'I am still very similar to before'



Do you remember having cried in public before?
Yes, the first time I won here, I cried. These are emotional moments and it is hard to advoid it. I have worked a lot to have this RG again in my arms. I had some moments with doubts, hard to accept, for not being able to play Wimbledon, to go to the US Open with a abdominal tear of 2 cms, to retire in AO. All that makes this much more special.

You had butterfiles in your stomach during the whole tournament.
It has not been easy. I was aware I could win after winning the 3 Masters on Clay, but I have had moments of nerves and tension, though luckly in the semis and final I was more calm.

Have you cried alone during this hard period?
I am not a person who cries a lot, but yes, sometime.

Your hardest moment?
Many, in general. When you are bad with your knees, one day you go to practice and they hurt, other days they dont. You dont feel confortable to run and play 100%. You continue competing, but you know you are not ok, To go out on court and know you have little options to win is not nice, specially when you come from a great period during a year and a half.

The tears and doubts reflect a human being behind the legend.
I have never pretended that people do not see me more than just a close person, a human being of body and flesh. I am like everybody else, always have been very normal, I cry like everybody, I have my scares, doubts emotions.

Is there a lot of suffering on court?
When I am ok, I enjoy. I love tenis and I am very lucky. People suffer more who do not work, are unemployed, who are not lucky to work in something they like. I do what I like and I am very lucky to live all that I have lived at only 24. Sufer? Yes, of course you sufer but we are very lucky.

At what time did you get up?
At 9.30. I had some cereal and toast with oil and salt. I went to the club, I did my warmup, I trained a little. I ate fish with pasta.

What did the Queen tell you after the match?
She congratulated me, as normal and she also did it in name of the King.

It was suprising that in the American tour you lost in the semis both in IW and Miami, in matches that you had so well to close. What has changed?
Of course clay helps me because I have a little bit of margin, more time to think.

I needed the tranquility to win something. With my tennis I was close to win in Iw and Miami. The match vs Ljubici was an accident. With Roddick, it is very difficult to play. It's a match that I can lose.

Some people thought you were dead (over finished)
Everybody can think as they wish. If I had doubts that I would return to my best level? Of course I did, but I also went everyday with hope to practice and to be a little bit better than the day before, I have done that all my life, to work to improve .This is what has given me life in tennis.

The crowd was nicer to you than never?
Yes, I have felt that way these past days, and it is a privilege to feel this way in a tournament like this one. 

You have matured a lot as a tennis player, but how have you changed as a person in these 5 years?
Not too much, I am very similar as I was before, I have matured like everybody else.

Have you lost shyness?
All experiences and everything I have lived these years have helped to lose shyness, I was very shy when I was little. It was hard to me to say hi to someone I did not know. I felt out of place with older people, I felt strange. When I have to talk in public, like a prize awards or something like that, now I am more used to it, but it still is hard.


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Translations provided by Ana Ford Sanz