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Wimbledon: R1 Full Press Conference Transcript with Photos
6/24/2013Rafaholics
RAFAEL NADAL FIRST ROUND
Monday 24 June 2013
Rafael Nadal gives his Wimbledon press conference following his 7-6(4) 7-6(8) 6-4 first round loss to Steve Darcis.
Q. What would you say went wrong today and what went right, if anything? What happened?
RAFAEL NADAL: Happen that is sport. And sometimes you play well and you have the chance to win. Sometimes you play worst and the opponent play well and you lose. That's the good thing about the sport. That's all. Good things today for me was not a lot of things good. But, you know, just congratulate Darcis. I think he played with the right decision, played well, and that's all.
Q. We saw you limping a little bit out there. Was there an injury reason or physical reason for this loss?
RAFAEL NADAL: Is not the right day. I tried my best out there in every moment. Was not possible for me this afternoon, and that's all. The opponent played well. I had my chances. I didn't make it. So in grass is difficult to adapt yourself, to adapt your game. When you don't have the chance to play before, I didn't have that chance this year, is tougher. I didn't find my rhythm.
Q. What did you do after the French? How long did you have off? How long did you practice maybe on a hard court at home before you came to the grass?
RAFAEL NADAL: I arrived here on Tuesday. Before that I was working at home on the gym and trying to make the right things to recover my body from a very long and success straight tournaments. So that's all, no? Nothing special.
Q. How much of a blow was it for you not being able to play at Halle in the context of this tournament?
RAFAEL NADAL: I didn't have that chance this year to play on Halle. So is tough to talk right now. The only thing that is important today is that even I don't play Halle is obviously I wanted to play, yes. But today we cannot come back. We cannot come two weeks before. That what happened. I didn't have that chance. I tried my best. Was not possible. That's all I can say. Just congratulate the opponent. At the end is not a tragedy. That is sport.
Q. How is the situation similar or different from last year when you lost here?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don't see any comparation [sic] at all. I really don't know how to answer this question.
Q. Well, last year you said you were hurt after the loss to Rosol. How is the situation now with you?
RAFAEL NADAL: With what?
Q. With your physical condition.
RAFAEL NADAL: I say before I think is not the day to talk about these kind of things. I am confident that I will have a good recover and be ready for the next tournaments.I played much more than what I dreamed before here after the injury. So that's a fantastic and very positive thing for me. I know the grass is a difficult surface for the way that I need to play to play well here.Was not possible this year. I gonna try my best for the next couple of years.
Q. Did you have any sign at practice in previous days that it was going to be a tough first round here? How big is the disappointment?
RAFAEL NADAL: You was here on Saturday? I said is probably the toughest surface for me today, because I had to move and I have to play in a lower position than in the rest of the surfaces. So that's the real thing. I was not lying to nobody on Saturday. So that's all. I gonna keep working hard for the next.
Q. You turned a lot around your backhand to play your forehand, and also you didn't move that well. Was your knee 100% today?
RAFAEL NADAL: I think you are joking. I answered this question three times or four times already. I don't gonna talk about my knee this afternoon. Only thing that can say today is congratulate Steve Darcis. He played a fantastic match. Everything that I will say today about my knee is an excuse, and I don't like to put any excuse when I'm losing a match like I lost today. He deserve not one excuse.
Q. You talked a little bit in Paris about your schedule, adjusting it. I'm wondering if you think you might need to look at that more closely. Obviously you love playing on the clay, but it's a lot of matches. Is that something you think going forward you need to look at more closely?
RAFAEL NADAL: What? I didn't understand that.
Q. In Paris you talked about your schedule, maybe adjusting it. I'm wondering if you think physically it's a lot on your body to play so much on clay, even though you love that surface.
RAFAEL NADAL: If I play too much? That's the question?
Q. I'm wondering if you need to look at your schedule.
RAFAEL NADAL: In which way?
Q. To play less in the spring.
RAFAEL NADAL: To play less?
Q. Yes.
RAFAEL NADAL: I cannot predict the future. I cannot say when I do a calendar if it was wrong or if it was positive. Since six hours ago was a perfect calendar, now is a very negative calendar. That's not true. I played, as I said, since I came back after the injury, I played when I had the feeling that I can play. And my feelings were that I played the weeks that I felt right to play. And to here is Wimbledon, so I try to arrive as good as possible to this tournament, knowing that probably this year will be harder than ever, and it really was. So that's all, no? The calendar was for me perfect, winning seven tournaments of the nine, and playing two finals. I cannot say I will make something different today because I will not. I will repeat my calendar. My season has been fantastic, much better than what I have thought five months ago. So I am happy about everything. I know that that thing, that lose of today, can happen, and it happened. That's all.
