Rafa's Blog [Monday, June 12, 2006]
So hi everyone and also farewell. This is my last post and it comes one day
later than expected, but as I said yesterday I just couldn't make it - you
can imagine how crazy the day was and how happy I was. I couldn't believe it.
To tell you the truth I will talk about the match a little bit although I
think everything has been said through the media. I was very nervous at the
beginning and Roger played unbelievably well in the first set. The
combination of those two factors made the first set go very fast.
Anyway, I will start with the day of the final and then talk about how it was
today. A lot of things have happened! I don't think I can tell everything...
we would need 12 posts to tell the last two days but I will try to give you
some information about the interesting things that happened to me.
First of all I am sending a picture of me in the locker room one hour before
the match starts – the picture was taken at 2pm. (Editor's note: photo is
currently unavailable. Check back tomorrow.) You can see I was watching TV
and getting my racquets ready as usual. You all saw the match so I won't
analyze that.
When the match was over I needed to get into the stands as quickly as I could
to hug my family. To me the family is everything and I wanted to hug my
uncles, my mother and especially my father. And I will tell you what I told
him. I said to my father, “Daddy, thanks for everything,” and we just
cried. I guess that's why he didn't want to release me – because he didn’t
want people to see that he was crying. It was a special moment.
I got my trophy and when I was having my briefing before getting the trophy I
had mentioned to Benito of the ATP that I would talk a lot about Roger, so I
did. I gave my speach in Spanish. When in the second sentence I said how
great Roger is people were booing. I didn't know what it was. I thought maybe
something had happened or maybe they misunderstood the translation.
Afterwards we all realized the translator did not say what I said. The crowd
thought I was talking about myself. It was just a misunderstanding. I was
praising Roger, not myself, and I will always praise Roger because he is a
great guy and a great champion.
Before we talk about going into locker room, let me say getting the trophy
was very emotional for me. To pick up the trophy, especially to see the
Spanish flag going up while the national anthem was being played for me, was
a special moment.
We went back to the locker room after we did all the TVs and there the
Princess of Spain with her husband waiting at the entrance of the locker
room. We just talked and took some pictures. So thank you again to them for
coming.
In the locker room not too many people are allowed in the locker room but the
few who are allowed, they are not no-ones. I took a picture with Guillermo
Vilas, with all my team and also I had the surprise with Pau Gasol, the
former NBA star player, who came to the locker room to congratulate me. So
that was great.
Back to the media… it was a long press conference then live Spanish TV and
then back down to do radios and then back up for more TV and then another
part of the site for more TV. Anyway, I forgot I had to do the anti-doping
test. It was around 10pm that I went into the room to do the test.
Anyway, to tell the story short, we left the site around 10.45 with all my
family waiting in the hotel. We had scheduled to go to the Spanish embassy...
that is a tradition to say hi to the ambassador. We got there very late at
11.20, so I have to apologize, as that's not the right time to go into
anyone's house. To go to the embassy, that is exciting as people are waiting
for you, you have the flags and everything. I got there and we left at
midnight and Carlos Costa, my manager, had booked a nice restaurant,
Trocadero, with a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower.
There we had all my family, all my friends who came, all my sponsors we had
invited to be there with us. It was great. What did I eat? I had a carpccio
salmon and chicken with curry and rice. I was so hungry, you cannot believe
it. Really hungry. So I had a lot to eat.
Then after dinner we went to a place to have a couple of drinks and move a
little bit the body. But not much as you know I am already in London writing
this blog. This last blog.
I got up very, very early because I had a TV interview scheduled, then a
photo shoot with the trophy in the middle of Paris… I think there were more
photographers this year than last year. I am also sending a picture of that.
But we had to do a picture pretty quickly and then rushed back to hotel, got
our luggage and then went to the train station. It was scheduled at 1.04pm,
we got to the station at 12.55 pm. The bookings were done but they were too
slow giving us the tickets, so we missed the train and believe me guys, this
is no good. We were there for two hours waiting, but what can you do? You
just wait. We caught the train and then had the chance to sleep a little bit.
We were just in normal seats, not a sleeper cabin, as it was only a three
hour trip
On the train I had the great surprise of the Prince of Spain calling me. He
said he was amazed by the performance and that was really nice. I really
appreciated it.
We got to London and my first thoughts were, What do I do now? Well, I'm
going to practice. I got to the hotel, quickly got changed, went to practice
and here I am writing the blog which I have to finish quickly to rush to a
restaurant as we go live on TV with a Spanish TV show, doing a satellite
link, I think that’s what it’s called, with Spain's national goalkeeper
Casillas.
I am not coming to London with my uncle Toni, he is taking a little break.
Francisco Roig, one of Feliciano Lopez’s coaches, will give me a hand this
week.
Anyway, I just wanted to say before finishing the post thank you all for
reading it, for being there and supporting me. I haven't had time to read all
the comments you have been posting but I promise I will read them all... I
just don't know how long it will take me!
Thanks again for all your support. Please keep logging onto my web page
www.rafaelnadal.com because I will be interacting with you through the page
and also keep reading ATPtennis.com if you want to follow what happens on the
circuit.
Rafa
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