Click here to discuss this and more with fellow tennis fans on our discussion boards.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n[divider]<\/p>\n
10 June 2013\/Paris\/Juan Jos\u00e9 Mateo<\/p>\n
Rafael Nadal (Manacor, Mallorca, 1986) says goodbye to Pau Gasol in the lounge of a hotel they were both staying in. \u00a0It’s the first day after the culmination of an odyssey: \u00a0 the comeback to win Roland Garros for the 8th time, his 12th Grand Slam title, after 7 months out due to an injury to his left knee. \u00a0There’s still a trace of celebration in his tired eyes. \u00a0His hands move quickly, in accompanying gestures to his answers.<\/p>\n
Q: \u00a0How do you feel when an opponent takes you to the limit, like Djokovic in the semi-finals?<\/p>\n
A: \u00a0The only thing I feel is that you have to endure a little more. \u00a0That’s all I feel. \u00a0Put up a little more resistance, because you don’t know how much more resistance the other player can mount. \u00a0I’m feeling bad, but it’s likely that the other player is at the limit, too. \u00a0I try to push him that little bit more to see if it will get me the win. \u00a0This extra effort is always worth it, if you win or lose. \u00a0It’s a question of personal satisfaction when you go back to the locker room. It’s priceless. \u00a0Those are very difficult feelings to explain.<\/p>\n
Q: \u00a0You refuse to lose.<\/p>\n
A: \u00a0It’s not refusing to lose, it’s refusing to throw in the towel. \u00a0I refuse to throw in the towel. \u00a0That is what makes me happy when it’s all over: \u00a0knowing that I did everything I could, and if I lost, I lost.<\/p>\n
Q: \u00a0Sometimes you talk about suffering as if it were a friend, as does Djokovic.<\/p>\n
A: \u00a0I believe that he is a great fighter and a great sufferer.<\/p>\n
Q: \u00a0But most people, logically, prefer to suffer less. \u00a0Where does that difference come from?<\/p>\n
A: \u00a0From the joy in what you’re doing, from the passion for it. \u00a0From living it all with this passion. \u00a0Because of everything it has taken you to get here, it makes you not want to give in. \u00a0It’s a physical suffering and a mental suffering. \u00a0That’s the truth…but, in the end, you’re playing on Court Central at Roland Garros, your dream since you were a small child; you’re living a match that you know is special and you know that whatever happens, it will be one of the matches of the year, because of what’s at stake. \u00a0Is that suffering? \u00a0Yes, but it’s also a gift and a happiness to be able to be there in that moment.<\/p>\n
Q: \u00a0In the past, to feel competitive, you felt the need to train a lot. \u00a0Winning Roland Garros with only 8 tournaments under your belt, now maybe not. \u00a0Does this win vindicate your technical abilities over your mental ones, and physical strength?<\/p>\n
A: \u00a0It’s a logical evolution in a career. \u00a0As one gets older, a lot of things come more automatically, the game more matter-of-fact, and you don’t need so much preparation. \u00a0To be honest, it’s fantastic to be considered to have the mental and physical advantages, and being able to sell that off is a positive. \u00a0I believe that mentally and physically I have been a forceful player, that I’ve always tried to play above my level. \u00a0Beyond the fight and the dedication, this quality, along with the desire to improve, is a very important mental quality…but you couldn’t have achieved what I have without the rest, without having a great forehand, a great backhand, or great ball control. \u00a0Sometimes we forget to stress these things, because they highlight the rest.<\/p>\n
Q: \u00a0You can’t win without your racquet, right?<\/p>\n
A: \u00a0Mental and physical strength help you in a certain moment of the match, but to win more often, and more overall, you win with your tennis, and not with your head. \u00a0You can win mental matches like the one the other day versus Djokovic, but to win them, mentally, you have to get to the absolute limit, and to get to that limit – you have to get there with your tennis. \u00a0It’s a combination of everything. \u00a0The tennis is what has helped me get to where I am, and the mental toughness is what has allowed me to achieve what I wouldn’t have, without it.<\/p>\n
Q: \u00a0Of those who don’t appreciate your technique, is it because you don’t have a one-handed backhand like Federer?<\/p>\n
A: \u00a0If you asked my opponents, I think that they would say I have, in terms of tennis, many special things. \u00a0Maybe the mental fortitude would come up, because I’ve played a lot of long matches, 5 hours, in which I’ve come back, been equally in the hunt until the end. \u00a0These types of matches are memorable, of course, and my style of play, to fight, to overcome, made sense that this type of match would be in sync with my career. \u00a0A player like Federer, more given to 3 quick shots, hasn’t played so many of these long matches in his career. \u00a0Technically, there’s no doubt that he’s better than me, but, evidently, I’m better than most of the rest. If not, I wouldn’t be here.<\/p>\n
Q: \u00a0You have said, “Sport without challenges is stupidity.”<\/p>\n
