Rafael Nadal

A page and forum to discuss all things Rafael Nadal.

Nadal 5

Current ranking: 14

Last result: Australian Open second round (lost to Mackenzie McDonald)

Next tournament: Roland Garros

61 Comments on Rafael Nadal

    • Joanie to his closest friends.

      Joanie likes to call Rafa Chachi for fun.

      Happy days.

      FELIZ NAVIDAD EVERYONE!!!!

      Love Hawkeye. XOXOXOXO

      Reply

  3. Another Rafa’s recent interview.
    Video by IB3 published on Dec 25, 2015 (in Catalan language):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s93vUEh6HKc

    A summary of Rafa’s answers translated by Genny SS:
    ¤¤ About 2015, Rafa says:
    It’s been the worst season but you have to accept it, accept you’re not that good or don’t have to be always that good. Sometimes you play better and sometimes you play worse. Other seasons he had injuries, but not this time. He simply was not good.
    He kept motivation to go on working but anxiety and bad feelings on court made things difficult, as he was fighting himself more than opponent.
    It took him time, more than past half season, to overcome all this. At the beginning of the season, he wasn’t playing well, but feelings were not good and thus he could understand it. More difficult to understand was when he started to practice well and with better feelings, but then he was unable to do the same while on competition.
    Rafa says he understands you may need to resort to external help for some personal problems, but he’s not keen on external help to overcome all this, he’s happy with what he has and with the effort of all – his family, his coach, his team – they’ve managed to go ahead.
    The defeat at Wimbledon was tough because he had done a good preparation and practiced well. Though he was coming from losing to ND in RG (playing a very bad 3rd set), he thinks he had given an step forward in his game. And not only in RG, in Rome he had lost to SW in a match he shouldn’t have lost the way he did, but he’d played well at the tournament. Same about Madrid, where he reached F. So, there was a positive evolution. Then he worked well to get ready for Stuttgart, where he won… but in Wimbledon in his match against Brown he was totally unable to control himself, his emotions, on court. That was a really tough moment.
    From that point onwards tho, things improved. It wasn’t easy, but he won in Hamburg. And then in all the North American tour (Montreal, Cincy & USO) the good feelings went on. He was feeling much better, both at practice and competing. He didn’t have the anxiety or bad feelings he’d had in previous months, even though the results didn’t show this improvement; and when this happens you can lose confidence, but he kept going, knowing things would improve.
    Beijing and Shanghai meant a big step forward and then Basel and Paris confirmed the improvement. He was able to beat players who were or had been top-10 & it happened on the surface least favorable for him.
    Being fair and realist, Rafa considers that in the last part of season he’s competed as he’s always done, not worse. ¤¤

    Reply

    • The 2nd part of Rafa’s recent interview with IB3.
      Video by IB3 published on Dec 26, 2015 (in Catalan language):

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jfzNxtLirI

      A summary of Rafa’s answers (in the 2nd part of the interview) translated by Genny SS:
      ¤¤ Rafa says:
      The best thing of this season is to have finished No.5 after a very difficult year, which means that despite what happened he stayed focused on what had to be done; and also that he’s been injury free for the whole year, which has allowed him to go ahead and improve.
      He feels good and is playing well. He is very pleased with how things are going, happy for practicing and competing. That’s the most important for him. Whatever happens, he’s been able to turn the tables to a difficult situation and for him the most important is to be happy. The rest, having good results or not…he is aware that if things go normally and he can control his emotions and play with the same attitude as before, the results won’t be a problem.
      When you get to the end of the season, you know if you are happy or not. He’s had seasons in which he has won a GS and yet wasn’t satisfied at the end of the season, then there were other seasons in which…[he then realizes this is the 1st season in 10 yrs that he’s not won a GS]… you’re more satisfied than in others and this isn’t only a question of results, but a question of your own feelings. This year he is happy about how he’s got to the end of the season mentally. For 2016 he simply hopes it’s a bit better.
      A final note about Rafa’s schedule, unlike in previous seasons, Rafa won’t go back to Mallorca after the AO to avoid the cold and humidity of the Mallorcan winter, which are not good for his knees. He’ll prepare for the Rio Open somewhere in South America. He’ll return to Mallorca in April. ¤¤

      Reply

      • I think it was interesting to read that Rafa is not going back to Mallorca after the AO this year to avoid the cold and humidity, which are not good for his knees. I never even thought about that. It sounds like they are trying to do whatever is necessary to keep the knees healthy.

        Whatever helps Rafa and his knees is okay with me! 🙂

        Reply

  9. Watch Rafa’s cooking skills in Telefónica’s video below. He is able to use both hands effectively.
    Telefónica’s short summary of its video: “We like Rafa Nadal, who never gets tired of learning. We like Ferran Adrià, who never gets tired of teaching.” (Ferran Adrià is a Spanish chef, who is considered one of the best chefs in the world.) The video was published on Dec 27, 2015.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CVVW11DwD0

