Nadal is a different story.

Rafael Nadal is not the same player in 2009. Robin Söderling, who was warned, however, has not been able to do. Better, it is no longer quite the same man. Always modest, the Spaniard has lived eleven months have upset. Crowned in Paris, he can now focus on his future!

We can compare the emotion of the long two winners of the year at Roland Garros: the joy and pride Francesca SchiavoneWith tears and relief of Rafael Nadal. After fifteen days laborious, where tennis has suffered choked with tension, drowned by the rain, and obscured by the cons-performance, it is a relief for all to see Champions articulate what they feel. It takes time for an awards ceremony, and sometimes a press conference for observers (for players, the party will pursue one or two days away from the curious). For Rafael Nadal, it lasted half an hour.
Rafael Nadal was immediately corrected what had been interpreted too quickly during the awards ceremony: "I never said it was (The fifth victory in Paris, editor) the best moment of my career. I said it was one of the best moments, after my win at Wimbledon, the second at Roland Garros and also the first course. " And also: "No.1 and win Roland Garros, what is most important? For me, I have always said, is to win Roland Garros."

The reward after eleven months of questioning:
Nadal, who has totally exploded into tears after match point, two hours earlier, the lively. He exhibits in English, basic but less and less hesitant, and talkative in Spanish, his vision of the game of the tournament (and even the weather!) With clarity and ... distance. There he must come. This is not the shower that cooled the young man, he knows a little about himself.
"It took me eleven months to win a tournament (From Rome 2009, ed) So many difficult moments ", "He recalls. "I'm going home, no victory. Sometimes you have to throw in the towel. My personal goal was to be back at my best level. That's what I did. " It does not say it coldly, but he begins a lesson in relativism, far from the wild shots that are sure to illustrate his victory: his two bathroom ground taken by the end of the match. His eleven months will therefore weighed on his shoulders as he needed at least one "Clay Slam" (see our article "Nadal in his world") to exorcise all that.

"Yes, I doubted":
Injuries (tendonitis, stomach) he speaks little of his personal suffering (divorce of his parents) he does not speak. But certainly, yes: "I doubted, yes of course. It's human. I am not an exception." We recall here what he had said recently about this period: "For a month I was out of the world". Humanly speaking, yes, Nadal suffering like everyone else. With racket in hand, it is exceptional. Despite a natural modesty, he knows he has to push his own limits. Not because he just won seventh Grand Slam title as Mats Wilander and John McEnroe, but because he has come back after that first test.
"Do you consider yourself a big?"He asks it. "I do not like this kind of question, because afterwards you will say I'm arrogant, I have a big head. What does that mean? If the figures say that I was a very good player, well, I'll continue to play very well to keep these figures. And who decides? You maybe but certainly not me. "
Nadal would not be master of its destiny as a champion? Hard to believe now. Physically, it is safe. Mentally, he is even more. And he knows how to develop his tennis. If Robin Söderling saw only the fire: "I have not really seen any difference between Nadal last year and this year", It seemed pretty obvious that this victory marked a new stage in the career of Majorcan.

"Small, I do not consider myself a specialist in clay":
When he evokes Wimbledon or the U.S. Open, the only major he lacks, his determination is a warning to the entire circuit. And for good reason: the dirt, he loves to hear "With all his heart" but this is only a step. We knew that Wimbledon was the tournament he dreamed of winning, now we know why: "Being small, I do not consider myself a specialist on clay. Apparently, my game adapts well." Again, we feel a tiny bit of irony that did not exist in recent years. Nadal takes the distance as one Roger Federer, more affable nature, has managed to do. And it is also worrying for his opponents.
Andy Roddick, who is far from being the least "smart" Band of the top 10, a Twitter a terse: Rafa, the best on clay ... Point. This may be regarded as a historical point of view, or that a visit could possibly change the grass strict statement ...
At 24 years and two days, Björn Borg won his fifth Roland Garros. It only remained for him a season and a half to live on the circuit. A 23-year and ten months, Mats Wilander won his last Roland Garros, and his career waned gradually thereafter. At 24 years and three days, Rafael Nadal seems to reverse it can search other moons. "Tomorrow afternoon, when I start to train at Queen's, we turn the page". Everyone now understands, the trophy in Paris against Söderling was important, but not THE most important. Nadal is the best to come.