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ROLAND GARROSJune 6, 2014Rafael NadalPARIS, FRANCE R. NADAL/A. Murray THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please. Q. Have you played better this season? That was quite an amazing performance? RAFAEL NADAL: Well. I say the other day that I was practicing better than a long time ago, so that's why the result today, no? Normally when you are playing well, then you are able to play with the right position and go on court with the right intensity. You can do it. You can play at the same level that you are practicing, so I think something that I did today. I think I played very well with my forehand. I think was important to serve the way that I served today. Is true that for a player like Andy ‑ he's a big returner ‑ that he make more mistakes than usual on the return. But is true too that I made a lot of times serve, and the first shot with my forehand starts to be very positive because I am able to take the advantage from the first shot. And then if I am able to hit a few forehands in a row ‑‑ probably not one month ago, but today if I am able to hit a few forehands in a row is true that normally I have a lot of chances, have had good success. Q. Were you expecting one month ago when you were losing some matches which you normally don't lose to be able in one month to recover so well and to be so strong? Also, did you expect that Murray didn't make more than seven points on returning your serve until half of the third set? RAFAEL NADAL: Well, I didn't see the statistics, obviously. Is difficult to talk about statistics for me. I talk about my feelings. Is true that I lost a few matches, but playing the way that I played today probably I will not. But another thing that is true is every week on the clay court season I was doing something better. So if I was able to start a little bit before with that improve ‑‑ not talking about the level of today, but if I was able to play a little bit like I did in Rome few weeks before, probably we will be here talking about a great clay court season. But the problem is always the same. The problem is the past. Problem is comparisons, because for everyone that in the clay court season make quarterfinals in Monte‑Carlo, quarterfinals in Barcelona, winning Madrid, final in Rome, and final in Roland Garros, will be a very positive clay court season. But probably comparing with the last eight years will be a little bit more negative. For me, still a very good clay court season. Important thing is that I played at very high level today. I finished well the match the other day. I played again probably my best match in the clay court season today. So happy for that. Very happy for that. Seriously. Very, very happy to be in the final of Roland Garros again. That's something very special for me, and I'm happy that I am. Q. Two questions: were you nicely surprised as the match advanced that things went so smoothly or easily in this match? Did you expect this kind of score? The second question is like Djoko has never won Paris. Do you think that the fact that he will have this big appetite for this first win here might be an extra problem for you on Sunday? Is that a factor? RAFAEL NADAL: The first thing, sorry, but is difficult for me to answer a question like this. When you're going on court playing against one of the best players in the world, you don't expect nothing. You expect a tough match. You expect play point by point, and you expect to play your best to try to win. That's the real thing. The second thing, Novak already did a lot times positive results here. Is nothing new for him to be in the final. He has the motivation to win Roland Garros for the first time for sure. But at the same time, he has the pressure to win for the first time. I have the pressure that I want to win and the motivation that I want to win the ninth. So I don't see a big difference on that. I'm going to go on court with the same motivation than him. I don't know if the same pressure than him. Probably we are in different situations. But I don't know if that's gonna make a big impact on the match. What's going to make the real impact is the player who will be playing better. Q. Do you attach some significance to the fact that you might be in a position to win a fifth straight title of Roland Garros, and what would that kind of achievement mean to you to win five in a row? RAFAEL NADAL: For me the only motivation is Roland Garros. Doesn't matter five in a row, four, or one. For me, always when I have a chance to win Roland Garros is a special thing. The rest of the things are less important. Q. It was interesting that you said during the clay court season each week you learned something. RAFAEL NADAL: I didn't say I learned something. I said I did few things better. But not I learned. I can still learning a little bit, but... About the world, about life, yes. About tennis I am trying to still learning every day, but always is a challenge, no? Q. Okay. So what things did you do better? RAFAEL NADAL: Yes. The things that I did better, first few weeks with my forehand I was not able to create winners. I was not able to take advantage when I was hitting with my forehand. I was losing court. I was playing with more mistakes than usual. My position on court was not a good one to compete against good players. I was playing with, you know, more nerves, more anxiety than usual, because was a little bit new