Rafael Nadal

Hard courts are very negative for the body. I know the sport is a business and creating these courts is easier than clay or grass, but I am 100 per cent sure it is wrong.

All sports are continuously developing, but what they all have in common is that the speed is increasing. That’s also true of tennis; the ball is getting faster and faster.

In the second, I told myself just to hold my serve and try and be aggressive on his serve, and hopefully get a break. I also applied more topspin on my forehand. Once I won the second game after being 0-30 down, my confidence also went up.

Something that works for one person could be a disadvantage to another.

I have no interest in becoming a tax exile and living somewhere I don’t want to – I just want to be at home with my family.

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

Money plays an important role in football but it is not the dominating factor. When Chelsea play a Carling Cup game in a small city and it could result in a draw – the excitement, the spirit, the atmosphere – that’s the real beauty of football in England.

Sport has the power to change the world.

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

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 don’t really care what the man on the street thinks. I never did anything to please him in the first place, and I’m not going to start now.

Our strategy [at Chelsea] is to bring up our own players through the academy, which we have invested a lot in, and hope it gives results.

My goal is to improve my game, stay healthy and be competitive. If I have that, I know I can be able to win tournaments, which in the end is what it counts.

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.

You can swim any way you like in the Dead Sea, actually.

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

If the girls and boys have talent and feel like working on themselves, they can become champions.

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

The philosophy of FIFA is to expand world soccer space, to spread out the world football space.

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.

I’m only superstitious on the tennis court.