Rafael Nadal Second Round Press Conference – Wimbledon 2015

Rafael Nadal talks to the media following his second round match at Wimbledon.

Q.  What went wrong today?
RAFAEL NADAL:  You know, the opponent, myself.  Combination of things that finally make me lose.
Accept the defeat and congratulate my opponent, and that’s it.

Q.  How have your expectations of yourself changed over the last year and several months, if at all?
RAFAEL NADAL:  I don’t know.  I know I am going to every tournament with the right motivation, working well.  I think I made all the things well to prepare here this tournament.
Losing in Roland Garros, going straight to Stuttgart and Queen’s, then came here very early to prepare the tournament.  So I lost.  Sad today for that, obviously.
But end of the day, that’s sport.  Good moments, bad moments.  Obviously today is a bad moment for me.  Just I need to accept these kind of things that can happen.  I did all my career.
Keep going.  You know, it’s not the end.  Is a sad moment for me, as I said before.  But life continues.  My career, too.  I have to keep going and working more than ever to try to change that dynamic.

Q.  Do you see yourself ever getting back at Wimbledon to the form where you won?  Do you ever see yourself being able to reproduce that?
RAFAEL NADAL:  I didn’t understand very well.

Q.  Your form at Wimbledon in particular is not very good over the last four years, from the high standards you set.  Do you see yourself getting back to how you were playing at Wimbledon in 2010?
RAFAEL NADAL:  I don’t know.  Is obvious that 2012 and 2013 were not an issue.  I was not competitive.  Too much problems on my knees.
Last year and this year, no problems at all with my knees.  So I was ready to compete.  I lost.
I don’t know if I will be back to the level of 2008 or 2010 or 2007 or 2006 or ’11.

Q.  Does that worry you?
RAFAEL NADAL:  No.  My motivation is try to be back to that level.  But I going to keep working on that.  But if I don’t make that happen‑‑ actually I played five times here the last day, had the trophy back home two times, so is not bad.

Q.  How much was it about his unusual style of game and how much was it about the issues with your game?
RAFAEL NADAL:  Well, in this court especially, you meet players that don’t want to play from the baseline sometimes.  This opponent is one of these ones.  You cannot have mistakes against a player like him with that big serve.  You know, nothing to lose.  Serving first and second almost the same speed.
Without having rhythm at all.  I didn’t hit three balls in a row the same way.
Then when you need to hit that ball, extra ball, you don’t have the confidence to do it.  So that’s what happened.
First game of fourth set was terrible for me.  A very disappointing moment.  Two forehands that I should not mistake.  I did not play that forehand during the whole match.  Arrive at that one, you lose confidence, you miss another.  Then I fighted at the end, but no chance at all on the return.  That’s it, you know.
This court give the possibility to these kind of players to play like this, with chances of success.  I didn’t serve enough good.  First set was important.  Break, 15‑30, easy passing shot with my forehand.  Well, not easy passing shot, but for me should be easy.  Mistake with that passing shot.
Then he played a good game, break back, then we arrive to 5‑All.  And can’t happen against a player like him.
After losing first set, you know, you are under pressure the rest of the match.  That’s it.  Good comeback in the second.  But when the match looks better for me, very bad forehand, 30‑15, three double‑faults later, so…
Too many mistakes.

Q.  You reached five finals between 2006 and ’11 in a row.  Now it’s four defeats against players outside the top 100.  How much of a disappointment is that for you?  How much of a problem on your Wimbledon record is that?
RAFAEL NADAL:  What problem?

Q.  How difficult is it for you to stomach those defeats in a row in consecutive years?
RAFAEL NADAL:  I am a good loser (smiling).  When I am not that good, I always accept.  Another thing is I am not happy, but accept that I am not enough good.  I never considered myself that good to not accept when somebody’s better than you, no?
The last couple of years, I was not ready to compete well here.  So I met some players that were better than me.  Accept and keep going, you know, it’s the only way.

