The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : I want to enjoy a nice week: Nadal

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Monday, Dec 31, 2007
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I want to enjoy a nice week: Nadal

Sports Reporter

Chennai: Top seed Rafael Nadal was guarded when asked to comment on his chances at 2008’s first tournament. “It is never easy, especially the first match of the year. It’s a new year, and there will be new feelings. He (Mathieu Montcourt, his first round opponent) has improved his rankings and I have to play well to win. If I play percentage tennis, I can do well.

“This year, there are very good players. (Carlos) Moya, (Marcos) Baghdatis, (Mikhail) Youzhny, (Xavier) Malisse. It is an interesting tournament. I want to enjoy a very nice week. I don’t know who is going to win.”

The Spaniard said that playing doubles helped him. “Since this is the first tournament of the year, it is important I play doubles for practice. I like doubles a lot, and play a lot of doubles when I can. This year, there is special significance because of the Olympic Games. When I feel 100 per cent physically and mentally, I play both.”

Olympics goal

Doing well at the Olympics, he said, would be one of his goals next year. “The Olympics is very important next year, after the Grand Slams. The Davis Cup is also there. Olympics takes place once in four years, so it’s a special tournament and gives me special motivation to go and play good tennis.

“The most important thing for next year is to be a better player, when compared to 2007. I am not saying that I have to win more tournaments and have better results; I want to be a better player and play better tennis. Winning and losing doesn’t depend on the way you play, all the time.”

Nadal dismissed talks of injuries that threatened to affect his career. On the match-fixing controversy that hit the sport, he said, “I can’t say anything about that. There is nothing strange on the Tour. The press and everyone like speaking about it. Tennis is the fairest sport, and I have 100 per cent confidence on my friends on the Tour. If something is happening, the ATP is fighting against it.”

When asked if he was tired of being the World No.2, he said, “No I’m not. I would love to be number two for 50 more years, especially in my current situation when I have 5,600 or 5,700 points. That is a lot. In a normal moment in the history of tennis, I would have been number one. At this point, we have an exceptional No.1 in Roger (Federer). He is the better player, but who knows of the future.”

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