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Match Point: In Case You Missed It

Lynsey — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:08:35 +0000

PRESSER: vs Nalbandian 9/5/10

Lynsey — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 02:21:53 +0000

F. VERDASCO/D. Nalbandian, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Fernando.

Q. Felt like you served very well and he didn’t serve maybe as well as could have. Did that feel like the important swing in the match?

FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, maybe. I think everything is important in one match. When you play like two good players, everything can change the match, no?

It was windy, and not as windy as yesterday, but it was windy. Sometimes was tough to play, no? Tough to even serve in one side with the sun.

So, you know, I think that, yeah, maybe I served better than him and that gave me a little bit of advantage. But I think also that mentally I was really strong, even like in the first set for four games, almost 40 minutes, I was there all the time. You know, I’m positive and really good and focused.

So I think that that was the key. Also, even when I lost the second set, I was feeling good. So I think everything was important today to make the victory.

Q. Even though you didn’t break him the first few games, did you get a sense you had a lot more chances the rest of the match based on how was playing?

FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, I think that the match, the beginning of the match was tough. I had, like you said, few breakpoints, I didn’t do it. It was four games, 40 minutes. But I was feeling great physically all the time.

I knew that I was, like, I really need to be all the time focused and be positive to beat one guy like Nalbandian right now in this moment.

So, you know, I did it, and I’m happy of how the match goes and how I played today.

Q. Can you talk about playing David? All the Spaniards are doing well here. What are your feelings on that?

FERNANDO VERDASCO: Yeah, well, it’s good that he’s gonna be for sure one Spanish in quarterfinals, and maybe, you know, if Feliciano wins and Rafa wins, also another Spanish in quarterfinals will be in that part of the draw.

If that is done today, one semifinals for sure will be Spanish also. So, you know, it’s always nice to see all the Spanish winning and being in the last rounds, no? So if you need to lose, it’s better to lose against a Spanish player, then at least one guy is gonna be there one round more, no?

I’m happy. I hope to play good also the next round, keep doing my work and my job as better as possible. Trying to play the best to be in the quarterfinals like last year.

Q. Do you feel better now than you did maybe in Washington?

FERNANDO VERDASCO: Yeah, for sure I am feeling much better. The last weeks before here, the results was really like really tough.

I lost with Mardy 7-6, 7-6. With Chardy also with the tiebreaks. It was, you know, like tough matches, close matches. Finally I lost all of them.

So I’m happy how is this tournament going, and I’m getting much more confidence. For sure, the match of today, winning Nalbandian that is one of the players in best conditions this summer is gonna help me for my confidence and for get better work and better tennis the next matches.

Davis Cup Sound Bites

Lynsey — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:55:07 +0000

Audio interviews from the Davis Cup site with Fernando from the singles and doubles draw and from after his singles and doubles matches.

Singles Draw

Doubles Draw

Post-Match: Singles

Post-Match: Doubles

Madrid 2010 Preview Interview

Lynsey — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:33:34 +0000

Fernando talks about his chances this week playing in his hometown tournament (English)

New Spanish adidas commercial with Fernando

Lynsey — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:38:31 +0000

Adidas has launched a new campaign to encourage Fernando to win his hometown tournament next week at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. The campaign uses the slogan ‘seize of the mind, to take control of the court,’ the words of Fernando’s fitness trainer Gil Reyes.

In Spanish:

A todos los que creíais conocer a Fernando, a todos los que le habíais alabado o criticado, a todos, siento deciros que el Fernando que conocíais ya no está entre nosotros.

Olvidaos de ese tenista al que pensar en pequeño le hizo pequeño, olvidaos de ese tímido drive, de esa inseguridad al restar, de como se le encogía el brazo, de por qué se venia abajo, ya no importan las respuestas. Excusas. Vivir en su recuerdo no nos hace ningún bien, hacedme caso, se de lo que hablo.

Si aprendemos todos de sus errores y de sus derrotas, estaremos haciendo el tenis español aun mas grande.

Y a ti Fernando, que te has encontrado con el nuevo Verdasco, vas a cambiar tu mundo porque ya nunca vas a sentir que no puedes. Te encontraste y eso es maravilloso. Enseñale a tu país de lo que eres capaz. Y recuerda que tu mente es tu mejor golpe, así es que poco a poco adueñate de todo.