Q. Do you still feel you can come back and win this championship again?
RAFAEL NADAL: I didn't know that in 2003 and 2004 and 2005, 2006 and 2007, so... I don't know that. The only thing I can say I can do is keep working hard and keep giving me chances about my game on this surface. I think and I hope to have a few more years to play here and to play at the right level. I was not able to play great this year or last year. It's obviously. But I gonna try.
Q. Last year after you lost to Rosol we didn't see you for seven months. What should we expect this time? Can we be optimistic and see you when? Which tournament are you planning to come back?
RAFAEL NADAL: Not very late. Not that late, for sure.
Q. When you came back over here in February, was the French Open always your priority? Of the three majors left, was the French your priority or was it equal with Wimbledon?
RAFAEL NADAL: Seriously, I don't have a priority. I try my best in every tournament, even if is a 250, is a 500, or is a Grand Slam. Is obvious, you know, the Roland Garros championship adapts better to my game. But in this sport, I don't see a way that you can prepare one tournament in particular. I think you don't have that chance because depends on a lot of things. You need to win matches when you arrive to important tournament to be confident. You need to play matches to be enough fit. Then I try my best in every one. Sometimes I arrive good in one, worse in another. That's all. I tried and I played that way during all my career.
Q. Even as well as Darcis played, that has to be a disappointing loss. Are you able to let it go right away or does it sting for a few days?
RAFAEL NADAL: Life continues, that's all. I say before, is not a dramatic thing. That's the sport. That's the game at the end. Two weeks ago I was in a fantastic situation, winning a fantastic tournament. Two weeks later I lost here in the first round. That's the positive and the negative thing about this sport. Is tough losing in the first round. But, as I said before, the tour continues, life continues, and this is a sport of victories. It's not a sport of lose. Nobody remember the loses. People remember the victories. And I don't want to remember that lose.
Q. You've said that only an arrogant man would not have doubts. You've said that a couple of times now. Do you have some doubts on your play on grass? And are you proud of your legacy on grass for a person who was brought up on clay?
RAFAEL NADAL: Obviously I have doubts. I have doubts on grass. I have doubts on clay and hard, for sure in indoor. If I don't have doubts is because I really don't feel the passion for this game. You don't see myself with doubts the first week of Roland Garros? Yes, with a lot of doubts.Today I play with doubts. I lost, yes.
Q. But you're proud of your grass court play?
RAFAEL NADAL: If I'm proud today?
Q. Not today. Over the years, what you have done on grass.
RAFAEL NADAL: What do you think? Five finals, two victories. I don't know how many players have that. I think for me is a lot. That don't mean I not going to keep trying to have success in this surface.
Video: via Wimbledon
Presser: Wimbledon
Photos: Thomas Lovelock/AELTC/Reuters/Getty
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WIMBLEDON
June 22, 2013
Rafael Nadal
LONDON, ENGLAND
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. How are the sensations so far on the grass courts?
RAFAEL NADAL: Good. I am trying to practice as much as I can since I arrived here. And always is a nice feeling play on grass, a surface that I really like to play.
No, without playing tournament before here always is a little bit tougher, because is easier to adjust your game on the competition because you really play with the real feelings than when you are only practicing.
But we'll see. I hope to be fit and ready for Monday.
Q. How would you describe the talent that is in your half of the draw?
RAFAEL NADAL: No, is what there is. The rankings say that these kind of things can happen. So I know you are talking about Andy and Roger probably, but I don't see them before quarterfinals and semifinals.
So I have a long way to work before that.
I didn't play a lot on grass last couple of years, so I really take care about myself and about the first round. I don't think about the other things, no?
My view is if I arrive to quarterfinals is because I will be ready. Then you can win, you can lose. But for me, going to be very tough to be there. I gonna try.
Q. Do you think the fifth seed is fair?
RAFAEL NADAL: I am No.5 in the world today, so the rankings say is a longer discussion. Is the way that the ranking is doing. Is completely fair that I am No.5. I am No.5 and David is No.4. He win his privilege to be No.4 before me, and that's it.
Q. Because the transition from clay to grass is so fast, would you like to see the grass court season a little bit longer so you could maybe get a tournament in?
RAFAEL NADAL: I know that's something that gonna change I think in a few years, two years. So in two years we going to have the new calendar with three weeks before Wimbledon.
Is something I think is great, because in the end, the players who will play Roland Garros until the last few days will have little bit better chance of prepare well for a very, very important tournament like Wimbledon.
Is something that today few players were able to do in the last couple of times, have the chance to play very well in the French and have the chance to be ready for Wimbledon.
But is something that is normal to happen when you have very long and hard clay court season. You finish Roland Garros always with some problems, physical. You get little bit tired.
Sometimes is not hundred percent fair that you cannot prepare well one of the most important tournaments of the year like Wimbledon. So I think is a great thing.
