http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/news/interviews/2014-06-09/201406091402319104422.html
Q. Congratulations, of course. Are we going to change the name of Roland Garros to Nadal Garros? How many times you have to win it for that? Did you change strategy? Because today you played 43 winners; one more than Djokovic. Play many, many forehand on his forehand down the line, which normally doesn't happen. You always play much more on the backhand. Was that strategic? Something that you started? I guess it worked.
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, thank you very much. The name is very nice, Roland Garros, so... (Laughter.) Don't need to change nothing.
Well, I tried to do my best all the time, no? I know to play against him I need to play to my limit, I need to play aggressive. But is always the same thing, no? To play aggressive and to play that shots, you need to be with confidence, you need to feel the ball.
Sometimes you don't have that great feeling. It's more difficult to produce these kind of shots, no? Is true that at the beginning the match start very equal, but I felt that the match was more in his hands at the beginning than in my hands.
I was winning more points from his mistakes than from my winners, and I need to change that. I think in the second set that the dynamic of the match changed. I was able to play more aggressive. I did better things.
And even if I was 4 All, the real thing was that the match really changed before. So that was a positive thing. For sure the day of today was very tough, very humid. The combination of two weeks of cold with the drastic change of yesterday and today, so today was the first real day that we play with that conditions.
This big change I think affects us, affects our physical performance. After the one set and a half we were a little bit tired today, no? It was very important for me to win that second set. Without that second set, I don't know if I have this trophy with me now.
Q. You got the trophy from Bjørn Borg, the other legendary winner in Roland Garros. In this room we were a few in the '70s to ask him similar questions 40 years ago. Now that you got the trophy from him, do you think, in 2050 you might come back here? How would you feel coming back to Roland Garros the way Bjørn Borg did 40 years from now giving it to some other champion? How would you see in retrospect?
RAFAEL NADAL: I would love to do it, hopefully.
Have past champions or very important champions of our history in our sport involved in tennis, coming to the big events, supporting, keep supporting our sport, makes our sport bigger.
Borg make amazing things. Borg makes big change on our tennis. Borg probably was the first big, big star. Borg make this sport bigger. Everybody should thank him for what he did.
I am a big fan of sport in general. For sure tennis is a thing that I did during almost all my life. So if I am healthy, nothing happens, I would love to be back in the future here for sure.
Q. This was a very special victory for you, your fifth in a row. You're the first person to achieve five in a row at Roland Garros. Your ninth victory. You equal Pete Sampras with 14 Grand Slam victories. How important would you rate this victory as compared to your first, and also the last year when you come back from injury? How important would you rate this victory?
RAFAEL NADAL: I think I always said the same, that I don't like the comparations. But always for me is the same. For me, the most important thing is win Roland Garros. That's the most important thing.
Then the other things, sure, are important, but the other things I always repeat the same. We will see when we finish my career how many Grand Slams I have or if I win four, three, or five in a row.
You know, today, that is not the most important thing, no? The most important thing today is I won the most important tournament of the world in clay, probably the most important tournament of the year for me.
I did a lot of times. I think was an emotional victory after what happened in Australia. I think I arrived with a lot of motivation to Australia this year. I prepared myself well to be there healthy and to be there with the right level.
All the tournament I played great, and in the final is true that I played against a player I always repeat the same that was playing amazing, like Stan. I don't know if I would be able to beat him in that match. I don't know.
But I didn't compete that match, so that was a little bit hard to accept for me. I had few months later that mentally I go down a little bit. I was keeping fighting, but I didn't feel myself enough strong.
Since one month I felt that I was able to playing better or worse, but my mentality was there again, no? And my motivation, my positive feelings on court was there again. Talking about mentally, no?
Then is a process that you need to work, need to win matches to play better and better. That's something that happened. I was winning more and more the last couple of weeks, and I arrived here playing well.
That's why I won against the toughest opponent possible today.
Q. You talked about the emotion. There was a lot of emotion before the National Anthem. It is, of the nine victories, one of the most emotional for you today?
RAFAEL NADAL: Last year was emotional for a few things. This year are emotional for another ones. But for sure when you are able to win Roland Garros, always will be emotional, no?
And then more when your age is older, no? Last year was with 27; this year is with 28. That's not forever. You know how hard is all the things that I am doing here. You want to enjoy the moment. You feel your emotions when you are there and you did it, because you know how much you worked to be there.
But at the same time, because I repeat, that's not forever. You have few more opportunities, yes, but you don't know if you're gonna win it again.
So the emotions were so high. A lot of people from my family here. A lot of supporters in Philippe Chatrier for me always is an emotional thing.
Play here and listen to the national, in that moment creates me emotional, too. All the combination makes the moment really special, and especially in this court that probably is the court that I really had more feelings.
Q. People talk about your big strokes, but you're also so strong on court mentally. You have such an ability to overcome problems. We saw that today. Talk about your ability to solve problems on court, your mental strength. Do you think that's one of your strongest qualities?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know. I think everybody who is able to do what we are doing, you know, is because we are able to find solutions.
But most important thing is not the solutions. It's not the most important thing. You find solution because you really want to do it, because you really want to fight, you really want to find it, you play with the right motivation all the time.
And that's why Novak, me, Roger, last eight years we were there so many times. It's obvious that we are not playing at our best every day, but when we are not playing at our best, we were able to keep believing in the victory, keep fighting for the victory, and keep trying different ways to win the match, no?
So that's my feeling. That's why we were able to do what we did that often and with that regularity, no? So it's true that during all my career I fighted a lot for every match, and that's the principal thing in my opinion, no?
Because then the solutions arrives, but because you really want to find the solution, no? Is true that during the matches I always try to improve the things, analyze the opponent, what's better, what's worse.
But the most important thing is what I told you.
uzzled :snigger