Es tu ciudad, es tu cancha, es tu torneo.

___
and a loose translation into English:

To all who thought you knew Fernando, to all who praised or criticized him, to all of you, I’m sorry to say that the Fernando you knew is no longer among us.

Forget the tennis that made him think small, forget that shy drive, that insecurity showing, how his arm flinched, why he went to pieces. The answers don’t matter anymore. Excuses. Living in the past does not do us any good, trust me, I know what I’m talking about.

If we all learn from his mistakes and his defeats, we’ll make Spanish tennis even greater.

And you Fernando, you have found the new Verdasco, you are going to change your world because you’ll never feel again that you can’t. You found yourself and that is wonderful. Show your country what you are capable of. And remember that your mind is your best weapon, so take control of the court.

It’s your city, it’s your court, it’s your tournament.

—
Thanks to nereis on twitter for the translation :)

Fernando Verdasco in FHM Bionic

Lynsey — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 23:37:29 +0000

He is a lefty from Madrid, owner of one of the most powerful forehands on the circuit. He has two major goals in his career to accomplish: winning Wimbledon and winning the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award. This is an excerpt from the interview that can be read in full in the upcoming Bionic FHM magazine May issue, with the best advice to take care of your body and get in shape, along with the training secrets of last week’s Trofeo Godó champion, Fernando Verdasco.

“I started playing tennis at age two, with my father, and began taking classes when I was four. I was a skinny kid, without much muscle. All my muscle mass has come in recent years.” Fernando Verdasco is now 27 years and has a body shaped by many hours spent in the gym and on the track. Six hours a day, to be exact.

After helping lead Spain twice to glory with the Davis Cup and reaching the Australian Open semifinal in 2009, what has been worrying him the most lately is a back injury could be, at worst, a herniated disk.

“I have not had many injuries in my life: when I was thirteen I broke a finger on my right hand and had a minor setback. I have a calcification in my right knee since I was fifteen that bothers me when it’s cold, and this year in Australia, I started to have some pain in my leg and I don’t know if the sciatic nerve is affected.

“When you are at this high level, an injury can ruin all the efforts you’ve made in a year. Tennis is not like soccer or basketball, with peers who can support you if you are injured or sick. With tennis, it depends only on yourself. I picked up many colds and flus going to the U.S. when I would go into freezing cold restaurants in a short-sleeved shirt. Over time I learned.”

The Perfect Tennis Player
“Karlovic’s serve, Rafa’s endurance, Del Potro’s backhand…the forehand, that is more difficult because there are many good ones. Gonzalez’s is very good, Nadal is very tough…I would stay with Almagro, Gonzalez, and Tsonga. ”

Citing his move in the elite group of men’s tennis, a level which is reached through a combination of genetic advantage and hard work, he said. “To be there you have to have talent, but that isn’t the only thing. I would say you need 30% talent and the other 70% is training. The body is easy to train, through the right routines and diets, you also need to train the mind. I always try to be as positive in the important moments as I can. There are times when this is impossible, but you have to give 100% no matter the outcome.” Fernando does his best in every match, though it is very clear as to what has always been his Achilles heel: “Consistency what I need most to be among the top five. I’ve been improving that aspect and last year was the best of my career, finishing ninth in the rankings. I just needed to make more finals or semi-finals to get higher up there.

The Top 5
“This year, it will be very difficult to predict the Top 5 of the ATP because the players have not started at the best level. Federer has not done as well in the last two Masters Series, Nadal is not at his best, though they will both stay on top. Murray and Djokovic haven’t had good form. If I had to bet, I would say: Federer, Nadal, Murray, Djokovic and, as the fifth, Roddick or Del Potro. I’ll try to be there, but it is always going to be difficult, because there are great players. I think if I could pick one tournament to win, it would be Wimbledon, because it has always been among my favorite tournaments. And if I could choose a rival in the final, it would be Federer, who has won six times.”

