He is recovering from the left wrist injury that has forced him to suspend his participation in the Shanghai Master 1000. He was the last in which he was going to participate before his wedding and what he still does not know, during the interview, is that he will recover the world number one position due to Djokovic's defeat in that tournament. The tennis player is explained that having the best Spanish athlete of all time in a special anniversary number is a luxury for this newspaper. He denies the greatest, because he doesn't like these rankings , and we give him another argument: the amount of covers he has given us in these 30 years, the millions of clicks on our website that have given us his victories.
He says that his hand is going better, that he is retraining, but that he is up to the mess, of advertising promotions ... He still speaks calmly, surely, and is interested in everything that is happening . He wants to know what the forecast is for the elections on November 10 and, above all, for after they are held, and he is worried about what happens in Catalonia, although he does not believe that his opinion contributes much in this matter . He speaks, but he is more comfortable expressing himself about what he knows. It seems that being at home, in the quiet environment of the Rafa Nadal Academy of Manacor, its town, relaxes you. That said, they are not many times when he has been nervous. His name, Rafael (the only thing I can share with the interviewee), comes from Hebrew and means "the medicine of God." And, although it must be one of the few humans who do not consider him superhuman , the rest of us have spent years giving a kick of stimulants with his tennis. And without a prescription.
The wall of Berlin fell 30 years ago, in Spain Felipe González ruled, EL MUNDO was born, Rafa Nadal was three years old and kicked a ball ... Have they been good decades for the planet, for Spain, for Rafa Nadal ? For Spain, in general, I think so, without any doubt. We have made very important advances and I think we have placed ourselves on the world map in an important plane. 30 years ago we had a much more secondary role. Globally there have been very good things and things that don't. There have been wars, disasters, there is still poverty and, above all, too much difference between some regions and others. For me, of course, they have been very good 30 years in every way but, of course, I would go back 30 years. I would love to be three years old again. You who travel all over the world, how do you see the negativism with which many Spaniards speak of their country? Are we not aware of what we have? What do they think of us out there? Do they speak better of us than ourselves? It depends on the places. I don't think the opinion is unanimous. In Spain we tend to think that the outside is better than ours. We do it almost by inertia. From my humble point of view, it is still true that, in the political arena, we throw so many stones at each other, and so continuously, that we end up feeling that we are in a country not as good as it really is. Of course there has been a crisis, of course there are people who have a hard time. Without a doubt, we must improve, but we must also see the good things. Look at public health, for example, it is incredibly positive. I have been in many countries, in countries that we consider superior, and I can assure you that they are very far from us . We have a welfare state that we must keep pushing. In order to maintain it, solidarity has to grow, to avoid that some have much and others very little. We need a powerful middle class, as wide as possible. In countries where there are people who live very well and people who live very badly, there are problems of crime, insecurity, quite the opposite of the welfare state. So, do you think of Spain better than the Spaniards? I think if. And do you have to see anything in it? Does it feel 'Spain brand'? I basically feel like a Spanish citizen, more than Spain brand and more than anything else. I am lucky to have been born where I was born. If we compare Spain with the rest of the world, we are super privileged. It has never manifested itself politically, I don't know if it will do it now ... I don't know if I will ever do it, but right now I will not do it. But he will have an opinion on the situation of political instability in Spain, the lack of government, the repetition of elections. Instability, uncertainty, cause problems because they create doubts for Spanish investors themselves and for foreign investment. The country enters a state of paralysis that is bad for everyone. When you talk about economics, you think more about companies, but the reality is that when the big ones suffer we all suffer . It is a chain that goes from the highest to the lowest. People vote for politicians to agree, not for them to fight. Lately there have been too many times when there has been no ability to agree, and that is not anyone's fault and at the same time it is everyone's fault. The time has come to do a little reflection, not to think about what is good for one party or is good for the other. You have to start thinking about what would be good for Spain. Formations that receive more votes should forget about the past and think about great political agreements .I don't feel the weight of having to be an example, I try to do the things that make me happy
