Novak Djokovic Tennis: Heard Around

by Savannah

There is a great interview with Antoni Nadal in Sport.Scotsman
It was published on July 6, 2008. The quote that stands out for me is this:

But, for Toni, it has never been about the money. Seeing his nephew add the Wimbledon title to his French Open wins could not, he says, be bettered by a pay cheque, which he refuses to take for coaching family.

"If I earn money from him then he becomes my boss. For the player and for me it is much better that the player is not my boss. I think sometimes the problem with these guys is that they are the boss.

"When his father told me 'you must do this' I told him I didn't want anything, because I want to be able to say what I want."

A must read.

And from the opposite end of the spectrum here are Alexandra Stevenson's musings on her "meeting" a young Rafael Nadal. I will let her speak for herself.

(...) I remember all my old Wimbledons, and I even remember a young Rafael Nadal as a junior player, staring me down. It was 2002, and junior players are not allowed to practice at Aorangi, the practice site. Well, a young Nadal, who was playing juniors at Wimbledon, walked down to my practice court that year, which was in the back, and he pressed his face against the gate, watching me hit. It was in the day when I worried about who was around my court because of all the press and the father issues, so I asked my mom to go see who was at the gate. She did. She said to the young boy at the gate, "You are Nadal, the player who is supposed to be a great champion one day." I kid you not. She said that. She invited him in. He said, in broken English, "No, no, I watch her. Semifinals at Wimbledon." And he smiled. It seems he wanted to see the girl who had made history.

I thought that was cute back then -- and, looking back on it, it goes along with him and his champion's mentality -- he cared about history and wanted to see it up close. I want to see it up close again, too.

Source

For more, and to find out who thinks Rafa is unmarketable please go to Savannah's World

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