Rafael Nadal

Why would I want a place of my own? Then I would have to things worry about, like doing laundry and having food in the fridge.

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.

I’m not the best player in the history of tennis. I think I’m amongst the best. That’s true. That’s enough for me.

My motivation is tomorrow, just one day at a time, right?

Being home alone at night makes me a bit nervous. If I’m at home alone, I have to sleep on the sofa – I can’t face going to bed. I’m there with the TV on and all the lights on. I’m not very brave about anything in life. In tennis, yes. In everything else, not very.

I like a lot of sports. Especially football – it’s my favourite sport. My uncle played football in Barcelona for nine years and played for Spain in three World Cups.

If somebody says I am better than Roger, I think this person doesn’t know anything about tennis.

I want to be remembered as a great athlete. As a boxing champion.

What distinguishes tennis is respect for one’s opponent, one’s conduct on the court.

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.

Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game – and do it by watching some high school or small-town teams.

The fifth set is not about tennis, it’s about nerves.

Tennis has to be very careful.Not everyone is a computer, it is very good we have John McEnroe. I hope we have a couple more.

My feeling would be that you lose something of the beauty of the Premiership by joining something not defined at the moment.

Winning is a way of expressing yourself.

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.

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

I am thrilled to be the new team captain. I am sure that the pressures I’ve faced on centre court will stand me in good stead to battle it out against Ian and his team.

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.

Outside the manager, John [Terry] and I have probably the closest relationship with Roman. We speak to him sometimes just minutes after a game to discuss how it went and at other times when he wants to gauge our views on specific subjects … Abramovich is also very like Mourinho in his thirst to discover the reasons behind a certain event or result.

It’s important to have people around you with enough confidence to say if you are not acting in a good way. Normally, when you are at the top, people say everything is fantastic. Probably in that moment it is what you want to hear, but it’s best to be reminded how to act properly.