little flat. If preparation is good, I can vary my strokes. Last year, however, that I could hit like this (mimes a forehand to McEnroe, under the ball) and play up ...

- And your service, you've changed again ...

- (He laughs.) Throughout my career, I changed something in my service. If you watch videos from 2003, you'll see a lot of styles of service.

- You try to serve more as quickly as last year ...

- No. Because I think my game is not trying aces. The key is that my service is efficient enough for me to take control of the point with my forehand on the second shot. It may be enough to serve between 175 and 185 km / h with the effect to control the point.

- After all your problems, the year 2009 was still closed with a victory: the Davis Cup on clay. To what extent did she restored optimism for 2010?

- I was worried before the final of the Davis Cup since I played horribly at the Masters. But I had a good week of training. Early in my first match against Berdych, I was nervous, I stayed through the first set, but I knew I was playing well in training, so when I had won, I I relaxed and started to play better.

But what was important was that I was ready to train hard for the month and a half intensive than I did in Majorca to partner with my friend Marc Lopez. Every day. And I started the season playing very well. In Abu Dhabi, Doha and even Melbourne.

- How did you feel after you drop in Melbourne, in the quarter-final against Murray, when you still have your knees betrayed?

- In the locker room, I was destroyed. I even cried a little. I had to work really hard my tennis, to make great efforts to cure my knee, I felt ready and I had just lost a Grand Slam and all over again!

- You're not afraid of being too hard on yourself, go too far in the pain, the risk of seriously injuring yourself?

- It often happened. But on the court, I find it very difficult to abandon. I do not like it, either for myself or for the public or for the opponent.

- Will you be more careful in the future?

- I already am. Now, I train in a more relaxed, with less intensity than some years ago. On the other hand, I am a better player than before. More complete. I probably need to train as much as I did in the last ten years, but I must stay healthy, and I'm ready mentally.

- What is your goal?

- I have a big motivation to stay on top. I want more than myself. Overcome the difficult situation that I have known for a year with all these injuries and all the problems. I found a very good level of play It's not like last year when I made the semifinals in New York or Beijing, and the final in Shanghai: the level was not there. But now I am again able to win really.

- What do you give yourself a chance to return to number 1 before the end of the year?

- Let's see ... For me, the important thing is health.

- Roger Federer has twenty-eight years, he says he wants to play at least another two years, and certainly more. And you?

- I do not know. I'm not tired. I still have a big appetite to continue to win. I stay as long as I feel physically and mentally strong enough to stand any chance of winning a tournament. The day I feel that I am no longer competitive, my body is no longer the stroke, so I'll stop.

- What is your real reason to play tennis? One could say for example that John McEnroe wanted to play the perfect game, Jimmy Connors butt kicked all his opponents, Roger Federer or Pete Sampras collect as many titles as possible. And you?

- I want to be happy playing. I want to continue to enjoy competition. I love the competition.

- This is the secret of your strength?

- I do not know. Play a game night session against Tsonga in Miami, the last session of the day, filled with galleries, against an opponent so hard that Jo ... I live for moments like that. I like getting on the court with the idea of trying to win a game.

- Over three decades of journalism tennis I've probably seen only two other players Monica Seles and Jimmy Connors, to be as intense as you on all points a game. Where is she?

- You know, we play like you practice!

- But you said that you exercised less now ...

- Yes, but for twenty years, I trained thoroughly, I ran on every ball, whether you are playing for points or not. That's the thing. I trained thoroughly in exactly the same way that I play in a match. I even often trained with more intensity than in some games. And when you train that way we can endure everything. "