Transcript of the presser Rafael Nadal gave after his loss to Roger Federer in Shanghai.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. You said at the start of the week that Roger in these conditions would be a significant challenge. How do you assess tonight’s final?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, of course, have been a very difficult match for me. He played very fast and he played well. I don’t know how many unforced errors he make, but I don’t remember. He played so well, I think.
Yeah, I could do maybe some things better, but that’s it. No, no, just he played too good. That’s my point of view. So congrats to him.
Q. Regardless of tonight’s result, you have been playing in this part of the season better than you have played in most of your career. Is there something that you have done to adjust the preparation? Is it just that you managed to keep yourself healthy? Is there something that you have learned to basically perform better in this part of the season this year?
RAFAEL NADAL: No, I played well. That’s all, no? Beijing have been a tournament that takes time for me to play well. I never liked a lot the balls there. Was difficult to find a good rhythm. I played great in Beijing this year.
And here too. I played a fantastic tournament, having very good wins. Very pleased the way I played the whole Asian tour for me, whole China tour. Beijing, Shanghai have been a very positive two weeks for me. A lot of points, a lot of victories against great opponents. I come back with very good personal satisfaction the way that I played.
Q. Roger played a great match today, but you didn’t seem as comfortable maybe on the court as previous days. Was anything wrong?
RAFAEL NADAL: No, he played well. He played fast, as I said. He served huge. His serve was huge. He was returning well, no?
Yeah, of course was not the best match for me of the week. No, no, without a doubt was not my best match. No, no, that’s the real thing.
When somebody plays better than you, sport is not very difficult. That’s the real thing, no? When you play against somebody that is better than you in most of the things that really matters on this sport in this kind of surface, then it’s tougher.
There is room to improve for me, and I gonna try. But the conditions here were much better for him than for me, being honest.
Q. You put the bandage on your right knee. Did you do it for precaution or what?
RAFAEL NADAL: No. I don’t want to talk about that now, sorry, but after losing final is not the moment.
Q. After the game, the hostess said that you set up a school named for your own name, right?
RAFAEL NADAL: Sorry? Can you repeat that?
Q. After the game, the host said that you set up a school just named by your own name. So how is that going on?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yes, of course I have an academy in Mallorca. I built an academy, finished the construction one year and a half ago, and things are going well. I’m very happy that the things are going. Kids are very happy.
We have already 120 kids living inside academy. We have medical center inside. We have American international school inside, too. So we have all the things that I really believe that a kid needs to develop his tennis game, but at the same time his education for the future, no?
I think we have the right group of human people to teach them in the education and in the tennis way.
Q. This question is also about the pressure or motivation. Because you haven’t get championship here in Shanghai Masters, so do you think it’s motivation to you to get championship next year?
RAFAEL NADAL: No. No, no, I just play every tournament with as high motivation as possible. Would not be fair I play here with higher motivation than in Monte-Carlo because I didn’t win here and I won in Monte-Carlo 10 times.
No, every time I go on court I try my best. I try to play as good as I can. Sometimes I play better; sometimes I play worse.
That’s all. Shanghai is an important event. I always put attention in this event. Is true that I was not able to play as good as I would like here that often, but I already play two finals, couple of semifinals. So was not a bad event.
Q. You said many times that hard court is not the best surface for your body, for your knees, really. You played back-to-back tournaments. You’ve got another tournament on a hard court coming up in just over a week’s time.
RAFAEL NADAL: Basel?
Q. Yeah. What are your thoughts? Are you going to be there for that? Do you hope to be?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don’t know. I don’t know. Remain couple of weeks for me. I need to think about it. No, no, I cannot (smiling). I cannot tell you. Sorry, man.
Q. Can I ask you, where would you rate Roger’s form at the moment as opposed to where he’s been over the last decade?
RAFAEL NADAL: He’s winning two Grand Slams, winning couple of Masters 1000s, being second on the race with a lot of points. Yeah, played well for the whole season.
