TMS MONTE CARLO

April 15, 2003

Rafael Nadal

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

RAFAEL NADAL: I'm very pleased to win past the first round, and I won today. I'm playing well. I played very well, and especially today I played particularly well.

RAFAEL NADAL: In fact, the way I played better today, it's because I was more aggressive and I was better adapted to the surface. So, generally speaking, it's because I was more aggressive than usual. It was better - I think better.

RAFAEL NADAL: (Shaking his head no). No, in two weeks it's a bit short to learn Italian.

BENITO PEREZ-BARBADILLO: He said he found himself very well over there but didn't have time to learn Italian.

RAFAEL NADAL: I started like everyone else, just for playing a sport, doing a sport twice a week. My uncle, who is my coach, saw me playing. And the first time I played I already had a good touch, I already played well. So afterwards, I started practicing more and more. At 11 and 12 years old, I was twice champion of Spain. After that, I continued.

RAFAEL NADAL: In fact, it's a matter of habit. I played many matches already and many of them with wind, so you just have to continue to play your normal game without thinking about the conditions. Because the conditions do not depend on you, you have no influence on the conditions, so you just have to play your game and continue as usual.

RAFAEL NADAL: I've been knowing Carlos Moya for a long time now, so we know each other pretty well. In fact, Costa, I don't know him as well because I don't go very often to Barcelona. But once I went with Moya to Barcelona and we got together and we saw each other, yes.

RAFAEL NADAL: I played once against Gasquet four years ago as a junior and I lost 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in Tarbes.

RAFAEL NADAL: Quarterfinal.

RAFAEL NADAL: No, I have no pressure because I'm 100 now and I must work still a lot. Nothing comes easily. Things are very complicated and there are very good players out there.

RAFAEL NADAL: Yes, I'm going to school. I finished my last year of secondary school, obligatory school. Last year I finished that, and I tried to study more this year but it's becoming more and more impossible because I'm never at home. When I go back to classes, I'm a bit lost, but I'm still trying.

RAFAEL NADAL: I'm very eager to play that match because he's the winner of the French Open and he plays well. It is going to be a sort of test, a challenge for me. Maybe I will not win, but I'll try to be able to play against him.

RAFAEL NADAL: In fact, I used to watch television when I was younger, tennis, but I never asked for an autograph to anybody. But the player I prefer was always Carlos Moya.

RAFAEL NADAL: Yes, I played last year in Juniors in Wimbledon and I lost in the semis.

RAFAEL NADAL: Wahab.

RAFAEL NADAL: Well, I'm very grateful to him to say nice things about me, but I believe other players are playing like me at my age. In fact, I don't know.

RAFAEL NADAL: Yes, it was the finals in Italy. Well, I started off well in the first set winning 6-2, but afterwards I started the second set average, let's say. There was a volley which was disputed, which was a sort of bad call, and I got very angry. It was 2-all at that point, and the umpire gave him the point. After that, I was out of my mind and he started playing very well from there on. The truth is that I wasn't playing very well at all. And every time I was giving him the ball, he was playing a winner. But I saw him play the whole week and he was playing very well, winning easily his matches, and I already knew the finals would be very complicated for me. Also, it was my third finals, so I was nervous because I lost the first two, so I was nervous.