Rafael Nadal: 'It is true that when I played with Roger Federer...'

Rafael Nadal is by far the strongest player ever on clay, having won Roland Garros 13 times and more. Thanks to yet another triumph in the French capital this year, the 34-year-old Spaniard has also equaled the all-time record of 20 slams of his eternal rival Roger Federer. The unprecedented placement in the calendar and the new Wilson balls had led some insiders to raise some doubts about Rafa's chances, exacerbated by the premature elimination at the International BNL of Italy. The former world number 1 has once again managed to sweep away the doubts, winning the Parisian crown without giving up even a set along the way. During a long interview on the Alvarez Cafe program, Nadal talked about various topics, including his relationship with fans at Roland Garros. Rafa admitted that it was not easy to find the right feeling with the public at the beginning of his career, but that now the French love him as other legends of the past.

Nadal on crowd behavior at Roland Garros

"To be honest, in the beginning, in some matches in Philippe Chatrier things got complicated," Rafael Nadal said. "I never took it personally and France is one of the countries in which I feel more loved. Before, when people thought that in Paris they treated me very badly, it was not true. I was walking around Paris and the affection and recognition was total. It is true that when I played with the French or with Federer, who at that time had never won, the balance leaned the other way," he added. "But I never took it personally." To a question on the percentage of importance of ‘uncle Toni’ in Nadal’s career, the Spaniard said, “I don’t know, in the end I don’t think it can be valued in a percentage. “Since we say that without him I would have possibly never played tennis, it is already a very high percentage.” Nadal said Toni is someone who watched him grow from a rookie to a modern-day stalwart and it was his uncle’s early lessons in the game that helped him hone his raw talent and be the superstar that he is today. “He has been the person who has been with me from the beginning, training me, he is the person who professionally helped me achieve success,” Nadal said. However, the Spaniard said he owes a lot of his success to his family members as well. “It is no less true that I have also had my father, my mother and my family who were behind (me through the good times and bad),” the Spaniard said.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/34Dn9jQ