And the good thing for him is he take the periods of rest and when he was back he was able to win. So that makes a difference, because is very easy to say, okay, I take this period of time and that works very well. Okay, yeah, that works very good if you come back, win. Because if you come back, you don’t win, then for sure is not working well.
The calendars are always looking good or looking bad in terms of the results, you know. When somebody is winning a lot, looks like calendar is perfect. When somebody is losing, looks like the calendar is not good.
For this year, Roger did great in all the events that he played, so looks like he saved his body, he did the right things, yes, probably, yes, but at the same time anything could happen. And the confidence is going up and down sometimes. You can lose a couple of matches and changes everything, but of course he did unbelievable. He played very high level of tennis during the whole season, so well done for him and happy to see him play well.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
when will Rafa’s camp start working on strategy for playing likes of Federer and Djokovic. Then there is some hope of Rafa coming on top.
Yes…Fed hire a coach to help him beat Rafa and it’s working….Rafa team is not doing anything
Yes, pleased ☺that Rafael has arrived in Paris and was practising yesterday Friday at Bercy. I intend to go next week. Does anyone know which hotel he is staying at, the Mellia Alma as he was during R Garros ? Fiona in Paris
In past posts you have given the impression that you are a personal friend? You stated in an earlier post that you were going to Mallorca and would discuss his playing style [I don’t recall your exact words] with him [or his team].
Margo, and others. Yes, this year he was staying at the Plaza Athenée Hotel just round the corner from the usual one. I did not go there. I meant that if I went to see him in the Aca in Mallorca, I would have more chance to speak to him personally as his training sessions there are open to the public. Under the sun ! 😀 Here in Paris Bercy they were closed in, private practice. I had a super day out there Weds. 1 st Nov. saw him close up for 1 hour 48 mns winning against Chung. 😃There afterwards he signed some autographs for the young people but it is never very long. Also saw Feli Lopez, Zverev 😕Benneteau our Frenchman won, bravo 😀 Friday was not so good, saw Isner win against del Potro ☺ then they announced that Nadal had dropped out 😢shame for us fans. They put our Mahut and Herbert in place in doubles, they did not win 😕against Jamie Murray who did 😀 with Soares. Saw the end of Feli and Marc Lopez doubles match, no win 😕 That evening I was not there but Verdasco did not make it. 😕 I support the Spanish Armada. Fiona in Paris
We are going to watch the final Paris Bercy this afternoon on France TV. This year they have put it on a main channel . The rest of the tournament was on Canal + Sport here. Jack Sock vs. Kra. This young Serb was lucky, Rafa ‘ s abandon meant he could continue. May the best man win. ☺ Fiona in Paris
Rafa has explained his many previous losses due to “low confidence.” Rafa has won so much this year, including his Decima and two Slams. He should be full of confidence.
Mental strength is part of a champion’s DNA. To play confidently against opponents only who you know or think you can conquer is not optimum for any champion. Playing confidently against any opponent shows mental strength. Rafa plays against anyone. I am dismayed by fans insisting he is mentally weak.
RAFA ROCKS 2017
Rafa Roger jugo muy bien pero tambien tu no estabas a tu 100%….primero tuviste unos partidos muy duros y no presentar batalla pues mas a su favor…..
Pero lo k dice tio Tony k Roger es l mejor jugador d lala historia no estoy d acuerdo en l sentido d, k el es buenomuy en sus pistas y terreno y tu en tu terreno…..soisI dos grandes dl tenis…..el no jugo en tierra batida porque? Xk tu ahi eres el Rey y l ibas a ganar sin embargo tu t has superado en pista dura, e indor y t has enfrentado hasta k l ganes….y pasara k lo olvides L GANARAS……eres competitivo y lo conseguiras como has conseguido todo…….
CUIDATE……..Y SIEMPRE CONTIGO…..GRACIAS X CONTARNOS TUS DECISIONES
If Roger skips the clay season again it’s going to be hard for Rafa to get confidence from beating him if they only play on hard or grass. Roger has been very clever doing this and it has resulted in 5 losses in a row for Rafa, which Rafa hasn’t had the chance to overturn playing on his favourite surface, which Roger and his team where very aware of.
