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So cute

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The Miami pre tournament presser. SO glad he decided against the soccer match.

Q. I know you’ve won almost everything in this sport, but not Miami. Is this kind of one you’d like to get? I think you’ve won 6 out of 9 Masters?
RAFAEL NADAL: No, I play every tournament with the same motivation. It’s always play well and then I gonna have a good result. In this tournament I think I had two finals, another semifinal. So I had the chances; I didn’t win. Is impossible win in every place. I just accept the challenge and try to play my best tennis. That’s only way to win the tournament where all the best players of the world are playing.

Q. Is it tougher than most because it comes right after Indian Wells and you always seem to go deep into that draw?
RAFAEL NADAL: No. No, I don’t think so.

Q. Did you consider playing in the soccer game the other night? I know you went to watch. Did you consider playing?
RAFAEL NADAL: I would love, you know, but for me is important ‑ probably most important ‑ part of the season right now since Indian Wells until Wimbledon. I had the knees problems and seriously, I don’t want any risk right now, no?

Q. What did you think of the game? We heard that Andy Murray and Baghdatis were the best players.
RAFAEL NADAL: I didn’t see all the game, because I had to work with a sponsor in another place. But they told me, yeah. But remain the star, remain me. (Laughing.) No, seriously, Baghdatis and Murray told me ‑‑ Djokovic told me that Baghdatis and Murray was playing unbelievable. They lost 5‑2, so, anyway, important thing is not the result, is the charity of the event. I think was really good because the crowd was full there, very good atmosphere. After in the dinner with Nole, I was there supporting the dinner, too. So I think was fantastic, too. That’s important, always be active in these charity events, especially for Japan at this moment.

Q. About 10 years ago you probably would have been one of the taller players on the tour. Now you play guys like Querrey and Isner, Raonic and even Djokovic and these guys are 6′3″ and higher. Do you feel like the game is going in that direction? Just gonna get taller and taller? Is it tougher to play against these guys, too?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, but the best players of the world play from the baseline. That’s true. Djokovic is very good from the baseline. Federer is very good from the baseline. Myself. Last couple of years, my best quality is from the baseline. Murray is from the baseline. Soderling, too. Davydenko, too, Berdych, too. That’s true, is coming ‑‑ Del Potro is the only one, but he’s characteristic is from the baseline, too. Is true that the game is coming very tall guys, but at the end of the day, I think the best players of the world and the players who are in the top are players who plays from the baseline. Is true is not easy play against Isner, against Karlovic, against Raonic, but we will see if that is the right way to be in the top. I don’t know.

Q. Is there anything that you notice from your game at Indian Wells that you feel you could improve on in this tournament?
RAFAEL NADAL: A lot of things. (Smiling.) I think during the tournament I didn’t play really good. It wasn’t a good level for me. Semifinals and final I improved my level of tennis, but during the final my serve worked terrible. So that’s the first thing. I have to serve better if I want to have chances to compete against all the players. And from the baseline, seriously, I think I finished the tournament playing much better than the beginning of the tournament. So that’s always a very positive thing.

Q. Did you and Toni work on your serve? Did you find out what was wrong with it?
RAFAEL NADAL: We hope so, but we never know. (Smiling.) We gonna see tomorrow how it works hopefully better.

Q. What is it that you love about playing tennis?
RAFAEL NADAL: I love the competition. Yeah. I love the support in general, all the sports. Tennis is my sport, so I like the tennis and especially I love the competition.

Q. What is your perception of Djokovic? Over the years he was joking, doing impersonations, this and that. He’s still very funny, but he seems to have tried to tone down a little bit maybe. He’s playing very, very, very well now. What is your relationship with him? What do you think the perception of him among the players is?
RAFAEL NADAL: My relationship with him always was fantastic. We are close. I think he’s a funny guy, but he’s not playing now better because he’s not doing his imitations or these things. That’s for sure. You know, always the people, when somebody is playing very well, try to found the things outside of the tennis. Seriously, the only thing what matters is what’s happen inside the court. Outside the court you can do imitations all the day, or you can do anything. You can’t go out every night, that’s for sure, no? But you can do anything. You can have a really normal life and play very well or play very bad. That doesn’t affect inside the court.
What he’s doing well is he’s playing with confidence. His level probably is not much higher than three years ago or two years ago or one year ago. I always saw him as fantastic player. His potential always was very, very high. Everybody knows how good is him, and he can do what he’s doing now. He started the season like in 2008 and was the same. So is nothing new. We will see what’s going on. I think he’s a very complete player because he can play on all of the surfaces very good, and that’s an advantage. He started better than possible, so he’s in a very good position.
But the season always is long, and we will see what is going on.

