CAMELOT FANTASIES

ATP Finals: An interview with Rafael Nadal (November 21, 2015)


On November 22, 2015
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2015/11/22/atp-finals-an-interview-with-rafael-nadal-november-21-2015/

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. From your point of view, what makes Novak so difficult these days? What are the key factors?

RAFAEL NADAL: Everything. Hitting amazing. Well, the return always amazing. This year he serving great, I think. And then he is able to play with no mistakes and changing directions so easy, playing so, so long. He’s doing everything good.
He was better than me and he deserved to do what he did during the whole season. He played just fantastic. When somebody’s doing like this, just the only thing I can do is congratulate him and just wish not the best of luck for the next year (smiling).

Q. I observed in these last months you changed something about your forehand technique. I think you play more forward, more flat, less spin, you attack more. What is your next step of improvement in your technique?

RAFAEL NADAL: No, my technique, we didn’t try to change the technique of nothing. I think the technique was good. Another thing is the position on court. Another thing is the way that I play the points. I think I improved that a lot last couple of months. My next step is just keep practicing the way that I am doing. I know I need to keep improving things if I want to have chances against Novak next year. That’s what I going to try. Just keep working the way that I am doing.
I think I am doing well. Happy about the tournament. Happy about finish the season with that positive energy. Now I have a week off, and that’s it.

Q. Today did you think you felt the effects of your match yesterday against David, a long match?

RAFAEL NADAL: No, no, I don’t think so.

Q. Is it tough not to feel frustrated in a match like that, or you just don’t have time to be frustrated and you have to be concentrating on trying to turn it around?

RAFAEL NADAL: You know, very few moments in my career I get frustrated. When one player is better than you, the only thing you can do is try to find solution. That’s what I try during the match. But was not a real solution today.
So just accept that the opponent is better than me today and keep working hard to try to reduce that difference that I believe in the last couple of months, because he cannot improve much, I think I could improve a lot, so I reduce a little bit the distance. Not with Novak, but with the rest of the top guys. I was able to compete with everybody. That’s a big improvement for me. But that’s not enough for me. I want to keep going and I want to feel myself better than what I am doing today for next year. I going to work hard to make that happen.

Q. In the off-season do you and the other top guys think about, How can we beat Novak? He’s always there at the end of every tournament. In most tournaments you have to beat Novak to win.

RAFAEL NADAL: For the moment, yes. I never practice thinking about others. I practice thinking about what I have to do to be better, then we’ll see if I am enough good. I think about my personal motivation to keep improving the things that we believe we need to improve to be better players, and that’s it. Everyone has a different motivation. I never practice thinking what do I have to do to beat Novak, what do I have to do to beat Roger. My motivation has always been just personal, that I want to improve myself, I want to be better. That’s what I going to try to keep doing. We’ll see. 2016 going to be a new year. Hopefully better one for me. We’ll see. Novak for the moment is almost unbeatable. As I say before, the only thing you can do is congratulate him. But things are like this today. You never know what’s going on in the future. I have been in very good situations a couple of times, then I get some injuries, things change. Not everything is that easy. What Novak is doing is just amazing. But is obvious that it’s true if somebody can do it, it’s him, but it’s not easy to stay at that high level four years in a row or five years in a row.

Q. I don’t know if you will watch it or not, but next week’s Davis Cup Final, what are your thoughts on it? Do you think clay is a good surface for Belgium?

RAFAEL NADAL: I don’t know if I going to watch it. I have a charity event for my foundation, and Olazabal won. I probably going to be in the golf course doing the event. I don’t know if clay is a good surface for Belgium or not. I think is the right one, yes. For Belgium is the surface that probably has a better chance because the second player of Great Britain is Bedene or who is playing? It’s true that probably both players play better on hard than in clay. I don’t think about Andy because Andy plays very well in every surface. But for the second player, I think for Belgium in his mind is probably try to win both points against the No. 2, then try to win the doubles. If I am Belgium, that’s what’s going to be in my mind.
Then if I am able to win a match against Andy, fantastic. But that’s what I believe they should think, and probably that’s why they choose clay.

Q. Back to you trying to beat Novak, but concentrating on your own game. In 2011 you lost seven finals against him. In 2012 and 2013 you were back beating him in majors at that stage. What did you do and are there lessons to learn to come back on how you maybe can beat him next year?

RAFAEL NADAL: You ask me questions about the future. I cannot predict the future. I cannot say what going to happen in a few months, what going to happen in the next year. The only thing that I can talk is what can happen if I am able to keep improving, no? In 2011, I lost a lot of finals in a row. He was playing fantastic, too. I didn’t play against him at the right level to compete against him. The last two finals that I lost against him before my first victory in Monte-Carlo I think was final of the US Open. That was helping me for the future. And of course to have final in Australia keep helping me for the future, too. I didn’t have that kind of feeling, I was not that close against him yet. Against other rivals I was competing great, and that’s it. As I said before the tournament, I was not able to think about Novak for the whole season. I have been playing in another league. Seems like the last month and a half, two months, I was in this league, I am in this top league. So my motivation and my goal is try to keep being in that top league, that is the top five, top four of the world. That’s my goal, and we’ll see if I am able to keep doing this.