In my opinion, Princess r is the most unethical, freakish sport person I have come across. One wonders where is roger’s competitive sportsmanship? How does he carry any pride being so conniving and lacking integrity. Where does he think his unsports-like behavior will take him? Earning money in such a shielded manner, pretending you need medical whenever you loose, is his way .
This is Rafa’s fan site and the focus must remain on our precious, well regarded champ RAFA NADAL. We love you dear Rafa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : )
Love Rafa always, but Fed is the smartest tennis player ever. His schedule and preparation for events this year were perfection.
Rafa team must learn from him.
Nadal Haven’t tried to play high bouncing balls into Fed’s BH lately. He tries tries to use a very powerful FH that bounces too low in this surface, just like Fed would ask. Softer and more angled shots to both sides would do the job, with no unforced errors on Fed’s 2nd serve.
Don’t really have much to say or anything very different.
Roger’s stars are as strong as ever not taking away anything from the way he played. But everything seems to favour him in the day he plays and falls into place.
Rafa has improved mentally but not enough. He is still in the process of being really really strong and stable mentally. Continuously being beaten by one person especially Federer or djokovic whom he anyway believes is better than him makes him mentally vulnerable. As long as Rafa doesn’t really believe that he can beat Roger it’s going to be tough. Even if he didn’t win but made Federer fight or went into a third set it may not have been so sad.
Anyway I wish him all the best for the future and of course most important – stay well and free of injury!!!!
VAMOS
The look of dismay on Rafa’s face during the match said it all…It was one of those days where Roger’s game plan worked perfectly. We can say if Rafa did this…. or if Rafa did that…… but we have to accept that Roger was just too strong on the day. Rafa can’t afford to stew over this loss as it’s in the past now. The key is not to panic and get too down on himself. He has to be mentally strong because, reading some of Roger’s remarks in the the press, it’s clear that he thinks that Rafa is no longer a threat, but tomorrow is another day! Novak’s winning streak against Rafa came to an end and so will Roger’s.
With Moya starting next year as Nadal’s full time coach, I think Nadal will do better against Federer. I mean Moya has already brought quite a bit to the table that’s why Nadals serve is better and now that Moya is going to have him all to himself I think we will see more improvement in our Champs game. but yes he needs to rest.
He definitely wins more when Moya is there. I wondered if Mpoya’s absence may have contributed to his espicially poor performance against Fed.
But I don’t think MOya will be with him all the time, even after Toni retires.
hink the reasons Rafa lost, I mean lost that way, was more mental and game wise than physical.
Fed was simply playing too well. He put everything into his game. Everything was clicking. In other words, he was superior and Rafa would still have lost even if he had been fresher and his knees had been perfectly fine.
Rafa had no answer for Fed’s game. He couldn’t read his serve as well first and foremost, just what I was afraid.
Now this was mostly because Fed was serving lightsout, like he had been doing during the whole tournament like I had pointed out before the match. But it also had to do with Rafa being too nervy. It happened against lesser players. It happened against in the final against.
Sorry, this comment is only a part of my lengthy comment below. Please ignore it. It was duplicated.
Hi everyone. How’re you all doing?
So after several hours being confused about what was really happening with Rafa and worrying about that iconic taped knee of his, I calmed down. Things go up will go down eventually. 🙂
I watched the replay, highlights, pressers Read the interviews, pressers, transcripts. Talked to some tennis fans. Etc.
I think the reasons Rafa lost, I mean lost that way, was more mental and game wise than physical.
hink the reasons Rafa lost, I mean lost that way, was more mental and game wise than physical.
Fed was simply playing too well. He put everything into his game. Everything was clicking. In other words, he was superior and Rafa would still have lost even if he had been fresher and his knees had been perfectly fine.
Rafa had no answer for Fed’s game. He couldn’t read his serve well first and foremost, just what I was afraid.
Now this was mostly because Fed was serving lightsout, like he had been doing during the whole tournament like I had pointed out before the match. But it also had to do with Rafa being too nervy. It happened against lesser players. It happened against in the final against.
So there it went and failed, the start of everything.