Q. Novak recently joined Twitter. You’re very present on Facebook. Do you have any plans to join Twitter?
RAFAEL NADAL: Not for the moment. I happy with the Facebook. I don’t know. No, for me is enough for the moment.

Q. I want to ask you also about the Bacardi, the thing you’re involved in with drinking responsibly. Can you talk about that? I wasn’t at the event, but can you just tell us a little about that, the campaign.
RAFAEL NADAL: I think is a very important social campaign, especially I think for everybody, but for the young people more. The campaign is champions drink responsibly, but is a social campaign about if you have to go out, have a plan how to come back home safely. Is a campaign about if you go out, you don’t need to drink crazy. You can drink few glasses of alcohol, but drink alcohol‑free and drink water. Is important quality than quantity. That is the campaign, no? For sure I think everybody knows when you go out and you go for party with your friends, alcohol is part of that, part of the night. But sometimes seems like you go out and you have to drink like crazy. In my opinion, that’s not like this. That’s the campaign. I think it’s important campaign. I’m very happy to be the ambassador.
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Post Nishikori presser

Thanks for the pics CMM he looks so adorable!

How classic that Roger thinks this plays like clay. :roll:Now, if Nadal beats him the semis, he can always be like told ya it was like clay!

Q. How tough was that match in the end?
RAFAEL NADAL: Was a difficult one for sure, yeah. Nishikori is a very, very good player. Is one of these first rounds that you don't want to see, I think. I'm very happy about how I played today. I think I played at high level tonight. The feeling was better than last week, so that's important thing. The serve worked very well at the end of the match. In general, I think was a really complete match, because Nishikori for a moment was really good and was difficult.

Q. You mentioned that you felt that you served better today. What did you have to work on to improve it? Because last week particularly in the final it was very much trouble for you.
RAFAEL NADAL: Nothing. I tried to (indiscernible) about how I serve when I serve well. I tried to slow down a little bit the speed, but at the same time serve with higher percentage.
I think that worked well, no? Because I served 117 to 124, 25 miles almost every time. That's enough speed if you put the right percentage inside and if you put the balls close to the lines.
Nishikori I think is a good returner. He return very fast. He's fast and long and he's difficult. Only thing a little bit that I have to improve a little bit was the second serve, because the speed of the second serve was for moments 85, 88, 89, 90, 92, but I had to try to serve a little bit faster the second serve. But in general, seriously, I am very happy about the match of tonight.

Q. Earlier today Roger said that the surface is quite slow and it feels like clay. What do you think?
RAFAEL NADAL: Never. Never can be like clay on hard because the movements are completely different. So that's makes impossible have a similar than clay when you are playing in hard, because in clay you cannot slice and you have more time. For sure I am not agree on that. The court is not very fast, not very slow, is average court. I think is normal one like probably the rest of the normal tournaments on hard. So no, I feel that the court is like every year.

Q. Next round you play Lopez, and you had pretty much a lot of success against him. Are you going to approach the match the same way as always?
RAFAEL NADAL: For me the important thing is play my best tennis. If it's like this, I know it gonna be difficult match because he has a very good serve, good volley, and he's aggressive player, very dangerous, but playing very well I have my chances. I have to play aggressive with my forehand, try to move him, and go to the net when I have the chance. Similar than every time, but always every match is different and always a difficult one.
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QueenSeles said:
Not sure if the *********s are keeping the concern a secret, but I'd say the bigger threat that Djoker is Delpotro. IF anyone watched that match, with the way Delpro will just killing every ball and Nadal on the defensive most of the time, it's gonna be tough from here on out as Delpo only gets better.
Click to expand...

Yup this poster called it. Watch out Nadal. Delpo is back.
 
Delpo's forehand at least currently is not scary (when he played Nadal last week). Nadal exposes Del Potro's less than great (yet adequate) movement. The only way Del Potro can prevent this exposure is by bossing Nadal with the forehand, but he didn't do that in the Indian Wells match :D
 
QueenSeles said:
Delpo is amazing, he just completely crushes every ball. He's so strong. The antithesis of the pusher, to be sure.
Click to expand...