    Reply

  10. U.Toni believes in Rafa.

    ESPN, Dec. 29, 2015: ¤¤ Toni Nadal believes we’ll see return of vintage Rafa.
    (Excerpts)
    Recently, his uncle and longtime coach, Toni Nadal, spoke with ESPN.com.
    QUESTION: “Will Rafael go back to winning Grand Slams in 2016?”
    TONI: “Yes. I couldn’t do this work if I thought that he couldn’t win more Grand Slams. I think that he can win more Grand Slams. He can win the Australian Open in January. And he can win Wimbledon, too. The last few years, Rafael arrives at Wimbledon and he loses early, and very fast. And, in Roland Garros, for sure, Rafael can win. In tennis, you need confidence to do things. It’s impossible to do anything without confidence. You can’t win any good tournaments if you think you cannot and you don’t believe.”
    .
    QUESTION: “What does Rafa have to do to challenge Djokovic in 2016?”
    TONI: “What he tries to do every day on court, which is to play more aggressively from the baseline, and to go into the net when he can, and to improve his serve.” ¤¤

    http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/14416489/tennis-toni-nadal-believes-see-return-vintage-rafa-nadal

    Reply

  12. Rafa was interviewed by Radio MARCA Mallorca after his final practice session in his hometown today.
    Some quotes (translated by @genny):
    “I’m leaving [Mallorca] with motivation to compete the 2016 season.”
    “My goal is to start [the season] with calm.”
    “People don’t always say the truth. I’ve been honest acknowledging that I had a mental block.”
    “The Abu Dhabi is like any other tournament. The only difference is that it doesn’t provide ATP points.”

    https://twitter.com/RMarcaMallorca/status/681830765835993090

    Rafa is going to return to Mallorca after the Miami Masters.

    Reply

    • People don’t always say the truth. I’ve been honest acknowledging that I had a mental block.”

      It’s true. Some even his own extreme fans that refuse to believe Rafa’s own words and that he’s human accusing him of “only joking”.

      Some fans they are.

      Preach it Rafa.

      Reply

      • AT 7:10 PM,

        I haven’t seen Rafans refusing to believe Rafa.
        Real/true Rafans refuse to believe armchair doctors who deliver a diagnosis to Rafa.

        Reply

        • No, certainly not normal Rafans. I’m referring to the extreme fanatic who claims he is “only joking” every time Rafa mentions his mental problem in 2015.

          Reply

          • hawkeye, since you have a hotline with Benny why don’t you get Rafa admitted to a loony bin? Why waste your time trying to convince us that Rafa is crazy?

          • Associating an anxiety disorder with “being crazy” is quite simply ignorant, disrespectful and antiquated thinking to be honest.

          • YOU claim that Rafa is “only joking” and is “being polite” when he tells the truth implying that Rafa is dishonest when he talks about his mental problem and compliments Nole and Fed.

          • AT 3:06 PM,

            1) Your comment is false.
            2) The guys you mentioned at the end of your comment have their own pages.

          • AT 3:22 PM

            1) Your comment is false.
            2) The guys Rafa complimented are respected by Rafa – he is not “being polite” and making up lies as you insinuate.

            It is Rafa’s COMPLIMENTS that are discussed on his page because they came from Rafa!

        • Even Rafa agrees with this when he says:

          “People don’t always say the truth. I’ve been honest acknowledging that I had a mental block.”

          When people claim he is “only joking” they are not always saying the truth.

          Rafa always tells the truth even when others claim he is “being polite” or “only joking” to justifiy Rafa’s own words.

          Reply

  18. Video by IB3: Rafa & Toni’s interview published on Dec. 30 (in Catalan language).
    I quote only some of Toni’s answers because Rafa has given the same answers to the same questions in several interviews.
    ¤¤ Toni says that Rafa’s level during practice has been really good and thus they have good expectations of having a good performance at the AO. Although there’s a long way to go yet, Toni says that recovering to the usual level on clay and winning another RG top the list of the goals they’ll try to achieve, but they’ll go day by day as always. They have the will and motivation to do things well, but in tennis it doesn’t depend only on you, there are others who also have goals and motivation to get them.¤¤ (Translated by Genny SS)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ5iZz1EU3g

    Reply

  19. Rafa is not “only joking” nor “being polite when this week he said…

    It was a strange situation that you couldn’t control; like respiration and time. When you don’t succeed to control these two things, when you do not know where the ball will bounce, it’s because mentally you are worried; that’s caused by anxiety. But I am world no. 5 and it’s not that bad.

    ‘When I fail normally, I accept it. When you have a mental problem; it’s not that you accept these situations less or in a worst way, but you can’t analyze these well, clearly. Every loss influenced me a lot; this year every failure was like three failures; and I had a lack of confidence.’

    “Mental problems” is Rafa’s own words. Rafa speaks the truth (unlike extreme fans who don’t believe his own words) and have no original opinions.

    Reply

  20. Rafa says:

    I’m perfectly aware what things interest people regarding me. It’s not Rafa Nadal the person. The interest on you is because of what you do: not for being Rafa Nadal, Manacor’s citizen; but for Rafa Nadal, tennis player, number x in the world.

    Reply

    • AT 6:46 PM,

      I posted the full interview:
      ¤ on DECEMBER 28, 2015 AT 12:00 PM – in Spanish,
      Nadal: “El tenis aún me hace feliz”;
      .
      ¤ on DECEMBER 30, 2015 AT 7:35 AM – in English (translated by Genny),
      “Nadal: Tennis still makes me happy.”

      Reply

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