Rafael Nadal

I didn’t play a great match, but once I pass the first two rounds, things get easier. I’m used to the court and the conditions.

It is no longer enough to play very well. You need to be able to give an answer at all times and everywhere. You cannot hide. This has something to do with maturity, and that is something you only acquire over the years.

I was passionate about soccer. I still am. Odd, though – playing soccer always made me much more anxious than playing tennis. On soccer days, I’d be out of bed by 6 in the morning, all nervous. But I was always calm when it was time for a tennis match. I still don’t know why.

No one is perfect. Everybody does stupid things.

It should not be a child’s only goal to become the best player in the world. That would be a bad, a harmful attitude.

As a tennis player you can win and you can lose, and you have to be ready for both. I practised self-control as a kid. But as you get older they both – winning and losing – get easier.

Girls had never been important. I’d had a girlfriend or two and had liked them a lot but it wasn’t love, because my first love was tennis.

The guy comes up to the plate, there’s always a chance where he can get a grand slam and everybody forgets about all the times he missed.

If you are playing bad you are going to lose here, on clay, on ice, or on the beach.

I just try to win the match by fighting for every point, and running down every ball.

If I am not playing at one hundred percent, it is going to be very difficult for me to win.

It’s not that difficult to play well and win titles in a team like Barcelona, but it’s in the national side where you see a player’s true class. That was the case with figures like Pele, Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane. With Spain, Iniesta has shown that he is among the best players of all time and that’s why I rate him higher than Messi or Ronaldo. Even though the latter two have incredible scoring records for their clubs, they still haven’t won anything with Argentina or Portugal respectively.

I became a player who goes to a lot of effort while training, who can rely on his will and his mental strengths.

I’m always searching for new music, and I change what I listen to on a regular basis.

I think the tennis is only a game. You can lose. You can win. After that? In life, there are much more important things than tennis.

I drew my strength from fear. Fear of losing. I don’t remember the games I won, only the games I lost.

Thats the hard part about sport: as men we havent started to be in our prime, but as athletes we are old people. I needed support. I lost trust and did stupid things.

It’s important for the young players to practice other ball games as well, basketball or table tennis. On the tennis court, you can improve your eye through a kind of overexertion.

Every girl has her own character, every boy his own mind.

I’m ambidextrous when I eat. But playing tennis right-handed – I can’t do it. I’m clueless.

It is the small steps which bring you satisfaction at the end of the day.