RAFAEL NADAL KING OF TENNIS

2019 Australian Open R4 Rafael Nadal vs. Tomas Berdych  6-0 6-1 7-6(4)

Next opponent - Frances Tiafoe

Q. In the first three rounds you have three local Australians. In the fourth round you had Tomas. Was it a bit of a relief in terms of crowd support?
RAFAEL NADAL: That's professional sport. Every opponent at the end of the day doesn't matter the country, no? You go on court and you try your best. That's it.

That's a big coincidence that I played against three Australians in a row. That's part of the draw. I think today was a match against Tomas, from a different country, and that's it.

Q. You didn't want to reveal a lot about your new service. Can you talk a little bit about how you changed your serve and what part is specifically improved because of that?
RAFAEL NADAL: Is not I don't want to talk about my serve. Is like every day we're creating a story about the serve, no? I talked enough about the serve.

I just try things to improve my game. I talk with the team about the things, the aspects of the game that we can keep improving. We try to make that happen.

With the serve, we changed few things, but nothing drastic, nothing dramatic. Good thing I had some time to work with it. I am happy, more or less, how the serve is working during the first official event that I am playing.

Q. Serena Williams had a bit of a call to arms for male players to help the women's players get equal prize money all year round rather than just Grand Slams. Maria Sharapova said she had not had that much warmth when discussing the subject with male players. Do you think the male players should be involved in that at all or whether it's a completely different tour, whether the WTA should look after themselves?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know why you are trying all the time to create these kind of stories on this thing. As you know, I love the women's tennis. I feel that they can win as much as they want. Is not about equal or not equal prize money. I don't care if they win more than us. That's the real thing.

If they sell more tickets than what we sell tickets, they deserve to more than us. That's very easy to understand. It's not about being male or women. Doesn't matter. We are the same. If they sell more than us, they have to win more than us.

Q. Would you like to see the two tours integrated so they could sell together?
RAFAEL NADAL: Why? I don't know. I don't get the point.

Q. Might be a stronger product.
RAFAEL NADAL: Why is a stronger product? I don't know.

Q. Some people think that.
RAFAEL NADAL: Maybe. And some people not. I don't know. I don't have the whole information to know if that stronger product or not stronger product. Who knows. You need to take an analysis. I am not the right person to answer that because I don't have the whole information.

You have to ask the tournaments. You have to ask the ATP. You have to ask the ITF. You have to ask the WTA. They have much more information than what I have.

Is a very sensible thing today in this world talking about men or women. We arrive to one moment that you even can't have an opinion because anything that you say is going against you. I will not be the one that I going to tell you anything in this moment, you know?

Q. Another general question about tennis. The Australian Open changed the rules here for final sets. It's a tiebreak, first to 10 points. All four Grand Slams are different this year. Do you think that's a good or a bad thing that they're different? Which of those ends to fifth sets do you prefer?
RAFAEL NADAL: I didn't try every one. I think every Grand Slam, of course, they can do whatever they want. Is their tournament. They are 100% free to do what they feel works better. In some ways it's good that everyone have a different thing, they have they own rules.

If Wimbledon can say which seededs are there or not, why the other ones cannot do whatever they want? That's the real thing.

Personally, I don't see a big problems on other events outside of Wimbledon. Wimbledon, with the serve, when you play two guys serving huge, can be dramatic. So I understand they put a tiebreak in the 12-All. I think that's fair enough. I like that change. In the rest of the events, I think they'll make a big impact.

On clay I think is good that you don't have a tiebreak in the fifth because you don't need it. The match will not go 30-28 playing on clay.

Here and US Open, you can do whatever. Can happen, but going to be very exceptional situation if you go to 25-23.

Q. Looking ahead to the quarterfinals, what do you think is possibly dangerous about Tiafoe's game, and how well do you know his game? Have you ever practiced together, for example?
RAFAEL NADAL: No, we didn't. I know him, of course. He's on the tour for a while. He's young. When you have younger players coming, they have always more attention to everyone.

He has everything. He's quick. He serve well. Very quick forehand. He's a very dynamic player, aggressive one. Of course, he's dangerous. He's in quarterfinals. He won great matches during the whole event. Going to be a tough one. Let's see.

Going to be the first meeting for us. Going to be a tough one, as you can expect in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. You cannot expect an easy match. I just can say from my side I'm happy to be in that round. I played some good matches until that round, and now is the moment to keep doing steps forward to keep having chances to keep -- to give myself chances to keep going.

Tomorrow another day of practice to keep working. I going to try to be 100% ready because going to be a tough one.

Q. His background is quite unusual for a tennis player. Quite an inspiring story. How much do you know of his story? Are you pleased to see him come through?
RAFAEL NADAL: His what?

Q. Like his history.
RAFAEL NADAL: Of who?

Q. Frances.
RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know. I'm so sorry. But I going to be informed, so next time (smiling).

Australian Open

Photos: Australian Open; REUTERS; AFP; AP: EPA; Getty Images

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• Tie Break

• Highlights

• On-court interview

• Press conference

• Interview in the Eurosport (ES) studio 

Rafa's very happy with how the first week has gone. Even more so taking into account he's coming from tough months with a lot of injuries. So, he thinks this week in Melbourne couldn't have gone any better.
Alex has asked Rafa about his serve [see Rafa grinning in the 1st pic as Alex was almost apologizing for asking him once again]. Rafa's said they've been working & changing things for a while now & the main goal was to try to hurt his opponents more with his serve.
Be it by getting his ball bounce w/more speed upon contact on the ground (that most of his rivals were able to do better than him) or, as has happened this week, winning points more easily be it directly or w/ the serve FH combo. Alex' said he's been impressed w/his FHDTL
Rafa's been asked about the 10YearChallenge thing going on on twitter & asked him about his 2009 run at AO. Rafa's said it was really important & special for him for how it went (very close, long & high quality matches in SF & F) & also because it was his first HC major.
Finally, Alex asks Rafa if he's aware of how the draw is evolving as the tournament advances. Rafa says he's not gonna lie & say he doesn't. Of course, he looks at the draw in general when it comes out although he them focus in his next match and goes match by match.
Rafa adds that it also depends on circumstances. For instance when, as this year, he's coming from injuries, he tries not to look beyond his next match, tho he knows what's been happening. When that's not so & he feels more confident, he can analyze more what it is going on. (Translated by Genny SS)