Rafael Nadal's interview for the German tennis magazine in Hamburg 2015

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Q: Rafa, in 2003 you gave your first interview for this magazine. At that time you started your career. In which phase are you now, twelve years later?

Rafa: To be honest, I have no idea. I’m 29, I have a couple of years behind me. It’s hard to tell where I’m standing right now because 2014 was tough. I had many injuries in the second half of the year. This year I’ve had more ups and downs than I usually have. But when I look at my career, I’m still happy that I can do what I love the most: playing tennis.

Q: You’ve been on the tour for a long time now. Boris Becker once said: ‘Years of tennis are like years of dogs.’ Don’t you think ‘This is the last part of my career, I’ve only got a limited time left’?

Rafa: Nobody knows how many years you have in your bag. It depends on so many factors. How fit are you? How is the mental state? The only thing I know today is: I have a huge motivation to keep going.

Q: So you can’t say that you’re going to play for three or five more years?

Rafa: No. Maybe everything will be over in a year. Maybe I’ll play for five or more years. It’s pointless talking about this. When the day to say goodbye comes, I will know. But I think I’m far away from that.

Q: How’s your body?

Rafa: I’m fine. Recently I haven’t had any physical problems.

Q: Does your body feel like a body of a 29-year-old man or do you feel like your body has been through more than 29 years because the years on the tour are quite hard?

Rafa: My body is as old as I am. I always listen to my body. I know how injuries and pain feel. When I compare my situation now to previous years, then I’m good.

Q: This year you’ve lost many matches. Before the US Open your win loss record was 42-14. How satisfied are you with your game?

Rafa: In the last couple of weeks I’ve said many times that I have to improve. I played a terrible first part of the season. After that I started playing a bit better. Then I’ve had some ups and downs. No question: I need to get more consistent. I’m working on that.

Q: Can you express your performance level in numbers? Are you at 80%? Better or worse?

Rafa: No. The sport is complicated. You can’t express that in one number. Anyhow I don’t know the number. On one day I’m happy with my level. On the next day I’m not able to play like I want to. My priority at the moment is: To win matches when I don’t play well. I didn’t manage to do that many times in the last couple of months like I had done before. Many people forget that I was winning matches when I was really bad.

Q: Do you admire Federer for playing so well at 34?

Rafa: No.

Q: No?

Rafa: I admire Federer because he’s extraordinary and for what he’s done for the tennis world in the last twelve years. He probably is the best player that has ever existed. But every career is different. That he’s able to play his best tennis at this age speaks well for his body and his mental state. That’s great for him but also for the tennis.

Q: In the meantime you fell on the 10th position in the rankings. The last time you were ranked number ten in the world was ten years ago. How can you turn it around?

Rafa: I have to enjoy playing. When this happens, I automatically am better than the number ten in the world. My mental state hasn’t been the best recently. When you have the right mental attitude, I also have the right game. If I keep working hard like I am now, the success will come back. I’ve had many difficult times in my career and I’ve come through them all. This season I could win three titles. That’s not that bad.

Q: Your rival Novak Djokovic beat you in straight sets in the quarter finals of the French Open. Has he become almost unbeatable?

Rafa: Nobody is unbeatable but everybody can see that his level has been very high recently. He’s very consistent, in almost every match. I can only congratulate him because I know how hard it is to maintain this level over a long period of time.

Q: Do you think that Boris Becker changed his game?

Rafa: I don’t know. But I don’t think that there’s a big change. It’s obvious that Becker has a positive influence on Novak. They’ve been working with each other for almost two years now. But Novak had played very well before Becker. And like every professional he has moments in which he plays better or worse.

Q: Do you need to change your game in order to stay competitive?

Rafa: (laughs sarcastically) I need to play my game well. I don’t need to change it. Before my injury in 2014 I was the number one in Race to London. I reached the Australian Open final and won Paris. That wasn’t six years ago but only twelve months ago! Again: I need to get MY game back and not change it.

Q: John McEnroe said in Wimbledon that you should change your coach. How did you feel about that?

Rafa: I respect that. Everybody can have his own opinion. They have to write, John has to speak on the microphone as a TV commentator. That’s ok. But in the end of the day I make the decisions und do what I consider right.

Q: Could you imagine to ever split up with your uncle?

Rafa: Nothing is impossible and nobody knows what the future holds. But we’ve been together since I was three years old. Many things speak for us staying together. I see no reason to change something.

Q: In Wimbledon it seemed like you thought someone needed to change the serving rules. You got quoted: ‘No other sport starts with penalty.’

Rafa: I didn’t say that, maybe my coach.

Q: Would you change rules?

Rafa: (grins) Yeah but I’m not going to talk about it.

Q: What a pity. You’ve talked many times about the tour schedule. Would it be an option to change the surface in Hamburg to hard court so that European players could prepare for the US in their home town?

Rafa: No, there mustn’t get more and more tournaments on hard court. That must be stopped. In the last twenty years we’ve lost so many tournaments on clay. Clay is a very important surface for the history and the tradition. We need to protect it.

Q: What do you think of the extended grass court season?

Rafa: I like it. Wimbledon is the most important tournament and grass is a traditional surface, just like clay. The grass court season deserves an extra week.

Q: Your last results in Wimbledon weren’t really good. Ivan Lendl used to say: ‘Grass is for cows.’ How frustrated are you?

Rafa: Not at all, I always loved grass. How could I hate surface on which I played five Grand Slam finals and won two trophies?

Q: But you can’t claim that you’ve recently been successful in Wimbledon.

Rafa: In 2012 and 2013 I wasn’t able to play well because I had too many problems with my knees. In 2014 I was better. I lost in the fourth round to a strong Nick Kyrgios, a match that I could have won. In that year I was playing well. I was healthy, I had a good preparation…

Q: … but you already lost in the second round to Dustin Brown and sometimes you seemed uncertain like you rarely do.

Rafa: He played well. You lose, you win. If you don’t accept that, 95% of the players would hate very surface.

Q: In Indian Wells you said that it was about your lack of confidence. Is it smart to let your opponents know about your mental state?

Rafa: Do you think that my words have an influence on the matches?

Q: Maybe yes when the opponent knows that you have a weakness.

Rafa: I don’t think that. I try to be honest when I go to my press conferences. I don’t lie to anyone when he/she asks me something. In the end only counts what happens on the court.

Q: What do you think about the Olympics 2016 in Rio?

Rafa: Rio is very important for me. Also because 2012 was a sad moment. I had an injury and had to withdraw from the Olympics in London. I arrived as the defending champion, I would have carried the flag for my country. It was a shame.

Q: You’re building a tennis academy in Mallorca. Do you already have plans for the time after your career?

Rafa: It’s a big investment for me. In May 2016 everything should be done. It’s a tennis center for kids and a project for the future but it doesn’t have anything to do with my career now. I’m not going to stop playing tennis because of that.

Q: Could you imagine to work as coach in the future?

Rafa: Like I said, you never know what the future holds. But one thing is certain: I will commit myself to the academy. It’s my academy.

(interviewed by Andrej Antic in Hamburg 2015, translated from the German tennis magazine issue number ten)

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