Or course you can argue that if he hadn’t been broken right off the bat in the openning game (yep, I was actually afraid him chosing to serve first may not be a good idea), it could have been different match.
I don’t think so. Maybe more competitive, yep. But no way Rafa was gonna win that match, all things considered, objectively.
I could go on and on about the details in the final, but it doesn’t matter and no one would want to read now. What really disappointing was Rafa after more than 6 months still came into the match with the same old gameplan. Or maybe he had the right one but he abandoned it or didn’t feel he could execute it. So old habit dies hard.
He was clearly trying to press Fed but his ground game was falling apart, only his serve kept him alive.
When it was tight, the serve also failed for the most part. And there came the breaks.
Totally agree with you. Old habits, conservatism,nothing new and smarter ,he lost the match before it even started, believing he can’t beat Fed.
Huge disappointment not just because he lost,just the way he lost.
Apart from the IW match, don’t think I had ever witnessed Rafa being helpless like that.
His opponent was breaking him. He was breaking himself, playing some bizarre game of a conventional big server with no ground game. When the serve didn’t working, he’s dead. When it did, it’s a coinflip.
Well he looked hopeless like that numerous times against Djok in the long losing streaks he had to him. Similar scorelines; similiar lack of competitiveness, looking lost on the court.
Rafa’s serve is better now than it was when Djok was dominating him; but Djok dominated him in different ways than Fed. Djok did not have the huge serve, but Djok was way faster than Fed to the corners.
I don’t agree with you that Fed was fast around the court, btw. But he takes the ball very early and that can give the appearance of speed around the court.
Yep, Fed was lightning fast in the sense that he was anticipating everything. He was reading Rafa’s serve and shot like an open book. Only Rafa great serve both speed and placement wise got past him.
His movement has declined but Rafa couldn’t exploit it. Fed was faster in 2015 but Djokovic was able to exploit it relentlessly. He dominated from the baseline. Rafa – not at all this year. Not even in the the AO final, which turns out to be their closet and best this year so far, not just because it’s a slam final.
It felt almost surreal watching him like that. Like Rafa of Beijing, the USO, the first 2 rounds at Shanghai never happened.
So I think it must have a lot to do with his mentality as well. Why and how we can’t know. Everything is just speculation.
I mean, even Kyrgios was able to make it competitive and outplay Fed for the larger part of their LC match, being clearly injured.
So I hope it was more the case of Rafa already “giving up”, as in he didn’t want to risk getting injured or aggravating whatever problem he was having with his knee/body. (Of course, again, it doesn’t mean he would have been able to win in the opposite case.)
It might be the case when you saw he was putting much more into his serve, initiating a serve fest, not Fed, if you still remember or watch the replay. Fed was serving very ‘carefully’ at first, putting weight on the disguise and location more than serving huge.
Also it’s clear he gave up on a lot of balls. Yep, it’s true the court was super fast, and only faster with the roof closed and Fed’s super aggressive and time robbing game. But to my eyes it’s clear Rafa was too overwhelmed and just wasn’t intense and put his all to everything like usual.
So that’s it. Everything went against Rafa, including himself. And everything went in Fed’s way.
Fed wasn’t only better. He was superior. He is the goat fast hard court player (among other similar “titles”). He won it fair and square.
Rafa could have had his chances had he not tired himself out by playing too much, played a right game plan and executed it perfectly.
I believed and still believe in him. But he still has a lot of work to do.
Now I think that’s a fair and a bit overdue assessment, at least IMO. What remains is the BIG question about Rafa’s knee and tank left. Whether it’s just minor or should be worrying, that mysterious knee.
Also whether he will recover from this heavy defeat both mentally and physcially. And whether he will make the wise/extra cautious choice and skip Basel, even Paris and dear god, even the WTF if it turns out to be serious enough, the knee thing.
For now, I can only pray it’s just minor and will go away with proper rest (but what rest? There’s not much time left). And that this match only motivates him more. It’s time to get used to and get over losses like this as quickly as possible like Fed has been doing (by his own words). He has made a lot of comebacks before. He will be still be able to do it again.