feelings for me on clay that I was not able to find my real game on clay. Playing better or worse, but always I had that feeling that ‑‑ playing better or worse, but I was able to do the things in one way, no? Now a mistake with a forehand, now a mistake with the backhand, now I am defending, I am not defending enough long. So now I am running and I am not arriving with the right position on court. So strange feelings for me that I needed to accept and work on it to keep improving. Sometimes that's a good thing of the sport, no? Always the effort and the work to improve, to recover, to find solutions for your problems, and that's the beautiful thing about the sport in general. That's why the sport in general is popular around the world, because the sport is always a real thing. When you are playing well, you win. One win, one lose. One player is playing better. One is playing worse. That's the real thing? What you are watching is what is the real thing. Q. There is always some numbers mean something, like 42. You're going to play Djokovic in the final. Is that going to be the 42 ‑‑ the 42nd in (indiscernible). RAFAEL NADAL: I really don't know. Q. You don't know that? So I'm kind of curious, how you gonna play such a person you know so well? RAFAEL NADAL: In the end always is the same, no? I don't see if you have something special‑‑ if you know something special how I can prepare let me know, because the only way that I know is go back and work two days with my physio and then come back to the hotel, have dinner with the family, with the team. Practice tomorrow, try to have a good practice tomorrow. Relax a little bit in the afternoon and wake up with the right feeling. Go on court, try my best, try to have my best day and try to be very well and try to win. That's the only preparation, no? It's nothing special that you can do. Nothing that I really know. Q. The weather was very good. It really helped your topspin today. When you play Djokovic on Sunday like the weather is also expected to be quite sunny. Do you feel that will have an impact on how you play him? Also the fact that you have lost four matches in a row to him, but you have never lost to him in Roland Garros. How confident will you be going into the final on Sunday against him? And also, a little bit about the weather conditions, like how it's going to impact or whether a good start is essential for you on Sunday to win the match. RAFAEL NADAL: No, always I repeat the same every day, no? For me is much better when the weather is like today. My ball creates more topspin. The ball goes quicker in the air, and with my forehand I am able to create more with less. It's obvious that with days like today, helps my game. And confident or not on Sunday doesn't matter. I gonna go on court. I'm going to try my best. I need to play aggressive. I need to find my best level, and I gonna try. Talking about confident or less confident because he beat me four times but he never beat me here, is true that I prefer to be in a position that I beat the opponent that I gonna play four times than in another position, than in the other position. So probably he will come to the match mentally a little bit better than me because he beat me the last four. But at the same time, my feeling is I am doing the things better and I am playing better again, so that's a positive feeling for me. I gonna try. I don't know. THE MODERATOR: Questions in Spanish. Q. What helped you dominate this match? What made the difference between this match and the match between David and you? RAFAEL NADAL: Okay, we can try and analyze details and analyze each point, but the truth of the matter is that I played better than my opponent. These are the facts. Today I played better than Andy. Andy made a few mistakes, especially on his return; whereas I made very few mistakes. I played quite well. So these are facts. I succeeded in developing my strategy. As for Andy's strategy, he didn't manage to implement it. These are facts. I'm sorry for him, but I think at the end of the day, well, he's a player I do admire quite a lot. He's a player I like. He is a player who is just recovering from an injury, and he's had very good results. He's somebody I know very well on a personal level. He's a beautiful person. I'm sorry for him. I think he's achieved very good results despite this loss today, but I think I played better than he did. Q. Apart from this evolution you talked about, we can talk about a great difference in the quality of your game between Rome and Paris. Coming to Paris was undoubtedly a great motivation from a mental perspective. RAFAEL NADAL: Well, the conditions in Rome were totally different. In Rome when I played against him, this was the first time I felt a change, because from that moment I started playing better. Even though I lost in Rome, it was a turning point in my game. In Paris I have won eight times here. But the number of games, of matches I played well in Paris were in smaller number as compared to Rome or Monte‑Carlo. So coming back here in Paris is not what makes a difference. It's all a matter of evolution. Every day I must be very demanding and find the mental power to play as well as I did today. Then it's also true that when you feel that week after week, your game is improving, then obviously you're in positive dynamics. That was the case for the entire clay court season. So far everything's fine. We'll see what happens on Sunday. It's going