Interview with Rafa Nadal: "I have been locked up for 20 days, sad, without being oblivious to the problems of the pandemic"

• Chronicle.Nadal devours Djokovic

• Nadal's consolation to Djokovic "You crushed me a couple of times in Australia, this is part of the game."

• Federer. "Well done Rafa. You deserve it."

In the midst of the hustle and bustle to board the plane back to Palma, with the agitation typical of circumstances that require extreme protocols, the man who already sits

attended a group of Spanish journalists displaced to Paris the day after signing one of his most brilliant performances at Roland Garros and passing over Novak Djokovic with unsuspected smugness.

It was neither the best moment nor the best conditions to imagine that he would star in a similar match, but Rafael Nadal (Manacor, 1986) once again demonstrated that he has no limits.

This time, due to the pandemic, the face-to-face conversation to which we are accustomed did not take place, but not even the frontier of the Zoom prevented us from verifying his sincere and temperate speech as always.

How has the drama that we have to live the celebration after the triumph changed? Well, there were much fewer people at dinner, which was very familiar, calmer if possible, but in general it usually is, so in that sense there were no So much difference. How did your life change during the tournament? It was all much sadder.

We have been locked up for 20 days, in a sad environment, as I say.

You cannot be oblivious to all the problems that the world is going through, and in particular Spain, where the situation is particularly delicate. Was the time long, when I was not training or playing? It was hours and hours in the room, following the news , watching some series, sharing time with my team, playing the PlayStation, also some Parcheesi, looking to kill the hours. Were you surprised by the ease with which he dominated Djokovic, in particular in the first two sets: 6-0, 6-2, true exhibition? Sure, no one could expect that.

It was one of those days when I had the perfect sensations, I saw the ball well, I read his strokes, I felt the ball inside my racket.

A special day in the most difficult match.

I needed my best game, and I did it, all against the number 1 in the world, a player who has always created difficulties for him and before whom confrontations tend to be even.

I played especially well and that affected him.

It was the opposite case to that of the Australian Open final.

This is the sport.

When someone is at a very high level and on his favorite terrain, it can make things very difficult for his opponent.

Nadal is aware of

last year.

Novak Djokovic beat him 6-3, 6-2 and 6-3, achieving their most impressive victory in the 56 games they have played.

He remembered it at the awards ceremony and did it again minutes later at the press conference after winning his thirteenth and twenty-great title.

It was one of the results that hurt in a special way, as happened to the Balkan on Parisian soil, where in some trances he could feel like any other player.

Did you have a chance to talk to him after the final? He congratulated me, and that's it.

Each then has to do their own thing.

I have a cordial relationship with him, but when he gets lost like this he usually doesn't feel like talking.

Then, it is time to relativize things.

The judgment of the specialists came together in the fact that it was going to be especially complicated, even more so when the roof was closed due to the rain from the beginning.

What did he add in his approach to other duels with the Serb? Really, the conditions were difficult for my style.

But I had to generate my options.

I took as a reference the final in Rome last year, which I won in three sets, but I must have won in two.

He knew he needed to do even better than then, for that day in Rome the ball was more alive.

I came out with a clear idea of ​​what I wanted to do tactically speaking.

It was a unique stage and track for me.

Otherwise, it would not have been possible.

Nadal won that game 6-0, 4-6 and 6-1, en route to his twelfth title in Paris.

Until Sunday it was the only time he had left Djokovic at zero.

14 years after they first played in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, when Nole retired with a back injury with an adverse 6-4 double, both are still discovering strategic variants.

Can you still improve?

You lose things along the way, but you can add others.

I will always train with the illusion of doing better every day.

Both Federer and Djokovic and I are there because we have continued to progress.

Our rivalry has helped us to have a clear line of self-demand to know what we had to do.

He has talked a lot about the need to have a positive attitude in the face of the added complications that the tournament brought.

Does the mind work in a special way?

Do you practice yoga or meditation? I never have.

I don't think it takes to train the mind.

The daily effort is enough for me, with going to train when you have pain, when you don't feel like it and you force yourself.

That is one way to build character.

I have been fortunate to have the right people by my side.

I have an obligation to help myself to be better.

Technically I can fail, but not at that.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• Novak Djokovic

• Paris

• Rafael Nadal

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