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I don't mind missing technically but not mentally - Rafa Nadal

20 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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1:14

Nadal explains his competitive intensity: he can accept a technical mistake, but not a mental one. He needs to feel he fought hard and gave everything. Great players are measured by performance, and Nadal makes hard-court tennis in New York look effortless.

Oh, come on! Are you kidding me? Your competitive spirit and fire has come up in this event by your competitors, your peers, more than I've maybe ever heard before. Why do you think that is? I don't know.
I have been always trying my best in every single match. That's, that's all. That's all what I can say, you know. At some point, for me, the most important thing is come back home with the feeling that I give it my best. And you can miss technically, but I hate to miss mentally. So that's all. If you feel good with yourself when you are not fighting, fine, not a problem. But I am not. So I need to fight and I need to feel that I tried. I try at everything.
Las grandes leyendas de tenis se miden. Rafa Nadal makes it look easy on the hard courts of New York.