This is what we like of Rafa. He is a true warrior that does not get bigheaded when he wins and he does not despair when he loses, but he just focusses to get the next level.
Following his admirable sportsmanship, he states that ‘I don’t have the spirit of revenge, I don’t have the spirit of obsession with another player. My spirit is to try and be a better player every day for myself. That’s my satisfaction.’
‘I say it’s always the same, I want to improve for me,’ said Nadal ‘I don’t want to improve to beat Novak, to beat Roger (Federer) or to beat nobody. I try my best every day to improve my level of tennis, to be a better player year by year.
‘And if that’s enough to beat Novak, fantastic. If not, I’m gonna keep working. When I wake up every morning and I go on court for practice, I don’t think about Novak. I think about the things I need to keep improving, I think about myself.’
‘When you are behind somebody, it is sometimes a little bit easier than when you are on the top. At the same time, I prefer to be in front.’ he added’I accept very well the losses, I think I accept well the victories too,’ the Spaniard smiled. ‘I came back home very happy about my tournament in Australia, the way that I played, the way that I played lots of moments in the final.
‘I am not happy about my second and third sets but for the rest of the match, I am happy with how I did. In general, it was a very positive tournament for me.
‘I don’t know if I want to be the one that will improve Djokovic. I am happy with how I did and I am going to keep working hard every day to try to keep having chances to compete against everybody with good chances of success. The periods of victories for everybody have an end and that’s part of life.’
‘This is the most important part of the season for me, from here until Wimbledon, and this year is an Olympic year too so that’s the moment where I have to be ready for everything.’
We are lucky to have this kind of champions in the tennis arena… very lucky!
Photo Credit: Karl Hab
