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 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.”

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 :)

Pre-Tournament Interview

and pictures from the Players Party…

…and the Pre-Tournament Press Conference

…where he talked a bit about Rafa:

“He’s not won a title since Rome and that’s not normal. It’s strange to people. He’s supposed to win every event, or almost every event, but now things are getting more equal among top players. Anyone can beat anyone, it’s not like a year ago when Nadal and Federer dominated. But Rafa remains number one on the clay and he’s still the player to beat at every event on this surface.”

Article also mentions that Fernando’s been recovering from his sciatic nerve problem thanks to rehab and exercise.

Fernando plays Julien Benneteau second up on center court tomorrow :)

From after his second-round victory against Dudi Sela. Enjoy :)