to be a very open match. Anything can happen. But if we just look at the facts, I need to start this final with a positive mentality, and I'm very happy. Q. You lost to Novak during the final in Rome and you changed the dynamics. I don't know if this will have an impact on you on Sunday. RAFAEL NADAL: Well, we know each other very well. We know that everything can have an influence on your mentality when you play a match, and that's true. So to a certain extent he can be in a good position. But I have been well prepared. I have started preparing quite well over the last few days. I have prepared quite a lot. I need to improve my return a bit more. Today I managed to have my backhand that was a bit better than before. I need to be a bit more patient. I need to be able and manage pressure, because when it puts a lot of pressure on me I would rush on my return and I position myself to play on my forehand. As for my forehand, everything is fine. It's very fast, very powerful, and I'm very happy. So we'll see. But it's true that he defeated me four times in a row. This will have an impact, but I hope it will not be too big of an impact. Q. You played a long number of hours in Rome as compared to the number of hours you have played here, so that should be positive. RAFAEL NADAL: Well, no, it depends. Once again, last year I managed to win several matches against Novak; likewise, in 2011 I won a few matches against him. But, now let's look at reality. Let's look at the facts. The match is going to be won by the one who is going to play the best at any time. To me in tennis, from everything I have seen through my career, well, we've had rivalries over a long period of time, and it still goes on. I mean, we have this rivalry, all these confrontations. As for me, I have had other confrontations with the top players in the world, so it's just a continuation, one tournament after the other. This puts continuous pressure on me, but it's the same thing for my opponent. So this is why we all have ups and downs. Of course you win a few matches in a row or you can be losing a few matches in a row. This is a very demanding sport. The season is very long. Afterwards, when you win major tournaments, you're faced with top opponents. That is very tiring from a mental perspective. That's why we have ups and downs in our careers. At the moment he is in a good momentum, and I hope I can put an end to that. I'm working on this. But in any case, this is what makes the beauty of this sport. We have wonderful moments, and others that are not all that good when we need to recover, to rest, and relax. But it's true that this rivalry continues, and that's the beauty of all this. So now I need to prepare myself. So far I have played fine, but in my career I had to face opponents who were very tough opponents and very difficult to defeat. Q. You talked about tennis and you said something about your mental strength or mental power. Thinking about your experience, how much does mental strength impact your game? And how much will it be at play Sunday? Because maybe Novak is going to win for the first time in Paris. I guess you'll have all the statistics in mind when you walk on the court, and that might be difficult. RAFAEL NADAL: Well, for me, the most important is to win here again, period. Since I recovered from my injuries I said I had no specific objectives. Being No. 1 in the world was not an objective for me. Of course I want to win here. After Cincinnati, it's true that it came to my mind to be No. 1, but this is not an objective I had in mind. It's something that happened. Now, from a mental perspective what changes is the motivation that I have to win here in Paris. His motivation is to win another Grand Slam. It's very important for him. That would be a certain number of Grand Slams in a row, so that's his motivation. And he would like to have Roland Garros as a win. But this is a tennis match, and if he loses, it's not the end of the world. But we don't know what's going to happen. We don't know what the result will be. Right now I'm trying to open the door, and I hope this is not going to be my last opportunity. Q. You had famous rivals like Federer and now Djokovic. You're talking about these big confrontations. What's the difference between these two? RAFAEL NADAL: Well, there are obvious differences. You know that. Just like me. These two players have totally different styles. Playing Federer is totally different to playing Djokovic. In any case, these are totally different matches against Federer. These were far more tactical matches, and more repetitive, as well. Against Novak, I think we'll use all our shots. We'll have to be more tactical at some stage. Well, anyway, these two players have totally different styles. Very high quality of tennis. Beautiful tennis. I hope I can pull through. Q. During this match on Sunday, what can be the impact of the weather? RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know, but this is something beyond my control. That's not a question I want to ask myself. I have to do my best with the weather, whatever the weather will be. I said it on many occasions I prefer when the weather is fine and sunny. I can't command the sun, so I'll have to cope with the weather on Sunday, whatever it will be, and the one who will play best will be the winning one. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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