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ATP MASTER SERIES MADRID

October 20, 2006

Rafael Nadal

MADRID, SPAIN

Q. Rafa, what did you say to Berdych at the end of the game? He said that you told him that he was a bad guy, he was very bad. Is that correct?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah. Correct.

Q. What do you mean by that?
RAFAEL NADAL: Huh?

Q. What do you mean when you say he's very bad? In what ways is he very bad?
RAFAEL NADAL: Maybe he's -- The question was if I had said to Berdych that he was very bad. That was the question. Okay? And the answer is that I've told him that, yes. With my emotions because I'm very -- I get cold when I lose.
But I think he's a player that week after week shows he's one of the top players in the world. He's very close to being in the Top-10. Next year he'll probably reach the Top-10 because he has a very high tennis level.
But I said that because in Toronto I didn't say anything, but he was constantly giving bad looks and nasty looks to the opponent. At that time it was not good.
And today during the match it happened again constantly. He looked, and he looked at me with not a very friendly face. During the match I'm focused on my game. I wasn't about to say anything during the match. But maybe the last thing he did with his finger was out of place.
The crowd was supporting me. It has been excellent. But nothing against him. The crowd supports a Spanish player. I've also played in the Czech Republic, and I want to thank the crowd. It has been an incredible atmosphere. And for me it's been an honor to play here again. Even though I'm leaving in the quarter finals, my feelings are great.
Well, he did that at the end with his finger. I won the fifth point in Czech Republic, which I think is more important than quarter finals here, and the crowd was not supporting me that time either. And I didn't do anything with my fingers or my face or my attitude there. In my opinion that's what he should have been doing here.
For the rest, nothing else to say. You need to analyze the match itself and not what happens afterwards, the consequences of everything. What you need to analyze is the match. For the rest we will go -- he'll go his way, I'll go mine, and we will meet or not. We'll see.
Q. You almost won the second set.
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah. I played a good set. The set point, I could have been doing much better. But he was doing, Berdych was doing great with his shots and his backhand and was putting pressure on me. My second serve was a bit forced maybe. Oh well, that's how things are. I think my level has been very high, but he has won me. With playing a bad match anyway. His level was high as well. My level was high, too.

Q. Last year Federer and you won almost everything. Berdych only won Paris, Bercy. Does it make you feel better towards Shanghai?
RAFAEL NADAL: No, not at all. Because for me Madrid is one of the most important tournaments of the year. After the four Grand Slams. Well, Masters, Shanghai. Madrid is there for me, to play at home is very special, in the Masters Series, it's more special. I don't think it has been good for Shanghai. What's been good here is to keep playing at my high level.
I'm in a good way, and this is a good experience. I think I am training hard and with enthusiasm for a long time. And right now I'm achieving to become a more comprehensive player, better serve. My drive is working well now. Back hand is usually good. I'm at a very good stage of my career. For me that's very very important, and I've worked hard to be here.

Q. I need to go back to the subject that we talked about before. Don't you think you may have made a slight error when you shook hands with him and on TV you said he was an asshole?
RAFAEL NADAL: No, I didn't say that. Maybe you heard me wrong. I said he was stupid. That's a little bit less disrespectful.
No, in my opinion it hasn't been an error. In you're saying it's been an error, I respect you.

Q. No, I'm not here to give my opinion.
RAFAEL NADAL: Yes, you've given your opinion. You're going to have yours, and I'm going to have mine. An interviewer can have their opinion.
In my opinion he's a player that has an irate attitude. It's not an irate attitude that I have. He's not a bad person. He's said I said it in a cold tone of voice. End of story. You saw he left the stadium with the whistles of the crowd.

Q. You've played all around the world, and you've known many crowds, many different republics. Do you think the crowd here in Madrid has behaved correctly?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yes. It's been a great crowd.

