Rafael Nadal

No one is perfect. Everybody does stupid things.

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

I learned during all my career to enjoy suffering.

The worst thing is to play too defensively. I need to play with more intensity and be aggressive. If I do that, I’m going to do well because my touch is good.

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 don’t think we are so ugly that we should be seen as the devil and I don’t think Arsene Wenger and David Dein are so beautiful that they should be viewed as angels.

Honesty, willingness to exert oneself, friendship – all these things shaped me too.

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.

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.

You just try to play tough and focus point for point. Sounds so boring, but it’s the right thing to do out there.

The thing, when you’re down two sets to love, is to stay calm, even though it’s hard, because people are freaking out, people are worried for you.

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

I am happy with being a tennis player and the choice I took when I was 12. But clearly, if I wouldnt have been a tennis player, I would have loved to be a soccer player. But again, I am happy with the choice I made.

Above all, such sports as judo, in my view, teach people to relate to each other. They teach us to respect a partner, teach us to understand that an externally weak partner can not only put up worthy resistance, but, if you relax and take too much for granted, may even win.

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

I have lived my whole life with high intensity.

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.

It is unbelievable to me that I can win against the best player in the world, against one of the best in history. It’s very important and very special for me, especially because I was three months off the court.

I am just like all the jerks and idiots you know. I am just a guy that watches sports all day.

I just wanted to see how the shorts felt again.