Q. You've played nine tournaments already this year and made it to the finals of all nine. You've played a whole lot of tennis, more than usual, coming into this part of the schedule. Wondering how you're holding up and if you expect to play a full second half of the year.
RAFAEL NADAL: I go day to day. Is not time to analyze what's going to happen the second part of the year. Since I start from today, I was able to play all the tournaments that I wanted to play. That's the best news possible.
Before I came back, I take this year like a transition year, so is obviously that the situation change. I will compete here as good as possible. I gonna try my best, and then we will see. Then we will see what's next for me.
I really don't have completely decide my schedule after here, because I have to analyze little bit more what's more or less favorable for my future. And at the end, the only thing for me is be healthy and have the chance to compete well and healthy when I want to compete.
The rest of the things are important, yes, but less important than be healthy and have the chance to compete well. Because at this point of my career, the most important thing is be happy for me. And I happy when I have the chance to compete well.
Q. What can you tell me about Steve Darcis, your first‑round opponent?
RAFAEL NADAL: He's a good, talented player. He knows how to play tennis in all the surfaces. He has good shots. I say he is a complete player. I have to play well. I have to play very competitive from the beginning.
Here, in these kind of surfaces, well, in this surface, on grass, all the matches are close. Matches can be decided for a few balls.
So if you are not hundred percent focused and you're not at your hundred percent of energy and playing well, you are in big trouble.
Q. When you look back at your exit in the second round last year, is there anything you can learn from that experience or is it something you should try to forget?
RAFAEL NADAL: No. That's tennis and that's the sport. That's the good thing about the sport: sometimes you lose, sometimes you win.
Last year I played here because is a tournament that I love, but I was not ready to play here. That's the real thing. I play with an infiltration from the first day.
After Roland Garros I feel that my knee was not there anymore. The example is after here I was not able to complete in not one more tournament during the rest of the season.
I try my best. I don't have nothing to learn about that year because is not an excuse. Rosol played a fantastic fifth set. He probably beat me if I was healthy. Is not because I am healthy I gonna play better this year, no?
That's tennis and that's the sport. You lose, you win. That's part of the game. But that experience for me last year was too much. I suffer too much. If you are in the final rounds and if you have to protect or play with an infiltration, it's fine. But playing with an infiltration from the first day doesn't exist.
Was Wimbledon, so was not a good decision for me.
Q. What's the most difficult thing for you when you move from clay to grass, how that changes the game? Has that shift gotten easier for you now than it was maybe earlier in your career?
RAFAEL NADAL: No. I never had a big problems on that. You have to play in a different way. You have to prepare mentally for another things than what you are prepared mentally for when you are playing on clay, for example.
You have to be hundred percent ready to be playing focused in every moment, especially with your serve, because you lose your serve and you are in a big problem for the set.
And then you have to accept that you will hit very bad shots because that's part of the surface. You will probably be on court for half an hour, will not have a chance to hit many balls. You have to be patient and accept all the situations that will be happening during the match.
But at the end, are playing in a fantastic tournament in a surface that I think is very nice to play, even if sometimes can be frustrating. You play against a player who is serving great.
But I think this transition in the end is great because is something completely different. You try different things. You play different ways. So that's makes the things little bit interesting and more funny.
Q. Serena Williams talked about her early defeat at Roland Garros last year as a key motivation factor for the amazing run she's gone on since. Do you ever find the same thing when you suffer losses against players you are expected to beat?
RAFAEL NADAL: No. My motivation was always high. That's the real thing. When I lose is because I don't have more.
But my focus and my passion for the game, there is no doubt that I was trying my best in every tournament, in every single tournament I played. If is a Grand Slam or is a 250 tournament, no, I try to play all the matches of my year with the same intensity, no?
Then when you are coming back from a situation that I came after injury seven months, it's true that you came with a special feeling, very fresh, special motivation, because you feel that you lost a year for things that you cannot control. That really motivates me.
But a lose, nothing special. Just accept that that's the sport. You lose and you win. That's the great thing about the sport in general.
Q. After the intensity of the French, the mental and physical exertion, do you give yourself a few days after to put the racquets down and forget about tennis in Mallorca?
RAFAEL NADAL: You cannot forget the tennis when you have Wimbledon in two weeks. It's impossible.
But, yes, I stop for a few days. On Tuesday, Wednesday I worked after Roland Garros. I work the physical performance every day. I didn't play tennis‑‑ first day I play tennis is Saturday. Sunday I play a little bit. I arrive here Tuesday morning. Tuesday I was practicing here.
The rest of the days I was able to enjoy a little bit the island in Mallorca with friends and family. Was great, because this part of the season the weather there is great and we have the chance to enjoy the sea.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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Rafael Nadal's Wimbledon 2013 Kit from Nike!
Source: Nike
