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WIMBLEDONJune 24, 2006Rafael NadalWIMBLEDON, ENGLAND Q. Will your English be better because you are in England and this is where the language started? RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know for that reason. Maybe because I need to speak a little bit, but maybe I have improved too much, maybe. Q. How do you feel about coming home to grass now? You have obviously left Paris, fantastic tournament for you, now on grass, how are you feeling about playing on grass? RAFAEL NADAL: I was playing a very good tournament in Queens. I arrive here on Thursday -- Tuesday. (Inaudible) Well, I improve with the days and I feeling good, practicing good and I am happy with my level. Q. And the shoulder? RAFAEL NADAL: The shoulder, it's okay, I don't have a lot of time for operation, but it's okay. I can practice. I can play. And I am going to see, but I am playing without pain. Q. It was painful at, Queens, though, wasn't it and obviously when you had to stop playing against Hewitt, but you feel in practice, it's good, the shoulder now? RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, it's good. I can't force things. I don't want to force a lot, because I need play on Monday, maybe Tuesday. Q. How important is it for you to become better on grass? RAFAEL NADAL: It is important for try to do a better player, more complete player, so for that reason and because on grass we have one of the best tournaments in the world, so for that two reasons, I need to improve. Q. Are you feeling confident after Paris, or is it totally different now that you are here? You come as French Open Champion. Does that make you feel good coming here or is that -- doesn't matter because of the different surface? RAFAEL NADAL: No, surely it's better if you win the French Open, but here it is different, I am practicing with a lot of motivation. Sure, when the French Open is better for the confidence for play here because you can play with a little bit more calm without a lot of pressure, so that's better. This is a different tournament, this is very important too and Paris is forget now. I want to think just about that; now I want to play here. Q. I am told that if things go to plan, you might play Andre Agassi in the third round and it might -- if you beat him, that will be his last ever match at Wimbledon. How do you fancy the prospects of that? RAFAEL NADAL: Florida I won two matches and Agassi too. So four matches. We are going to see now. Q. Andre has just been sitting where you are; he's just said "This is my last Wimbledon; US Open; then I finish." Obviously you are much younger, can you remember Andre playing here before? Can you say anything about Andre? RAFAEL NADAL: I don't remember when Andre won here in Wimbledon. Q. Were you five? RAFAEL NADAL: (Laughs) '92, no? Six (laughter). I don't remember, but I saw him a lot of Finals against Sampras in US Open. I saw here some Finals, I remember too. He's a legend. It is very difficult to do the same like Agassi because he was very good after he go out, no, he was very top player after go out, and after come back and after he stop, come back and after that when he came back -- I think that's very difficult, very tough mentally. That's unbelievable. Q. One of the great things that he's achieved, one of five or one of four guys who have won all four Slams on the four different surfaces. As someone who is better on some surfaces than others, can you talk about how difficult that must be to achieve that? RAFAEL NADAL: Sure, it is very difficult to win on all surfaces, but if you improve you can do, but surely, it is very difficult, if you look at the history it is very difficult because I don't know what four, five, so that's -- you need improve a lot of the game and you need to play good. Agassi really played good. You need to serve good. You need to have a very complete game, so that's very, very difficult and just some players, some special players can do that. Q. Are there things you like better about grass than clay? Are there some things you enjoy more on grass than playing on clay? RAFAEL NADAL: I enjoy playing on grass. I enjoy winning, so, I won a little bit more on clay than on grass in this moment. I don't know in the future. But now the grass, it is very nice to play. It is special the green, the grass is always nice playing on this surface, so maybe if any day we change and just we use one serve, just one serve, not two service, going to be the nicest surface in the world, no, because it is special, no. But if you play against one big service the match is not nice. If you can play off the baseline it's very, very nice. Q. Andre played for more than 20 years on the Tour. Can you imagine yourself in 20 years here? RAFAEL NADAL: Very, very -- I'm beginning at 16, 17, 19, 20, I have four. We are going to see now. Q. Can you describe Federer for us, his weakness, his strengths. RAFAEL NADAL: He's the best in the world now, for sure. (Inaudible) I never seen before one player so complete like him, so he's unbelievable. I like a lot his style and he can play unbelievable on all surfaces. It is very difficult and maybe he having bad things. Q. Do you think after Paris he'd like to play you here in Wimbledon? RAFAEL NADAL: I hope. It was unbelievable tournament for me. Q. Have you seen the video of the French Open, the Final, did you watch the video of the match again? RAFAEL NADAL: No, certain points. Q. What chance does Spain have in the World Cup? RAFAEL NADAL: We have chances. We are playing good football, very fast football. I like a lot the Spanish team. I enjoy watching the game. Maybe we have chance. We have difficult match in the next against France, sure, it's not the best luck for the first round after the qualifying, but we win the three matches; France won just one and two draws against Swiss. (Inaudible) Yesterday France played better maybe but we are playing very good. Q. Will you try to watch the match against France? RAFAEL NADAL: Sure, I hope I am not playing at the same time. Q. Have you been watching this World Cup; been watching a lot of the games? RAFAEL NADAL: (Inaudible) Yeah, I saw a lot of matches. Q. Did you see Argentina against Serbia? RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, I saw until Thursday because after that I go to the court.
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