Today the skies will be even clearer than in recent days.
And temperatures will be much higher.
The winds will calm down.
The first time I went to play an official tennis tournament,
I was, I think, 7 years old.
I played with someone who was, like, 11.
So, I was nervous, of course.
But my uncle Toni was a coach
who had a great influence on me.
And helped me with everything.
Rafael was a little nervous before taking the court.
So, I said to Rafael,
"If your opponent is much better than you, I'll make it rain."
And he asked, "You can make it rain?"
And I said, "Of course I can make it rain."
Of course, I had great respect for him.
And I admired him so much when I was very young, you know?
I always trusted him.
The match begins…
1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0 for the other guy.
But then, I start to come back.
4-1, 4-2, 4-3…
It starts raining.
And I secretly go to tell Toni,
"Toni, I think you could stop the rain,
because I think I could beat him."
Rafa Nadal announced at 6:20 p.m.
that he will not be playing in the Monte-Carlo tennis tournament.
Rafa has been dropping out of tournaments one-by-one.
First Doha, then Indian Wells, now Monte-Carlo.
And now, Roland-Garros is almost upon us,
and we haven't seen Rafa practically all year.
There's no time left.
It hurts here?
It's more like here.
Around this area?
-It could be, right? -Sure.
That's where it hurts the most.
What do you think about the…?
I don't think we'll find anything.
-What? -I don't think we'll find much.
But he already thinks that he may have a chance…
The man is… insatiable.
But he's not ready to push yet.
Yeah.
Will you make it to Barcelona?
-We'll see, I don't know about Barcelona. -He may not make it.
I don't think so.
But he thinks that if he's able to train for a full week, he's ready to compete.
I don't fully agree.
-He's gonna get injured there. -Yeah, it's crazy.
-Makes no sense. -Yeah, very true.
Rafelet, ready?
You want him to go? You think he should go?
-No. -Do you?
I wouldn't allow it.
-Sure you wouldn't go? -I wouldn't go.
-Yeah, okay. -I told him yesterday.
-I mean… -I told him today.
I think he needs to do some reflecting at home tonight and ask himself,
"What am I playing for?"
-An Eskimo kiss? -Papa!
Yeah, daddy.
Where's Nadal?
In Barcelona. He's already training.
Yeah, sure, but that doesn't mean he'll compete.
So, by Friday,
Rafa Nadal has to decide if he'll play Barcelona or not.
-I can push harder. I'm not feeling pain. -Like yesterday. Easy.
Shit, I have to do a little more, I need to.
I mean…
I need to feel like, "Here I go."
-Right. -You know? "Go."
What about 70%?
Charlie, I don't know if I should do it or not.
Listen, we need to keep everything under control.
Here I go.
But you have to be careful, man.
Till it breaks.
He's very demanding with himself.
But if he gets injured again, then there's nothing.
So, these days, part of our job is to stop him.
He's been pushed for so many years to give 100%.
And that made him who he is.
Since I was a kid, I enjoyed challenges.
They gave me motivation.
I liked things that were difficult.
But this is because Toni taught me to be this way.
It's not easy, huh? One more time.
I was a demanding coach.
Go! Come on, hit it!
But I was hard on Rafael because I had great respect for him.
Again. You need to give him hell.
And because he was my nephew.
Oh, no. Let's go, champ! Come on.
When Toni and Rafael trained,
tensions were very high.
Rafael, don't hit it so low.
"Rafa, turn around," "Rafa, move," "Rafa, finish the shot"…
From ball one.
He was constantly correcting him.
Trying to create the maximum amount of stress.
Again! Come on!
I felt much less pressure when playing against any opponent
than when training with Toni.
Again!
When I missed a ball, he'd ask,
"Why did you miss?"
I was scared of making another mistake.
During the first hour of training, no water.
One hour without drinking.
So, they would learn to suffer a little.
Some coaches rebelled against me
because they felt that was barbaric.
I remember, in the first round of a tournament,
I fell and broke this finger.
When this happened to his finger, I told Rafael, "Keep playing."
"Play for as long as you can."
I won the tournament. But I had to wear a cast for a month.
If you had asked me at that time, "Do you agree with all this?"
I would have said, "No, I don't like it."
It was a philosophy.
"Learn how to suffer through a sport."
I always said the same thing to him, "Rafa, you don't have to play."
"No, I'm fine, Mom, I really like doing this."
Last one.
I only remember one time I felt like I couldn't take it anymore,
and said, "Toni, um… I'm sorry, but I can't go on."
I left the court.
Mentally destroyed and crying.
But I never went home crying.
My father would ask, "How was practice?"
I'd say, "Fine, good."
"Bad."
But that was it.
I never would have wanted for my dad to go up to Toni
and ask him to go easy on me.
I would have felt like I was letting Toni down.
I'd be a person who wasn't strong enough to endure.
I always knew that he wanted the best for me.
He wanted to make me succeed.
And he believed that the right way was…
that one.
Pushing me to the limit.
He's done it!
I am not satisfied with him being a good player.
Nadal takes his second Roland-Garros title.
I encourage him to always dig for something more.
When I started working with them,
Rafa had somehow internalized that
he was not good enough.
It is something inside of Toni,
who truly believes
that if you just stay as a great clay court champion,
you are somehow an incomplete champion.
And so, the legend had been created
that Wimbledon was the tournament you had to win.
Win that and you become an immortal tennis legend.
What's the tournament that you'd prefer to win?
Wimbledon, but it's very tough and you have to work hard.
That was the dream, that was the goal.