Ah, we're back to the Rafa's nemesis of the day debate are we? This time last year it was Soderling, Federer doesn't quite cut it anymore so now we're back to the re-emerging Delpo. I'm sure Rafa is absolutely quaking in his boots. :rolleyes:


CMM said:
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Very nice. I really like the lime green look on him.
 
Presser after Feli match

RAFAEL NADAL

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You think it's more difficult for you to play against good friends or does it make you more comfortable on court?
RAFAEL NADAL: I think nothing change, because when you are on court, you're on court. You compete, and is nothing new for us. This is ninth time against each other. We are very, very good friends. We had dinner yesterday together, so this is normal.
That's the sport. That's competition. One player have to win; other one have to lose. And accept both things, no? We were talking in the locker room.

Q. I can't imagine when you play Davydenko, for instance, and you play Feliciano, is it not different for your mind or...
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, is different because we know each other 100% better. But about being the friend, I don't know, maybe if something is close ball, you can say was good, you can say, I don't know...
That's the difference, I think. Nothing important.

Q. What did you like about your play today? What would you like to improve on?
RAFAEL NADAL: I like almost everything. I think I played solid match in general. I played good shots, very good passing shots. I served well for moments, much better than Indian Wells.
And seriously, no, I think I play with the right rhythm. Always is difficult play against Felly, because is not comfortable. He play slice, he play aggressive, he has a fantastic serve, he doesn't want to play long points.
Always is difficult to find the right feeling, and I did. I think I had the right feeling against a difficult player, so that's a very positive. I am happy how I am playing, serious.

Q. Are you planning to play the upcoming Davis Cup tie in Austin?
RAFAEL NADAL: Remain a lot. Remain a lot. Remain a lot of months to go there and a lot of things can happen. We will see what's going on here, in the clay season, grass season. Is difficult for me.
Too important things for me to come to think about the Davis Cup next round, no?

Q. I was wondering what do you remember at this tournament in 2004 when you beat Federer? It was a big upset at the time; you were 17. Do you remember that match and do you remember what it meant to your career at that point in time?
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, at that moment was the most important victory in my career, no? I think I played fantastic match. For sure Roger didn't play his best in that moment, that day, so I was able to beat him, no?
It was a very important victory, big confidence for me at the moment. But seriously, I lost at the next round against González. So was a good victory, but at the same time wasn't a fantastic tournament, because I lost against González in the next round, serious.

Q. Can you talk about your position now, sort of as the dominant No. 1 guy? You've got people now chasing you rather than you chasing them. How do you feel in that position of being No. 1 and feeling that?
RAFAEL NADAL: You know, I don't think about the No. 1, no? I think about every day, and doesn't matter if I am No. 1 or No. 2 or No. 4. I think about go on court, practice hard every day, try my best in every moment, and when I am playing matches the same, no, try to play well, try to win.
But for sure most important thing is try to work hard every day to be better player, no? I think about the race more than the ranking. I know I'm No. 1 in the ranking right now, but in the race I am No. 6 this year. I didn't play for a month.
Last week's final was a very important result for me, and I have to play well here to keep improving the situation in the race, to be in good position when the clay season start.
So I am here to try my best, and we will see what's going on, no? I don't feel I am better than the rest because I am No. 1, no? No, I feel I played fantastic last year. For that reason I am No. 1 today.
But we will see what's going on next months, no? I know I have to defend a lot of points, but seriously, I don't feel that I have to defend the points. I feel in every tournament that I am going to play I have the chance to win points, not to lose points, no?
For me every year start from zero. Right now I am No. 6, and I would love to play well next tournaments and have the chances to be in better position.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports
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http://www.sonyericssonopen.com/New.../Extra-Column/2011-Rafael-Nadal-March-28.aspx
 
angiebaby said:
Ah, we're back to the Rafa's nemesis of the day debate are we? This time last year it was Soderling, Federer doesn't quite cut it anymore so now we're back to the re-emerging Delpo. I'm sure Rafa is absolutely quaking in his boots. :rolleyes:




Very nice. I really like the lime green look on him.
Click to expand...

Amazing photo of Rafa in action - one of the best I have seen.
 
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