The Four Slams
We asked Verdasco to define in few words what the four majors in tennis mean him: “Wimbledon is my dream tournament. Roland Garros belongs to the Spaniards and Latinos. The Australian Open is, after my semifinal last year, very special to me. It’s the most comfortable Slam and a place where people are incredibly nice. Playing the U.S Open is a unique experience, it’s the biggest arena in the world with over 21,000 spectators. It would be incredible to win that tournament and New York is one of my favorite cities. And the Davis Cup is something that has given me so much. Winning the last two, in Argentina and Barcelona, was incredible. I dreamed more about winning Davis Cup that the winning the U.S Open or the Australian Open.”

The Invencible Armada
Spanish tennis as a team and as individual talent, has given much joy to the fans in recent years. Fernando only has good things to say about the other Spanish players: “Feliciano is my best friend. Robredo has been a very consistent player throughout his career and is very professional. Nadal is the best Spanish player in history and one of the best in the world. Almagro is a player with great power and a lot of potential. Granollers is a very dangerous player on clay because he can outplay you really well, and he is really intelligent.”

And Verdasco?

“It is difficult to define oneself, but I’d say I am a very powerful and talented tennis player.” And a player who probably aspires to emulate his childhood idols: “When I was a teenager, Agassi was always my idol. Then came Sampras and Marcelo Rios. It was also an earlier era of great Spanish players like Bruguera, Costa and Corretja, but Agassi has always been my greatest influence and role model.”

Verdasco vs Nadal
The way things are going, would Fernando be able to beat Rafa?

“I don’t know. It’s difficult to predict a result in tennis and it depends on a lot of things. One week you win easily and in the next the results are totally different, even without having had a variation in your preparation or your game. It also depends on the surface: if we play on clay, it would be easier for him to win and, if on hard courts, things would be more even and harder for him. But we are talking about one of the best players of all time and it’s difficult that he loses a player outside the top ten. We have faced each other many times, and at times, I have been close to win, like in the Australian Open semifinal or in Queens, but in the end he always escapes. Rafa is such a fighter; he never gives away any point and it is very tough to beat him.”

Life after tennis
The career of elite tennis players has an ephemeral life, like all top-level competitive athletes, so you have to think about the future: “If I hadn’t been a tennis player, I would have been an actor, and I would love to dedicate myself to making action movies like Avatar, Gladiator, Clash of the Titans or a TV series such as 24. I love movies with lots of adrenaline, a little less comedy and I really don’t like horror films.”

So the script for Titanic 2 that was delivered this week, we should throw away? “No, man, just call James Cameron, for anything.” True, we forgot that behind this melodramic film is the mind of James Cameron.

Fernando is also taking his first steps as a model: “It was something that struck my attention, being a Calvin Klein model, and I really enjoyed it.”

If they ever make a biopic about his life, Verdasco has clear who could portrait him: “Miguel Angel Silvestre would fit: he’s Spanish, dark and a former tennis player.”

After traveling half the world, Madrid is still his favorite city. Fernando spends his free time at airports connected with Internet and watching movies and what he misses the most when on tour is his family and having a normal lifestyle. If he had to pick a prize outside of the tennis circuit to win, he wouldn’t hesitate for a second: “The Prince of Asturias awards.”

Barcelona Final Game & Post-Match Interview

Lynsey — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:53:22 +0000

Fernando mentioned during the trophy ceremony that it was his sister Sara’s birthday so he was happy to win for her (he won New Haven last year on the 11th birthday of his youngest sister, Ana.) He also joked “I hope Rafa does not come next year, so I can win again.”

Rooftop tennis in Barcelona

Lynsey — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:28:29 +0000

Fernando arrived in Barcelona yesterday evening and this morning, he and Robin Soderling were invited to do a little promo work for the Barcelona Open BancSabadell. They played a little rooftop tennis on the 21st-floor of the W Hotel.

“This was great, I hadn’t been there before so I was really curious about how it was going to look,” said Verdasco. “It was really impressive how they managed to fit a small tennis court up there.” Added Soderling: “That was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it and it’s great to be able to do different and new things like that. The hotel and court were really impressive and the view was just spectacular.”

Robin also tweeted a photo of him and Fernando from today :)

Monte Carlo 2010 Final Highlights

Lynsey — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 15:52:06 +0000

Post Match Presser (SF)

Lynsey — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 21:56:11 +0000