Rest well, Rafa. And please let us know you’re still okay asap.
Vamos!
‘I think we have the right group of **human people** to teach them in the education and in the tennis way.’
“Human people”! How cute Rafa’s “innocent Rafaenglish” still is. 😂
In the presser, Rafa did not seem as disappoointed or as down as he usually does when he loses a big match–I was struck by this. On the one hand that seems positive–because he won Beijing and made the Shanghai final, a section of the season he normally doesn’t do too well in, so that is positive; but at the same time he got shellacked, was never competitive in the match, and just had his 5th loss in a row to Fed.
Granted this is a very hard court for him beat Fed on, but I didn’t like how resigned he seems to losing–and not just losing, getting clobbered.
Fed is definitely in his head and Rafa played the worst match I’ve seen him play in a long time. Maybe he was tired, maybe the knee was bothering him, but he has to come up with something against Fed.
I don’t accept his reason that “Fed was just too good”. Rafa was spraying his groundies wide and long when under no particular pressure from Fed. This is what happens when someone is in your head and you can’t execute.
I feel he has partly resigned himself to losing to Fed at this point. It looked like it from the moment he walked on the court.
Rafalite, it’s true that even with a compromised movement, Rafa was still making too many unforced errors himself, including both sitter putaways and terrible choice of shot selection.
It’s strange watching him not only playing slowly on his legs but also on his mind. He looked burnt out. He went for the wrong shot because that was that he had already planned in mind, not responding and reacting well like he ususally does.
So knee and tired or not, I think he was mostly tired mentally. Also the familar nerves and probaly worry about his knee.
Must be the combination of all things for him to play that bizarre. Like a serbot with no ground game and not much thinking on court.
The reason why he doesn’t look that disappointed at the presser, I think because he kind of expected it.
That match was a nightmare. I just scannedy our comments and saw you saw the “helplessness” and yes, it was the worst rout since IW, just awful.
I don’t think I can even bare to watch anything from that match again.
I take it as a given the tennis Media is enamoured with Fed to the point of not seeing anything objectively. The story has been that Fed was “too good”–even Rafa likes that story.
The story I saw was that Rafa was really bad, a rollover, from the getgo.
It bothers me to an extreme degree–not that he lost–but the takeaway is of Fed’s genius and invincibilty when what I saw was Rafa’s weakness before him. Even Delpo played Fed about 3 times better than Rafa did. C’mon!
I go on a tennis site that is overwehlmingly Fed fans (all of them are at this point) and the poll just before the match was an even split between picking Rafa or Fed to win. This was with an overwhelming number of Fed fans! Throughout the tournament even the Fed fans were saying Rafa looked great and Fed not so great (Fed looked very weak till Delpo) so what gives when Rafa goes in stronger than Fed than gets absolutely destroyed?
I refuse to beleive it’s all about matchup deficits, Fed’s supposed vastly improved BH etc. Tiredness or the possible knee injury doesn’t really explain it because it came on too suddenly. Some claim he looked this way against Cilic–I didn’t see it against Cilic, I thought he played a great match.
I really beleive Rafa thinks he can’t beat Fed (except on clay) and is now playing accordingly.
Maybe if Moya was there to rattle him to his senses.
Did you notice there were a few points where Rafa was able to get Fed on the run, and Fed was not that fast and netted every shot he had to hit from the far corners? But Rafa couldn’t hit his groundies with enough precision or consistency to do that often. I haven’t seen the stats (the atp site is terrible for finding the match stats–as opposed to the individual stats, do you know where they are on that site? Link please if you do) but I remember seeing a huge number of UFEs from Rafa 1rst set.
Anyway, hopefully that will not be repeated in London, where they are almost certain to meet.
I’m at the point now where I want Djok back full force to subdue Fed on the HCs.
Rafalite, I agree Rafa’s form coming into the final was better than Fed’s – as a whole.
Not at Shanghai.
Like I was pointing out before the match, Fed had been having one of his best serving performances ever. His average 1st serve at 74% was very unusual for him. And not only the number, the effectiveness was also as good as ever.
