Rafael Nadal

I play because I have fun, if I don’t have fun on the court, there is something wrong. I am just a 19 year old boy that likes to do what he likes, nothing else.

I always work with a goal – and the goal is to improve as a player and a person. That, finally, is the most important thing of all.

If you want to belong to the best, you need good technique and, perhaps even more importantly, a good eye. If you see the ball sooner, you have more time to think about how and where to return it.

I will do as I usually do. Tomorrow is going to be a day like any other day.

I am No. 8 in the world. I am not No. 100.

I always wanted to be honest with myself and to those who have had faith in me.

I always like to do the things that I think are right. I am not trying to be a model, I am trying to be myself and do the right things. If what I am doing is a model, or is an example, is the right example, I am very happy, but I don’t pretend that.

My parents’ divorce made an important change in my life. It affected me.

I am not the most courageous guy in the world outside of the court. Being alone in the dark is something I don’t like.

I’ve stayed calm when I’m winning and I’ve stayed calm when I’ve lost. Tennis is a sport where we have a lot of tournaments every week, so you can’t celebrate a lot when you have big victories, and you cannot get too down when you’re losing, as in a few days you’ll be in the next tournament and you’ll have to be ready with that.

I appreciate a lot in this life; the things you cannot buy. Life is only once.

I live where I would like to live. I live in Majorca, Spain, and I am not sure there are better places.

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.

Winning is a way of expressing yourself.

I’m really, really emotional.

You know, a lot of things changed. What never changed is the illusion to keep playing tennis, the illusion to keep doing well the things, and the illusion to be in a good position of the ranking and play these kind of matches.

When one gets beaten by somebody better, one has to know how to lose with humility. Sure, I could have served better. Sure, I could have hit my forehand harder. But the truth was this was like an avalanche, and there was no way to stop it.

I take pleasure in tennis and the hope that it requires.

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.

For sure, with golf it’s not a physically demanding sport like tennis. That’s what makes tennis great – you combine both things. It’s a very mental sport and at the same time can be dramatically physical. But I do admire the mentality of sport more than the physicality because physical performance is much easier to practice than mental performance.

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