A: \u00a0These are things that I’ve always thought and I live with them. \u00a0One has to be realistic: \u00a0to play tennis without an objective…fine. \u00a0I swing a racquet and hit a ball over a net. \u00a0What does that mean? \u00a0Very little. \u00a0In and of itself, it’s trivial. \u00a0Sports in general are stupid, if one doesn’t take them to their highest level. \u00a0And the highest level means to play towards a goal, with passion, with joy and desire. \u00a0This is what I’ve thought my whole life. \u00a0When I play golf, I give it all I have. \u00a0People are wrong about me. \u00a0They say, “All he wants is to win.” \u00a0What I love is competition, the investment of energy, the concentration that it takes to try as hard as possible. \u00a0Obviously, I like to win, but what inspires me is to feel that I’ve given all I have. \u00a0If not, I don’t see the point. \u00a0And if not, I’ll say let’s have a laugh, and find something else to do.<\/p>\n
Q: \u00a0How does it make you feel that your co-players see you as an idol? \u00a0In Madrid, you spoke to Horacio Zeballos, wishing him well, and he said, “I’ve just been blessed by the Pope!”<\/p>\n
A: \u00a0I can’t imagine it’s like that. \u00a0I feel close to all the players, especially the Spanish-speaking ones, because the relationship is so easy. \u00a0I don’t think they see me like that. \u00a0I don’t know. \u00a0I see myself as an approachable person and I think they see me that way, too.<\/p>\n
Q: \u00a0Now you’re going back to Wimbledon [starting 24 June] where you left injured in 2012.<\/p>\n
A: \u00a0Last year I entered Wimbledon without being well, being injured…I was playing compromised. \u00a0I wanted to put in the effort, with everything this tournament means to me. \u00a0It wasn’t to be. \u00a0I forced it. \u00a0Everything I wanted to try to do was too limited. \u00a0It didn’t affect me negatively in what was to come after. \u00a0When I get there this year, the simple fact of being there will be good news. \u00a0It’s a beautiful tournament, and I love it. \u00a0Even if I won’t arrive so well-prepared, just being there will make me feel satisfied.<\/p>\n
Q: \u00a0It clears your head.<\/p>\n
A: \u00a0It nourishes me. \u00a0I love the feeling of stepping on the grass, of playing on those courts, which is such a different sensation. \u00a0For me, whatever the result, it’s worth it. \u00a0Am I arriving less prepared than usual? \u00a0[He won’t play a grass court tune-up before the tournament.] \u00a0Yes, but it comes back to the same thing: I’ll get there healthy, good physically, and mentally I’ll arrive there in a good place. \u00a0Then, if I’m lucky enough to get through a few matches, perhaps not having played a tournament before will translate into mental freshness. \u00a0[At Wimbledon], all matches are very difficult; it’s the most uncertain tournament of the year. \u00a0The confidence of having won here [in Paris] gives me that something extra that you need to play well there.<\/p>\n
Q: \u00a0The Nadal of 2008, who only allowed Roger Federer 4 games in the final, is he better than the 2013 version of Nadal?<\/p>\n
A: \u00a0In tennis terms? \u00a0Could be. \u00a0There are moments, and moments. \u00a02008 had things that 2013 doesn’t have, and 2013 has things that 2008 didn’t have. \u00a0Speaking strictly of Roland Garros, perhaps that was the best I played in my career. \u00a0But you have to look at the whole picture. \u00a0In terms of results, I was in the same place in 2008 that I’m in now. \u00a0Those things are in the past. \u00a0Now, I’m looking forward.<\/p>\n
Q: \u00a0What was the best advice you got during your injury lay-off?<\/p>\n
A: \u00a0When I had to stop playing, I was lucky to have my family around me, which is very important. \u00a0Also my team, which helped me keep working with the enthusiasm and mentality necessary to not lose my form. \u00a0I had friends and sponsors who kept their faith in me. \u00a0This was a very important source of confidence.<\/p>\n
Q: \u00a0You asked that it be made public the exact number of controls [drug tests] that are given to each tennis player. \u00a0Did it bother you that, during the injury lay-off, there were those who would say you’d disappeared?<\/p>\n
A: \u00a0I don’t like it when a player comes out and says: \u00a0“They don’t test me enough.” \u00a0It’s easy to come off well by saying that. \u00a0Or, to say “I get tested too often.” \u00a0[I would probably prefer that it be], “I’m tested this much.” \u00a0X-number of times. \u00a0Just make it public. \u00a0That way, you don’t create doubt, nor the sense that one player looks good because he says they don’t test him enough, or that another looks bad because he complains that they test him too much. \u00a0The logical thing is to make everything public knowledge, and then there’s no question.\u00a0Disappeared? \u00a0I didn’t disappear at all; \u00a0everyone in the world who wanted to, knew where to find me: at home, and working every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[divider] Translated from:\u00a0\u201cGano con mi tenis, no con la mente\u201d (El Pais, June 10, 2013) Click here to discuss this and more with fellow tennis fans on our discussion boards. [divider] 10 June 2013\/Paris\/Juan Jos\u00e9 Mateo Rafael Nadal (Manacor, Mallorca, 1986) says goodbye to Pau Gasol in the lounge of a hotel they were both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[142,78,140],"class_list":["post-1843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis-international-access","tag-french-open","tag-rafael-nadal","tag-roland-garros"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}