網球 Tennis - 網球

Hi everyone.

Let me tell you first I am very excited and very happy I am back in the
finals of Roland Garros and to tell you the truth I wasn't sure I would make
it, so I am very happy.

How can I start today's post? Should I start with the match or the
aftermatch... I don't know where to start. The first thing is the happiness
of being back in the Roland Garros finals and now being sure of finishing the
year at least in the Top 5 and also increasing the possibility that I can
fight for No. 2 at the end of the year.

Another reason for being happy is most of my family arrived today to see the
semifinal match. And as you all know I am a big family boy, so I like that.

My father, mother, sister, my uncle Rafa and his wife, my uncle Miguel Angel,
all of them arrived today and that makes me very happy. Here is a picture
with me and all my family at dinner. We went for dinner together and then for
an ice cream. We went together to a restaurant in the Champs Elysees and then
to another place in Champs Elysees for an ice cream (you can guess both
names). Also with us were Tuts, a guy who works for Nike who I like very much
and a couple of guys from the ATP.

Again, I won't talk about the match, but the more interesting stuff. You can
see me above with a picture of the mayor of Manacor, my home town. The mayor
arrived last night and came today to the match and I am happy for that
because he is the number one citizen of the city. After the match he came
into the locker room, to tell you the truth I don't know how he managed to
get in as security is very tight at Roland Garros and it is very difficult to
get into the locker room. But we took a picture and I thanked him for coming.

The other picture you can see here is with Bud Collins. For those of you in
the U.S. you definitely know who Bud Collins is. He works for NBC, which is
an American TV network. After my press conference I did an interview with
Bud, which I think will be shown tomorrow, so if you are in the U.S. I hope
you get to see it. He mentioned to me the possibility of winning 60
consecutive matches on clay but as you can imagine the most important thing
to me is to win the title.

On my way back from the locker room from doing the interview with NBC I saw
the open door to center court, which looked a completely different, empty
center court. I thought it was just beautiful. So I asked to go there to see
it and it's just amazing to see that court empty. So here is the picture and
I hope when it's full next time we meet with Roger it will be a great
atmosphere.

Roger said today in his press conference that we are the number 1 and 2
players on clay and that is right. That proves what I have been saying for
few weeks. He is an excellent player on clay, he is number 1 and he is the
best. Those who say he cannot play on clay, he has proven that is not right.

At the same time I think of myself as someone who prefers to play on clay but
who is also competitive on other surfaces. I definitely need to learn more
how to play on grass and I definitely want to do that, but before that we
have this final on Sunday, which I am sure is going to be great.

In this picture below you can see me here with a ATP staffer who I have been
told is someone who knows a lot of about tennis and is a genius of stats and
his name is Greg. I have also been told by other people at the ATP that work
with me that he is a great guy. This picture of Greg is also a tribute to the
other staff who we don't see.

To tell you the truth I have not been reading much of the comments about my
blog lately, I have been having quite busy days so I am sorry I cannot
comment on them. I have been told that this blog has been a success in
numbers, so I want to thank you for this and for all the support.

Tomorrow I will be having a day with some media work they have prepared for
me. I don't know if this is normal or not but I want to take the days as I
normally would take them. It doesn't matter if it is the day before a final,
I want the routine I usually have.

I plan to be back at the hotel at 4.30 to rest. At the site I will be working
and training and practicing.

Rafa

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