By Chris Oddo | Friday, June 6, 2014
Serving up the Quotes: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic dish on their their games, mindsets and rivalry ahead of Roland Garros final.
Photo Source: Peter Staples
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will meet in Sunday’s French Open final for the second time, and in a Grand Slam final for the seventh time. Here’s what each is saying about the other (and himself) after today’s semifinal victories.
Roland Garros: Nadal Reaches Ninth Roland Garros Final, Will Face Djokovic Again
Nadal:
On whether or not Djokovic will be facing more pressure than him:
“Novak already did a lot times positive results here. Is nothing new for him to be in the final. He has the motivation to win Roland Garros for the first time for sure. But at the same time, he has the pressure to win for the first time."
On his forehand, which he claims has made great strides in the last month:
“As for my forehand, everything is fine. It's very fast, very powerful, and I'm very happy.”
On defeating Andy Murray on a one-sided semifinal:
“He's somebody I know very well on a personal level. He's a beautiful person. I'm sorry for him. I think he's achieved very good results despite this loss today, but I think I played better than he did.”
On his rivalry with Novak Djokovic:
“At the moment he is in a good momentum, and I hope I can put an end to that. I'm working on this. But in any case, this is what makes the beauty of this sport. We have wonderful moments, and others that are not all that good when we need to recover, to rest, and relax. But it's true that this rivalry continues, and that's the beauty of all this.”
On whether or not sunny conditions would work in his favor:
“I have to do my best with the weather, whatever the weather will be. I said it on many occasions I prefer when the weather is fine and sunny. I can't command the sun, so I'll have to cope with the weather on Sunday, whatever it will be, and the one who will play best will be the winning one.”
Novak Djokovic:
On feeling fatigued during the third and fourth set of his semifinal with Ernests Gulbis:
“Suddenly midway through the third set started to feel physically fatigued a little bit, and you could feel that. You could see that both me and him, we struggled on the court. It happens, you know. It happens in the tournament, and important thing for me is that I realize what's going on. It's nothing serious. I'm going to have now two days of recovery and get ready for the final.”
On whether or not he feels he can win against Nadal on Court Philippe Chatrier:
"I know that of course this is the court he's most dominant on. He has only lost one time in his career. This is where he plays his best. He feels more comfortable when he plays on the bigger court. That's one of the reasons why he's so successful here. But, you know, we played some really close and good matches, good quality matches the last two years here, especially the one last year serving at 4 3 in the fifth set to go 5 3. It was a very close one. And knowing that I was that close to win against him the past two years gives me that reason to believe that I can make it this time.”
On how his stress levels are as the final approaches:
“Not so much as I would say last year, maybe two years ago. I guess each year I gain that experience in knowing how to handle the certain situations psychologically. So it is more of a motivation for me, more of a I would say positive emotion going into the finals. Of course pressure is there. Expectations are there. They are always present when you are playing on this level. But I'm trying to channel this energy into the right direction and not get carried away too much by the stress of the occasion.”
On what it’s like playing in hot sunny conditions after 10 days of chilly weather:
“It requires a little bit of an adjustment, because we played for over 10 days of the tournament in overcast and a little bit heavier conditions. The ball wasn't bouncing as high as it did today. Today the hitting point was a bit higher, so you had to adjust to that.”
On whether or not he has the upper hand on Nadal because of his four-match winning streak against the Spaniard:
“Well, talking about the upper hand, I don't know how much upper hand I have, really. You have to take in consideration the results that he had in Roland Garros and that I had in my career. I think there is no doubt that he is the favorite to win the title.”