That’s why I believe the key for Rafa was trying to have a good read on Fed’s serve, let him think a bit and his 1st serve % would almost certainly drop, along with quality, more or less.
That’s the start for everything, including his own service game.
But what happened was he was too nervy serving the opening game, got broken. Fed was even more confident, besides the fact that he felt no nerves before the match:
“I had no nerves before the match, surprisingly. I think I was pretty clear about how I wanted to play the match. I started off very well and relaxed from then on.”
So everything was a a chain reaction. Rafa was in a less favourable situation for sure. But he made it even tougher himself.
Fed was simply too impressive both mental and game wise. I had already predicted he his mental strength would be stronger in the match. Not only that, he overwhelmed Rafa like never before, even a Rafa in a much better form with a lot of success and confidence in the bag.
This match was even worse than Rafa’s bad matches in 2015 in the sense that he was playing like a servebot with no ground game and not good thinking on court. I have never seen Rafa like this. It’s not necessarily he was playing worse than 2015. I mean his game. How he played it. How it looked like. It’s so bizarre, at least to me.
Let’s face it. Rafa was not well mentally. Physically we don’t know how. His game plan was more than bad. Everything was going against him including himself.
I have no problem accepting this loss. Fed deserved it 100%. So impressive from him I must say.
You see, he even had no nerves before the match. His mind was clear. His game plan was crystal clear. That’s why he played so calm and accurate, and only get fuelled more by Rafa’s bizarre play in the match and probably the sign of the taped knee as well.
I know Rafa could have done better and will do better. It’s okay if he can’t beat Fed on that court. It’s Fed’s best surface, an indoor super fast court, even more than grass.
Now I just want to know about Rafa’s knee and whether he will make the sensible choice and not overplay again.
You can pull out the stats from tennisTV and live score sites like flashscore. ATP’s always behind at updating them.
Try to relax more and don’t mind too much what the commies and pundits say, Rafalite. Time will tell. There’re still several years ahead I believe.
Cheers.
Totally agree with you. Old habits, conservatism,nothing new and smarter ,he lost the match before it even started, believing he can’t beat Fed.
Huge disappointment not just because he lost,just the way he lost.
I still believe that rafa had a incredibile year. I am very proud of him. His only dissapointed is that federer stood in his way of making it a perfect year in the absence of djokovic. Federer beat him in australia, miami and sjanghai.
The frustrating thing is nadal has simpley too much respect for federer. That is not his fault its just the way he was raised and humble guy. With that mentality you are never going to beat federer.
The way you do it is stop praising him and work on your weakness to beat him. That is also the way federer did.
Nadal courtposition and return skills do not work against federer.
RN – 3 words for you. YOU NEED REST
A lot of it.
I wonder how Roger’s fans had dealt with his many strings of losses to Rafa in the past?
Do what is best for you. Federer had to endure a difficult down spell; your team needs to devise a process and plan to play successfully with less physical strain.
Good luck-stay strong💪👊👍👏❤️
Sad for the loss and I have a bad feeling about Rafas knee 🙁 not an injury again!
It looked like Rafa had lost his warrior. He came out fighting all week. Final he looked defeated from the vit-go. He looked exhausted. Thought he was protecting knee. Also he doesn’t have the same fighting spirit when he plays fed. Seems too intimidated. He cannot beat Roger since Roger figured out how to beat him, I.e. New racquet Etc. He gets in Rafa’s head. Rafa desperately needs a rest.
Love Rafa always, but Fed is the smartest tennis player ever. His schedule and preparation for events this year were perfection.
Rafa team must learn from him.
The more I think about this 5th loss in a row, the more upsetting it is. RF won the last 7 sets vs Rafa without even being broken once. Where is Toni Nadal during these endless losing streaks?
With Moya starting next year as Nadal’s full time coach, I think Nadal will do better against Federer. I mean Moya has already brought quite a bit to the table that’s why Nadals serve is better and now that Moya is going to have him all to himself I think we will see more improvement in our Champs game. but yes he needs to rest.