What there is consensus is about you. Is Rafael Nadal the best Spanish athlete of all time? If I thought it was, I wouldn't say it, but since I don't know, I can't tell you either. It is not for me to determine. I would say stupid if I said that I am not among those athletes who have stood out in the history of our country. This is a reality, it is obvious, but my situation within that group of athletes is something that specialists have to decide, those who have the ability to analyze the history of our sport from its beginning to the present day. That said, yes, I know that people like rankings, but I don't think it's so necessary. We have to enjoy everything that our sport gives us, because we have many years of great success. This must be valued because it will not last forever. One of the greatest satisfactions we have had in these 30 years, in the newspaper and on the web, has been to be able to tell the successes of Spanish sport. His, especially. He does not know how complicated it is to sometimes title any of his latest victories or choose the cover photo of the last Roland Garros. We literally run out of words. How do you see the evolution of Spanish sport in these three decades of which it has been so protagonist? Obviously, there has been an incredible boom. The Olympic Games of 92 were a great success for our country, a very important starting point. We have lived things that years ago seemed impossible and unthinkable. As a spectator, because first and foremost, even if I am an athlete, I am a great sports fan in general, I have been able and still can enjoy all the feats that my teammates have done . And about the future? Here there is only one reality, that in order for Spain to continue at the highest level at the sports level, sport must be supported, sport must be invested, sport must be promoted. And the tennis? Is there Spanish tennis after Nadal? Few players are coming out. In the last 30 years, consecutively and without stopping, Spanish tennis players of the highest level had been appearing. After my generation, in which I include Roberto Bautista and Pablo Carreño, we have a fairly large void. We are waiting to see how Jaume Munar or Carlos Alcaraz evolve, who is a boy who says he is very good and very young. We do not have to fall into the error of believing that what we have achieved in recent years will be the tonic, because we would be quite disappointed. Sergio Ramos has said he wants to be in the Tokyo Games. It would be an image for history to see together at the opening ceremony to Ramos, Pau Gasol and Rafa Nadal. My illusion has always been to participate in the Olympic Games in which I have been able to be. I always live them in a very special way, with an intensity and an illusion difficult to explain. I would love to go to Tokyo. I hope the physicist allows it.If you have the ability not to believe yourself too good, you learn much more from victory than from defeat.
Since it speaks of overcoming and effort. At a conference, his uncle Toni, a great expert in motivational techniques and until recently his lifelong coach, highlighted resilience as the great virtue of his nephew Rafael. How many times have you had to fall to get back up? I have had many physical problems, but also the luck that whenever I have returned I have won . In addition, I was injured when I came from many victories and had high enough scores not to go back in the ranking. I have not left the top ten for a lot and out of the five I only finished in 2016, which happened to me practically everything. I have heard him say that he learns more from triumphs than from defeats. That phrase has an explanation, people may not understand it. You learn much more from the triumphs, first, if you have a good self-criticism capacity and, second, if you have the humility to know that even if you have won there are things that you do not do well. If one does not have this capacity, evidently he learns much more by losing, because when you lose you realize that there is another that does it better than you, it is pure logic. But if you have the ability not to conform, not to believe yourself too good, that victory does not cloud your vision, it is much easier to learn by winning, because the confidence of winning allows you to try things, feel less pressure, less stress . Winning gives you an inner state that allows you to assimilate and accept much better the changes you want to make to your game. Let's get better, come on. Talk about a lot of work and effort. How many times have you been lazy to take the racket to go to train? Honestly, only when I have so many physical problems that do not let me enjoy. It really is an ordeal. But as long as I'm more or less physically well -I don't say very well-, that I can play without an excess of physical limitation, I'm not too lazy. Motivation. In an elite player, what part does a sports psychologist have of success? I can't tell you because I never had it. Yes, it is true that there are people at my vital side in my career, from the family to all the professionals who have helped me. I have had the ability to listen and let them tell me the things I do wrong . People, when they are very high, sometimes tend not to want to hear bad things. I am not an exception. But I have kept almost the same team all my life because I have given them freedom to tell me things as they really see them. And, of course, it was also key to have an uncle like Toni near me until two years ago.People vote for politicians to agree, not for them to fight. The parties should start thinking about what would be good for Spain