Q.  You seem to be more disappointed than we’ve seen you in previous press conferences here when you’ve lost.  Does it feel more disappointing this year?
RAFAEL NADAL:  Well, yes.  2012 and 2013, I told you before, I know I was not ready to compete well.  This year I was ready to compete well, and I was playing well before that tournament.  Had the right preparation, all the things I thought were going to be fine to play a good Wimbledon.
So, you know, is a moment let’s say 45 minutes after the lose is not a good moment for me.  But, as I said before, no, I am not a person that will be thinking about it for the next two weeks.  But obviously today it’s tough.

Q.  You said that you enjoy being at Wimbledon and having your big house and your family.  I see your mother is here, your sister is here.  Will you stay in London a little bit or you go straight back to Mallorca now?
RAFAEL NADAL:  I don’t have more work here in London, so…
If you want to use the house, going to be free tomorrow (laughter).

Q.  Years ago it was said that clay court players often didn’t come to Wimbledon with the sense that they will work hard, give everything to win on grass.  You did that.  You changed that whole tradition.  Is that something that you think is an important part of what you have done in your career?  Is that something you feel good about, your desire to win here?
RAFAEL NADAL:  I did during all my career all the things that I thought will help me to be better player in all ways, no?  I always had a big respect for this tournament.  I always had the dream to play here one time.  I did in juniors in 2002.
But then I wanted to do it again, no?  When I came here and I felt that, you know, I was not that bad on grass, I always had the motivation to be here and to compete for big things, no?
Since 2005, you know, after winning first Grand Slam in my career, Roland Garros, was not easy to be here competing at my hundred percent.  You know, too much energy with all the clay court season.  That was the first time for me that I did that well.
But after losing here in the second round in 2005, I learned about.  When I won Roland Garros in 2006, I was working hard the next day to prepare here Wimbledon.  That’s what I did the rest of years of my career.  Only two years I couldn’t do it was 2012, 2013, and 2009 obviously, that I had the problem.  I had to retired from the tournament.
In exception of that three years, I did all the things I think are the right way to prepare one of the best tournaments of the world, like this one it is.  And is something good.
I think is something that I did well because then the players from Spain and players from clay court specialists, let’s say, they didn’t see that surface that far from play well.

Q.  If grass court tennis was a person, if it was a human being, how would you describe your relationship with that person?
RAFAEL NADAL:  I cannot describe relationship with grass.  You know, when you love one thing, and even last couple of years I didn’t have the best relationship possible with them, going to be in my heart and in my memories forever the 2008 final.  That was probably one of the most important moments of my career, and was here, no?
You know, at the end of the day, today I lost.  Don’t forget I played five finals here.  I don’t know how many players did that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

13 comments

  1. Me encanta ver Rafael Nadal em quadra, o torneio sem ele fica sem paixão. Quando vejo seu olhar percebo que falta a motivação de antes, o físico sem a mente não vai conseguir.
    Fico pensando: o que vou fazer agora?? me interessei pelo tênis com Rafa, tento me entusiasmar por outro tenista mas não consigo, o carisma que Rafa possui é único. Me apaixonei por um atleta fantástico e tenho que aceitar e respeitar que todos temos nosso tempo. Nesse momento só quero aproveitar cada minuto do Rafa em quadra, com seus golpes fabulosos e sua maneira simples de nos deixar hipnotizados!!!
    Obrigada Rafa Nadal! Vamos Campeão!!!

  2. Rafa you are and always will be the best you are forgetting your ability you know you can do it just think when you go on court of all your winnings not many can can match your ability hold your head up and go for it !!!

