Rafael Nadal

You fight, you try your best, but if you lose, you dont have to break five racquets and smash up the locker room. You can do those things, but when youve finished, nothings changed. Youve still lost. If something positive came from that, I probably would do it. But I see only negativity.

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.

In Majorca, I can be myself. I go to the supermarket and the cinema, and I am just Rafa. Everyone knows me, and it is no big deal. I can go all day – no photographs.

When one player is better than you, at this moment, the only thing you can do is work, try to find solutions and try to wait a little bit for your time. I’m going to wait and I’m going to try a sixth time. And if the sixth doesn’t happen, a seventh. It’s going to be like this. That’s the spirit of sport.

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

To be a friend means that they are always there, for the good or the bad.

However great your dedication, you never win anything on your own

That’s the hard part about sport: as men we haven’t started to be in our prime, but as athletes we are old people. I needed support. I lost trust and did stupid things.

Is more for precaution. You don’t know tomorrow what’s happen, no? But now I am happy because I don’t feel too much pain. But I can finish the match, so that’s a good sign.

I was in the tennis bubble. I wasn’t thinking about the big picture. I didn’t notice what they said on television, I wasn’t reading any papers. I had a coach and a manager, and they kept me in the bubble.

I go to my favourite tournament, I talk about my favourite sport and it’s just a great month of parading.

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.

The eyes of some of the fans at Davis Cup matches scare me. There’s no light in them. Fixed emotions. Blind worship. Horror. It makes me think of what happened to us long ago.

If the plane moves, some turbulence, I am nervous flyer.

I’m realising my dream of owning a top football club. Some will doubt my motives, others will think I’m crazy.

Everyone is entitled to have their own opinions.

When you are thrown onto the stage at 17 in such an enormous way, it becomes living on the edge because every step you take, every word you speak, every action you do becomes headline news. And it became, for me, life or death.

Since I was a kid, I’ve wanted to do sports for a living. In the beginning, I played a lot of soccer, but in the end I chose tennis. I love sports in general … But tennis is my passion.

People who know me said I will win one or two Premierships and will not be interested after that. The reality is that we’ve won two Premierships but I’m more excited about this particular season than last year or the year before. I am a fan of special nature. I’m getting excited before every single game. The trophy at the end is less important than the process itself.

I love basketball.

Gaudio is playing very well. Today he played at an incredible level, especially on his backhand. But I am only thinking of my own game, and of playing well.