Q. You’ve had injuries in your career that have kept you off the tour. You’re going to be 30 next year. After playing this season, how do you feel your body is? Are you more or less confident that your body is going to stay strong? Secondly, Novak tied his rivalry with you in his head-to-head. He has a chance to do that if he plays Roger. How important are these head-to-heads among rivals?

RAFAEL NADAL: I think the head-to-head records are a statistic one more. To analyze who is better or worst is a global thing, no? Is just one more statistic. Well, I think is fair and is great. I don’t want to be arrogant, but between two good players, Novak and me, have a very tight head-to-head. I think that’s normal. Is completely normal, and that’s it.

Q. And your body. How do you feel?

RAFAEL NADAL: Today I’m feeling good. My body is healthy, is strong. I feel good physically. I am able to practice a lot. I am able to compete great in long matches, too. Today I am not worried about my body. I was much more worried when I started this season than how I am today. I played the full season with not many problems. I finished the season healthy, with good health. That’s so important for me to keep practicing, have confidence in my body, my movements, and another important thing: if you want to improve your game, you need to practice. So for sure one of the reasons of my improvement is because I lost the strange feelings on court that I had during the season. Another reason is because I am able to practice as much as I can every day. That’s a big help.

Q. You just said that Novak was almost unbeatable. You played him at his peak. You played Roger at his peak. Is it possible or impossible to compare the two of them when they were at their very best?

RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, is possible but I don’t want to do it (smiling).

Thank you very much. Have a good Christmas and Happy New Year. See you next year.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

just got home. I had been on the road.

I went to see mom and dad.


very long day today. I will see you all tomorrow.


djokovic did say that he is in a good place. he very specifically said that he can go after rafa and roger slam records.

and becker added that djokovic can improve. and I can assure you that they are going to do exactly that. djokovic said he is working all the time on his game and his fitness. he is not that sharp and that fit by accident.



if that does not fire you up to meet this challenge then nothing will. resolve to outwork this guy and you can beat him on clay.


Rafa is one who has the best shot to stop Djokovic but it has to be on clay.

Federer to Djokovic this years pace will be hard to keep up

AFP By Steven Griffiths

November 22, 2015 8:05 PM

London (AFP) - Roger Federer has warned Novak Djokovic he will find it hard to repeat his incredible year.

Federer was Djokovic's last victim of the year as the Serb romped to a 6-3, 6-4 victory in the final of the ATP Tour Finals on Sunday.
It was 28-year-old Djokovic's 11th title of a golden year that saw the world number one win 82 of his 88 matches, reach all four Grand Slam finals and win Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the US Open.

But 17-time Grand Slam champion Federer knows just how difficult it will be for Djokovic to emulate his triumphs in 2016.
"It's hard to play at this pace all the time. You are talking about narrow margins; a break point here and there can change the whole outcome," Federer said. "You can't always be on the winning side. Margins are very small at the top.

"That is why this year of Novak's is amazing. I've been there, Rafa (Nadal) has been there. We both know how hard it is to back it up year after year.
"It's not the first good year for Novak. Certainly he's going into next year with massive confidence. He's playing great.
"It's going to be hard for him to have a bad year, but you can't just repeat a year like this.
"It takes a lot of effort. You've got to be in shape physically with no injuries whatsoever. Mentally you have to be at your peak at all times. It's not as easy as it seems sometimes."

Federer remains one of the few players capable of troubling Djokovic, as he showed when he ended the Serb's 23-match winning run with a straight sets victory in the group stage of this year's Tour Finals.

While he was unable to repeat that performance in the final, and also lost the Wimbledon and US Open finals to Djokovic, the 34-year-old is adamant he doesn't need to change much in his game to wrestle the major trophies away from the world number one.
Asked if he needed to alter hs style of play in a bid to subdue Djokovic, Federer said: "Not really because I feel I need to work on my overall game [and] that is going to have an impact against most players.

"For me Rafa is the unique player in the field. I used to work more precisely against him.
"With Novak it's more straightforward. If you don't play very well you are going to have a hard time. If you play better I know I have my chances with my game."

Federer will now head off to recharge his batteries and plan a fresh assault on Djokovic in 2016.

As ever, winning another Wimbledon title is high on his list of priorities and he will also target a gold medal at the Rio Olympics.
"Wimbledon is a big one. Rio as well but it's not my number one priority. It starts with the Australian Open which is just around the corner," he said.
"Once that's over then I look more towards the future.
"I don't think there's that much I need to change, other than a few tactical things against certain players at some times. I had a lot of great things in my game this year."

I'm British so don't celebrate myself. Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone who does celebrate it! You may if you wish explain what it is all about as I like to know about other people's cultures, beliefs & ways. This helps me to understand & respect them.

Rafa has golf this weekend and then there is that IPTL league play until December 20th.


I can assure you that nothing is going to happen in 2016.

unless he can produce huge blocks of training on clay going into his clay season, nothing is going to happen.

at the current rate I don't expect 2016 to be any better than 2015.

quite honestly just being in the top 5 or top 10 is not good enough. he is an all time great.

he has to stand up and rise to the challenge that djokovic is throwing down at him.

Rafa goes on being a reference: he's been the most searched for athlete on Yahoo, more than Messi, CR7, Alonso, Casillas.

Rafa goes on being a reference: he's been the most searched for athlete on Yahoo, more than Messi, CR7, Alonso, Casillas.

Rafa is more popular than ever.


also richer than ever. last year he made over $41 million. this year he could top $50 million.