The same team, the same racket brand, the same sponsor ... The most popular news was the incorporation of Carlos Moyá as coach. How important has it been in this continuity of your career? It has come at a time that was in the recovery phase and he helped me decisively to consolidate it. Although things were going very well, as I have always been with my uncle, he provided different ways of working, different exercises, different ways of understanding the training and, at any given time, of understanding the competition, with a new speech and cool that at this moment has helped me to continue taking steps forward. Competition, competitiveness. Has it been good or bad that his career has gone so parallel to those of Federer and Djokovic, that generational coincidence of three of the greatest? For the number of victories it has not been positive to have coincided with them. At the level of personal demand, of course. When you have clear references ahead, evolution is easier and it is easier to understand the path you need to achieve success. We are the ones who to date have won the most Grand Slams and we agree at the same time. It is a unique and unique time, and for me it is a great satisfaction to be part of it. How much does Nadal weigh to be an example for almost everyone and almost everything, on and off the track? I say it with my hand in my heart: I try, and I think I get it, not to live with it. I try to live my life naturally, in a normal way. I can't be thinking all day if I am or not. I do not do it. I try to do the things that make me happy, to be a right person. I think I am, although everyone thinks it is from their point of view. I usually have a correct performance on and off the track. I don't feel the weight of having to be an example. I am as I am, aware that I cannot like everyone, but it is also a great satisfaction to feel the love of so many people for so many years, all over the world and especially here in Spain. A year of the floods of Sant Llorenç and its image that went around the world rolled up and lending a hand has just been completed. Some said it was a wanted photo. What is the difference between being supportive and feeling supportive? There is a big difference. It is one thing to want to give an image of solidarity and another to be. There are people who try to make the most of the media to the things they do. It's not my case. What we do from the Rafa Nadal Foundation does not always have the impact it could deserve, and it is my fault . I have never wanted my foundation to look like an advertising framework to improve my public image, because it seems disrespectful to what the Foundation itself is. Sant Llorenç is a real barbarity. It tends to speak from misinformation, the first, and the second is that I do not earn anything by going to take a picture . I am very lucky to have a good enough image. I feel loved where I go. The whole family on my mother's side is from that town, which is here, five kilometers from Manacor. My aunts, my cousins are from there. All I did is go see what was happening and try to help, as all my friends did. I just picked up some maintenance suits from the boys at the Academy, lent them to a few of my friends and went to help. Nothing else. I guess they are the tolls of being famous. I assume to be famous. The only thing that costs me the most is the lack of sensitivity of the people. Why if you are famous you have to be exposed to that they can say anything about you? When I think of another person I try to do it from the knowledge and, if not, I shut up. You were also born in the Mediterranean, which a recent study points out as the sea most affected by global warming. He is about to get married and it is a question we ask ourselves when we consider having children. What do you think of the planet we are leaving? I do not like to think about things that I do not know for sure, but it is evident that the human being damages the planet. This is a reality that cannot be ignored. I am passionate about documentaries and there are many who talk about what we are causing. We have to do an examination of conscience, first on a personal level and, above all, on a global level. Our children will be able to continue living on a planet in a good state, but I no longer dare to talk about what my children's children can have left. We must remedy when we are still on time. And I think we are still on time .Nadal, not just numbers
Since becoming 15 years old he became the youngest player to win an ATP tournament, he has won 12 Roland Garros, four US Open, two Wimbledon and an Australian Open. Only Federer outperforms him, in one, in 'Grand Slams' won. In addition to being the one with the most 1000 Masters, 35, he has won four Davis Cups with Spain and two Olympic golds. He has played 277 tournaments, reached the final 121 times and won 84. Of the 1,163 official matches he has played, he has won 967 and has lost 196. He has finished the year as number one four times - this year he will have to play it with Djokovic - and in six others he has done it as number two. Also, it falls well.
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