  3. I never been a fan of any tennis player but since I leave Spain and when there’s a tournament of tennis here in london and see you playing in the court ,I said to myself wow it’s a spanish man whose playing here since then I’ve been your no.1 fan but the way you play in every tournament I watched ,I’m very disappointed because it’s seem that your not giving your heart and mind in playing well .I thinked you don’t even care if you lose in every games that you play not thinking about the pride that you can give to your country and to your fans who believe in you

  4. Sad for Nadal. The thing is, there is some debate about who the best player is in the history of tennis, is it Nadal, or is it Federer? The fact is, it’s Nadal. Yes, Nadal’s a clay court specialist, but he didn’t only beat Federer on clay. The Wimbledon final in 2008 is the best match ever played and Nadal won it. Part of what we all love about Nadal is that he’s humble, Arrogance is ugly. Nadal needs to believe he is the best, and his coach needs to as well. There’s no arrogance in this, it’s the truth, and he is still young. Look at Federers age. I have always believed Nadal is the best tennis player ever, and he will win Wimbledon again as well as many other major titles. We look forward to the joy of watching you play at your best Rafa!

  5. VAMOS sweet Rafa! 😃 ❤️U and believe in you always. Good luck Champ, hugs ‘n’ 😘 from DK.

    Great fansite – Thx! 😊

  6. So sad Rafa but hey you are such a good player. Get back that huge mental strength of yours and play aggressive you can do it. All the best for the rest of the season. Vamos Rafa

  7. I miss very much again what hie can he does just watch your 2008 match agaist roger that game was great to watch you doing your best in the game i will miss you gain

  8. Saw the whole match and what i really noticed is that Rafa is really heavy when it comes to running. I think that he will never be back to old days form but he can still manage to do different things in his game and in his form especially lose weight to be more explosive (Fed, Djoko, Stan, Murray all lost weight and we can see that their games are also better now). he should also focus on his first and second serve in training cause what i’ve noticed during his match again super Brown is that when the first serve doesn’t work, he was clearly in panic for the second serve and bam, when you face an aggressive opponent such as Brown, if the second serve is weak, you won’t be able to counterattack unless you are very quick (like Djokovic).
    My point is that Nadal shouldn’t lose this match if:
    – he was lighter than how he looks right now
    – he worked on the second serve maybe lifting it high so that it won’t be easly attacked by Brown
    The rest of his game was good even if the forehand was sometimes a little bit shaky but that’s because of lack of confidence.
    For me if Rafa wants to find a new confidence in his game, he has to accept that he should change some things and maybe take an additional consultant in his team (i think about Carlos Moya who can really bring something new to Rafa’s game) but most importantly, he should lose weight to be able to move lightly on court and that may help him overcome his knee injury (from my point of view, it’s because he’s a little bit heavy that he often injured his knee).
    Nevertheless, Rafa is a great champion and i’m 100% sure he will be back to win, even be stronger than 2010, and could be considered as a big contender for another grand slam.

  9. For a while now after every loss he says ‘can happen, its sports, opponent dangerous’ etc but staying positive and accepting the losses isn’t helping him. He needs to do the opposite, reject it. Reject that mindset that loses him these matches before he even steps on court. The talent and skill is there. Rafa needs to change things up search deep and train his FH as much until he gets the feeling back. Until he can hit his trademark shots eyes closed. No one is expecting Rafa to play like 2008 or 2010 but he is only 29 he shouldn’t be losing to almost everyone. He’s way too talented for that.

    He needs to be more aggressive. These opponents he loses too are power hitters who feed off weak second serves and returns. 1st set Rafa up 3-1 Brown on serve Rafa up 30-15 and had such an easy FH for his standard normally he makes it that would give him another break 4-1 most likely 5-1 and he’d have won this match. This pattern is same for most his losses this year.

    Tennis is not the same without Rafa.
    We need the Bull back. This Rafa is a puppy.
    He needs that mentality back.

  10. So sorry Rafa, don’t be sad. I will always support you and good wishes for the hard courts and as michele said I will always love you 🙂 All the best for the rest of the season.

  11. Very sad day but I know you can find a way through this. You will get back to your best, be confident

  12. So so Sorry
    I watch all matches sincèrement RR 2005 & décide to play tennis thé nextyear at 65 year old..Stiller plan but m’y entousiame is prêt t’y low
    Hé aléas gave me thé courage to get better & i’m pretty good. But i loose m’y fait non
    Always love you Nadal.
    💔✉ michèle

Leave a Reply to Aries AdolfoCancel reply