Q. Last detail about the subject. He said you said, "You're very bad at the net." According to him he said, "Yes, but I won against you three times." Very few players have beaten you three times. That's something I heard somewhere.
RAFAEL NADAL: Has he said that? I didn't listen to that point.

Q. It was logical for the press that you would play the final?
RAFAEL NADAL: Logical for you, press, for you. I've been saying here every day it was not logical. For me it was a match I could lose, and I lost it. But I got a good image on every point. It's been lost. It's a match that I lost against a great player.
He won Roddick yesterday. He defeated him in two sets. That's something to take into account. He is at a high level, and you cannot stop him sometimes. And that's it.
If he said he won me three times, he's right.

Q. The other day when the first round match ended, when you were signing autographs a girl asked you if you were going to play the final, and you said very seriously, "No, I'm sorry, but I won't." Why? Why did you do that? It was in the tunnel.
RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know. I don't know. I said, "I'm sorry, but, no", but I didn't say no like -- it was a no like, well, it's tough. I knew it was going to be difficult.
It's a surface that suits me, but it is tough. And you need to take that into account. It's a final in the Masters Series. It's not a bad result where I've reached against a great player. I'm not leaving the tournament with a poor feeling of myself. I'm satisfied. I don't want to go into excuses.
Even though we had this thing at the end, this incident, I wouldn't want the press conference to be focused on that, to see that in the press tomorrow.
The match is won with the racket. The rest is only something which can dirty the image of tennis. It hasn't been that serious. It's something that he could have not done, and that's it. For the rest, I accept it.

Q. Are you going to stay and watch Real Madrid?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know. What do the real supporters think? Do you want me to watch the final match or not? Because they say I am jinxed. I am not jinxed. Maybe I stay, yes, and watch it. I don't know.
Q. Could I ask you one last question about the crowd. Berdych said what he didn't like was the fact that the crowd -- he understood that the crowd supported you, but he didn't like the way the crowd was cheering his mistakes. And in particular when he served a double fault. What did you feel about the crowd's behavior at that point?
RAFAEL NADAL: I feel one thing. I feel when I was playing in Czech Republic in Davis Cup, when I had a double fault and the public supported him a lot and said, "Rafael", because I remember the public. I don't remember he don't say, "Please stop, stop, that's not correct." So now is the same.

Q. What he said though is that he expects that in the Davis Cup, but he would not expect it in another tournament.
RAFAEL NADAL: That's not true, because I play a lot of tournaments. And if you play against any local player, that's normal. That's good for tennis. Everything, the public support one player, the local player. Maybe for me the public of today was not bad with him. The public supported me a lot, and that's very nice.
Last week I played against players in Stockholm, and the public supported them a lot and supported when I made a double fault, when I made one mistake. So when I go to the press conference, I don't say nothing. So I say the public was very good, because that's good for the tennis. That's good for tennis. And in football, 1,000 people support his team, and the other team is normal. If you play in your house at home, it's normal that the public supports their player or their team.

Q. Different styles match up in different ways. Is there something about his style which matches up bad for you?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah. He plays very aggressive. He has very good shots, very tough shots. He drives the ball very hard. He plays very long. It's difficult.
I am trying to sometimes returning inside the court. I am trying to sometimes go from the back for a return. I'm trying to play a little bit more aggressive, a little bit more defensive. I'm trying all the time to find a way. But it was very difficult. He was playing very good. I find a way, because I played a very good second set.
I had my chances, and I didn't have good luck in those moments. For me it was a nice match with different styles. He was good. He was playing very, very good. I was playing good, too. The tennis is two points sometimes. Today I had a chance with myself in the 6-5 and after in the 6-6. It was his ball and he had the passing shot, with the back hand, passing shot. At that moment the match changed a lot in one point. That's it.
But the match for me was a very nice match, a very good level with different styles. Both styles were good. His worked a little bit better, but I am trying for next year. I'll work harder for playing next year. And I want to win this match next year for sure. Thank you.

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