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MUTUA MADRID OPENMay 11, 2014Manolo SantanaMADRID, SPAIN MANOLO SANTANA: First of all, good afternoon to all of you. I really want to thank you for the support you've given us constantly. I think that, and I say it sincerely, Madrid is a place where the players feel really comfortable, where the people support tennis. All the technical parts and whatever a tournament like this takes, I just want to say thank you once again for all your support. And especially I like that whenever something is wrong, whenever something is not right or you believe it's not right, you can just say it or write it. I think from errors we can always learn things. I've already been 13 years commanding this tournament, and year after year I am surprised by how little by little the tournament is being more consolidated. This year has been a tough year because we didn't have Djokovic, and also that Federer was dad for the fourth time. He's a really strong man, isn't he? Four is not easy. Two sets of twins. Also, it's very important for us that the tournament has the vision to be a lot of years out there. The tournament is strong. And also, as I said previously, I don't want to talk about all the things, but we have had a lot of difficulties this year and they've been important. Because apart from not having Djokovic or Federer here, Wawrinka that was coming as a great favorite or at least one of the favorites, he had to leave in the first round. That's a good thing about tennis, you know. You never know what's going to happen. After that, Dimitrov, which I think that he's going to be the great star of tennis in the coming years, couldn't beat Berdych. And also the win of Rafa is very important for us and for you, the fact that he's been champion once again for the fourth time here. I hadn't seen him playing a player so well as I saw the Japanese player in the first set. He played extraordinary tennis. The way he was playing the ball was going so fast. The way he was surprising once and twice and three times Nadal, that's not easy. It's not easy to surprise Rafa. It's a pity to finish the way it did. That's the way sport is. Just happy and glad that the queen of Spain could come and that the court was really crowded, especially the days that Rafa played. You can see the love that Madrid has towards Rafa. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. We're not going to do a press conference without asking a question. I want to ask you about the crowd. There was a lot of doubts that perhaps today it wouldn't be full because of the league matches. MANOLO SANTANA: Well, can you tell me what Real Madrid did, first? Q. They lost. MANOLO SANTANA: Oh, well, I thought that people, whenever they like a certain sport ‑‑ and here they really like tennis, you know, the people from Madrid really like tennis. It was full. Even though they said that the schedule was not the right one, that quarter past seventh was not the right time because of the football. Football has its followers, but it's been shown that tennis is a very strong sport and we have a very strong player, which is Rafa Nadal. So now whenever the Japanese comes, let's see what the Japanese tells you. I think he's a man with a lot of charisma. It's a pity that he finished the match today that way. Rafa knew how to battle him, and he deserved it. Thanks to all of you and the program, especially Borja Bilbao, and all of his people. And until the next year, if God wants, because I'm already in the age of the tiebreak with a 7‑6 that I have on my side. Now let's see the next set how I face the next years. We'll see. But I'm sure that I'll have your friendship beside me and I'll manage to do it next year. Thank you and see you next year. Bye. (Applause). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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