Words matter. These are the best Rafael Nadal Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
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.
I think when you compete every week, when you play under pressure daily, you find your rituals to be 100 percent focused on what you’re doing.
My parents’ divorce made an important change in my life. It affected me. After that, when I can’t play Wimbledon, it was tough. For one month I was outside the world.
I normally listen to Spanish music – well, Latin music. I like a lot of singers.
If you don’t lose, you cannot enjoy the victories. So I have to accept both things.
I appreciate a lot in this life; the things you cannot buy. Life is only once. I am happy being here and all the things that are a risk I normally avoid.
New York is a special place; it’s a city that I love.
I was passionate about soccer. I still am. Odd, though – playing soccer always made me much more anxious than playing tennis. On soccer days, I’d be out of bed by 6 in the morning, all nervous. But I was always calm when it was time for a tennis match. I still don’t know why.
Some people get very confused about my game. They think it’s better if the court is slow, because I have a good defence. But the faster it is, the better for me. My spin is more painful for my opponents, my aggressive game works better.
I live where I would like to live. I live in Majorca, Spain, and I am not sure there are better places.
I always wanted to be honest with myself and to those who have had faith in me.
I like fishing. Not actual fishing – I like the peace and quiet of being at sea. It’s different.
I don’t have any idols, any heroes, nothing, no.
I am happy with being a tennis player and the choice I took when I was 12. But clearly, if I wouldn’t have been a tennis player, I would have loved to be a soccer player. But again, I am happy with the choice I made.
I always like to do the things that I think are right. I am not trying to be a model, I am trying to be myself and do the right things. If what I am doing is a model, or is an example, is the right example, I am very happy, but I don’t pretend that.
I have the same bedroom I’ve always had. It’s clean and tidy when I get home, and after two or three days it gets messy and my mother nags me.
I started to travel like this at the age of 15 so for me, it’s normal. Some days you get tired and you feel, ‘I want to stay at home a little bit more,’ but it’s only the moment.
I will do as I usually do. Tomorrow is going to be a day like any other day.
It’s more a tennis problem than a mental problem. The transition is difficult. It depends how much time you have. Playing on grass can sometimes be a bit of a lottery.
The thing, when you’re down two sets to love, is to stay calm, even though it’s hard, because people are freaking out, people are worried for you.
If the plane moves, some turbulence, I am nervous flyer.
Even if I have already peaked, I have to believe I can improve. I wake up every morning, and go to practice, with the illusion that I’m going to get better that day.
I love the beach. I love the sea. All my life I live within – in front of the sea.
I was shy when I was a kid, I was very shy, but now I think I’ve improved a lot. I can speak OK with the media and with the people. My English is still bad but I feel a little bit better now than before.
I like a lot of sports. Especially football – it’s my favourite sport. My uncle played football in Barcelona for nine years and played for Spain in three World Cups.
I always work with a goal – and the goal is to improve as a player and a person. That, finally, is the most important thing of all.
I’m lucky enough to do what I like for work – not everyone’s that fortunate.
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.
I tried to find a solution to the problem that I had, tried to find a way to start playing better.
I’ll never have a tattoo – I just don’t like them, and when you’re old they can look a disaster. As for piercings, I don’t like them on men.
I learned during all my career to enjoy suffering.
The family is very important. They make me feel good always because if I won, when I started to be famous, the relationship never changed with my friends and family.
I have been learning English on the road since I started when I was 15, so it is a slow process but making some progress. Now I think I am much more comfortable with my English. However, it is difficult, still, when I speak about something that is not tennis.
It’s important to have people around you with enough confidence to say if you are not acting in a good way. Normally, when you are at the top, people say everything is fantastic. Probably in that moment it is what you want to hear, but it’s best to be reminded how to act properly.
It’s not the time to look for excuses.
Being home alone at night makes me a bit nervous. If I’m at home alone, I have to sleep on the sofa – I can’t face going to bed. I’m there with the TV on and all the lights on. I’m not very brave about anything in life. In tennis, yes. In everything else, not very.
I appreciate a lot in this life; the things you cannot buy. Life is only once.
My motivation and aspiration is the same, being number one or being number five. So that’s the truth. And my goal is the same – it’s to always be happy playing, it’s to enjoy the game and improve always.
I just was in the second round. That’s painful, because always is tough to lose, but well, that’s sport. You win, you lose.
I am not the most courageous guy in the world outside of the court.
As a tennis player you can win and you can lose, and you have to be ready for both. I practised self-control as a kid. But as you get older they both – winning and losing – get easier.
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 used to wear sleeveless T-shirts all the time on court, but now I’ve got a brand new look – I’ve moved on to polo shirts. Sleeveless T-shirts give you real freedom of movement and they keep you cooler in matches, but I just thought it was time for a change.
I’m really, really emotional.
I have lived my whole life with high intensity.
I am decidedly unfriendly during a golf game, from the first hole to the last.
I still take advice from my mum on what clothes look good on me. I used to listen to her a lot more, but I’ve started to choose my own things from time to time.
For me, it is important to win titles and for that I need to work hard, stay healthy and be able to compete. The rest, I always say, it comes.
My motivation is tomorrow, just one day at a time, right?
In Majorca, I can be myself. I go to the supermarket and the cinema, and I am just Rafa. Everyone knows me, and it is no big deal. I can go all day – no photographs.
I am lucky because my family are comfortably off. My father has his own glass business.
You fight, you try your best, but if you lose, you don’t have to break five racquets and smash up the locker room. You can do those things, but when you’ve finished, nothing’s changed. You’ve still lost. If something positive came from that, I probably would do it. But I see only negativity.
My serve can get better, for sure. It’s not just about serving bombs, but positioning, variation in speed, in spin.
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.
In tennis, because of the way it’s scored, I don’t think that scoring one point out of luck is ever decisive in winning. But, of course, it depends on the moment.