Rafael Nadal
Even if I have already peaked, I have to believe I can improve. I wake up every morning, and go to practice, with the illusion that I'm going to get better that day.Collection: Morning
You fight, you try your best, but if you lose, you don't have to break five racquets and smash up the locker room. You can do those things, but when you've finished, nothing's changed. You've still lost. If something positive came from that, I probably would do it. But I see only negativity.Collection: Positive
I like a lot of sports. Especially football - it's my favourite sport. My uncle played football in Barcelona for nine years and played for Spain in three World Cups.Collection: Sports
In my humble opinion, change is stupid.Collection: Change
The family is very important. They make me feel good always because if I won, when I started to be famous, the relationship never changed with my friends and family.Collection: Famous
Hard courts are very negative for the body. I know the sport is a business and creating these courts is easier than clay or grass, but I am 100 per cent sure it is wrong.Collection: Business
I always wanted to be honest with myself and to those who have had faith in me.Collection: Faith
I started to travel like this at the age of 15 so for me, it's normal. Some days you get tired and you feel, 'I want to stay at home a little bit more,' but it's only the moment.Collection: Travel
Being home alone at night makes me a bit nervous. If I'm at home alone, I have to sleep on the sofa - I can't face going to bed. I'm there with the TV on and all the lights on. I'm not very brave about anything in life. In tennis, yes. In everything else, not very.Collection: Home
I have the same bedroom I've always had. It's clean and tidy when I get home, and after two or three days it gets messy and my mother nags me.Collection: Home
The glory is being happy. The glory is not winning here or winning there. The glory is enjoying practicing, enjoy every day, enjoying to work hard, trying to be a better player than before.Collection: Work
I have been learning English on the road since I started when I was 15, so it is a slow process but making some progress. Now I think I am much more comfortable with my English. However, it is difficult, still, when I speak about something that is not tennis.Collection: Learning
I am not the most courageous guy in the world outside of the court. Being alone in the dark is something I don't like.Collection: Alone
Tennis is a hard sport. There is a lot of competition all year and you play alone.Collection: Alone
Every year I go to Broadway to see a musical - I like the music. I saw 'Mamma Mia;' I saw 'Les Miserables;' I saw 'Phantom of the Opera' like six, seven times.Collection: Music
Why would I want a place of my own? Then I would have to things worry about, like doing laundry and having food in the fridge.Collection: Food
I used to wear sleeveless T-shirts all the time on court, but now I've got a brand new look - I've moved on to polo shirts. Sleeveless T-shirts give you real freedom of movement and they keep you cooler in matches, but I just thought it was time for a change.Collection: Freedom
I was passionate about soccer. I still am. Odd, though - playing soccer always made me much more anxious than playing tennis. On soccer days, I'd be out of bed by 6 in the morning, all nervous. But I was always calm when it was time for a tennis match. I still don't know why.Collection: Morning
If you don't lose, you cannot enjoy the victories. So I have to accept both things.
It's not the time to look for excuses.
My motivation is tomorrow, just one day at a time, right?
I learned during all my career to enjoy suffering.
I always had the theory that the most important thing is be happy, enjoy what are you doing, and be fresh mentally.
I am a guy who likes to do what I am doing with passion, whether it's a soccer match with friends or golf.
It's important to have people around you with enough confidence to say if you are not acting in a good way. Normally, when you are at the top, people say everything is fantastic. Probably in that moment it is what you want to hear, but it's best to be reminded how to act properly.
Is only a tennis match. At the end, that's life. There is much more important things.
I love the beach. I love the sea. All my life I live within - in front of the sea.
I live where I would like to live. I live in Majorca, Spain, and I am not sure there are better places.
No one is perfect. Everybody does stupid things.
My parents' divorce made an important change in my life. It affected me.
I'm ambidextrous when I eat. But playing tennis right-handed - I can't do it. I'm clueless.
I would love to learn other languages, maybe French? My uncle speaks German so maybe also German? Chinese seems to be too difficult.
I appreciate a lot in this life; the things you cannot buy. Life is only once.
For me, it is important to win titles and for that I need to work hard, stay healthy and be able to compete. The rest, I always say, it comes.
I always work with a goal - and the goal is to improve as a player and a person. That, finally, is the most important thing of all.
You know, a lot of things changed. What never changed is the illusion to keep playing tennis, the illusion to keep doing well the things, and the illusion to be in a good position of the ranking and play these kind of matches.
To be a friend means that they are always there, for the good or the bad.
I am lucky because my family are comfortably off. My father has his own glass business.
It's hard to say, 'I don't believe in God.' I would love to know if God exists. But it's a very difficult thing for me to believe.
I think the tennis is only a game. You can lose. You can win. After that? In life, there are much more important things than tennis.
My serve can get better, for sure. It's not just about serving bombs, but positioning, variation in speed, in spin.
I normally listen to Spanish music - well, Latin music. I like a lot of singers.
I have no interest in becoming a tax exile and living somewhere I don't want to - I just want to be at home with my family.
I'm really, really emotional.
Some people get very confused about my game. They think it's better if the court is slow, because I have a good defence. But the faster it is, the better for me. My spin is more painful for my opponents, my aggressive game works better.
As a tennis player you can win and you can lose, and you have to be ready for both. I practised self-control as a kid. But as you get older they both - winning and losing - get easier.
I think when you compete every week, when you play under pressure daily, you find your rituals to be 100 percent focused on what you're doing.
In Majorca, I can be myself. I go to the supermarket and the cinema, and I am just Rafa. Everyone knows me, and it is no big deal. I can go all day - no photographs.
I admire a lot of people, but in terms of sport I've always loved the mentality of Tiger Woods on a golf course. I always love his eyes when he's setting himself and focusing on his decision; he has a really strong, focused face and believes that he can make the shot.
I am happy with being a tennis player and the choice I took when I was 12. But clearly, if I wouldn't have been a tennis player, I would have loved to be a soccer player. But again, I am happy with the choice I made.