It had been more than 40 years since a Spaniard had won there.
It seemed that Spaniards were not capable of winning on grass.
That's probably why it appeared to be something magical and unattainable.
Heading the field, fresh from his triumph in Paris,
the two-time French Open champion, Rafael Nadal.
The question is, can the King of Clay master the grass?
The previous year, I hadn't played very well.
Needs to learn a lot on this grass court.
He wishes he was here with his football boots.
Don't laugh.
What? It's funny. He really slips all the time.
They seemed to be two different sports.
Clay was more of a game of strength, grit, of fighting.
Grass was more elegant…
and for people who played with more…
technique.
Possibly the greatest player of all time,
Roger Federer.
I don't know of any athlete
who has managed to play their sport so elegantly.
It seemed like he was floating everywhere.
You could have placed him in a ballet.
Federer is above all.
There's such competition in men's tennis, such strength and depth,
and yet Federer is just head and shoulders above the rest.
Number one for 84 weeks straight.
Federer is the best man on the planet.
I won my first Grand Slam in 2003.
2004, I won three.
And then, 2005, I barely lost matches.
Six straight Grand Slam finals.
Every one he has been in, Roger Federer has won.
How much more can this guy achieve?
When you think you can't get any better, you do.
Well, it seems like it, yeah.
I guess you could say I was in a bit of a league of my own.
Roger Federer is still on track to win the men's singles title
for the fourth straight year.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
It gives me great pleasure to present Roger Federer,
three-time Wimbledon champion, defending champion.
Do you feel like a man on the brink of Wimbledon history?
I feel very, actually, very good.
I'm playing very well at the moment.
And it's a… just a matter of being consistent.
So, for Rafa, it was the ultimate challenge…
to win Wimbledon.
To beat Federer, and to beat Federer at Wimbledon.
Game, set, match to Nadal.
What would make it a good tournament this year?
Well, I think if he got through three or four rounds,
that would be good.
What if this were to come to a final
between you and Rafael Nadal?
Obviously, if he made the final, that would be quite a surprise to many.
You see a guy learning on the spot.
He's getting better each match.
It looks like a Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer final
is shaping up.
No one thought he'd be in the Wimbledon final.
On grass, I didn't feel I was at Roger's level yet.
He had many things in which he was better than me.
Toni kept reminding me of that.
Hey, did you see how he made that last one drop?
I'd say to him, "Rafael,
Federer has a better forehand, backhand, volley,
and serves better than you."
I said, "If you want, I can lie to you, but Federer is not going to lie to us."
Toni always put Federer above Rafa.
And I think that, in a way, Toni used that as motivation
so that Rafa would keep thinking that they hadn't reached their limit.
Roger Federer now walks onto the court he owns.
This grass of Center Court.
He has been utterly dominant here for the fourth straight year.
Forty-seven straight wins
on the surface that best suits his all-court artistry.
In that moment, I knew he was extremely good.
But, uh, you could still see he was a little raw on grass.
He was maybe a bit frustrated when there was no rhythm.
His forehand wasn't as effective.
You could see he had some figuring out to do.
Out!
Yes!
…On this blazer, the three rackets with three trophies.
You're going to need a bigger pocket next year.
Yeah, well, it's gotta go, because three seems not good enough.
I would just like to say that, uh, it's a great tournament for Rafael and…
I honestly didn't think he was going to play the finals this week,
but it's a fantastic effort, so congratulations for coming so far.
Great champion. Congratulations, Roger Federer.
Having someone like Roger in front of you,
I think it makes the path look much clearer.
You'll have to push yourself to the limit in everything.
What can you tell Rafael, now that the match is over?
Well, I always say to him that he needs to keep improving.
You see him winning Wimbledon next year?
No, not at all. I don't see him as…
as champion, not at all.
We have to train more, we have to improve.
I told Rafael, "You have to do something extra."
"You have to go closer to the limit."
"You have to suffer."
I think I hurt myself during training.
Ugh, it's a bit of a bitch. It's in a shitty area.
-Where? -I can't bend my damn finger.
I don't think that's going away.
A little more.
Like this.
Very important news, extremely important.
Rafa Nadal will be playing.
It will be at the Godó. It'll be at 4:00 p.m.
We have a pretty big problem.
He can't play at 80%.
Rafa is 0 or 100.
-That's why he's so successful. -Yes.
I'm sure.
Not just sure. Very sure.
Do you see that look?
He looks a bit concerned.
Rafael, is it getting worse?
I mean, now that you've warmed up, does it feel better or not?
I feel nothing.
-But were you feeling it? -When?
In your daily life.
You haven't felt worse, or haven't felt anything?
No, I haven't felt anything.
What we all want is to get to Roland-Garros
in the best possible shape.
But if he wants to keep going, how are we going to stop him?
I remember that, in many training sessions,
basically all of them, we would have problems with his foot.
Meaning, he was in pain. We had to stop at times.
But Rafa likes to suffer.
Then he gets the feeling that he has pushed himself to the limit.
It's fine.
I swear, it's fine.
I haven't felt anything. For real.
I think that Rafa, in some way,
feels like he's obligated
not to let down the people who believe in Rafa Nadal.
I think he's a bit of a slave to that situation.
But that also gives him the strength to keep going.
Sixty consecutive victories on clay.
A rivalry between you and Nadal
would be a great thing for tennis.
-Would it not? -I agree, yes.
I think, uh, sports sometimes tend to need rivalries as well.
The rivalry was such a huge thing, it crossed over into the general culture.
In a big way.
From now on, the match everyone will be waiting for
will be Nadal-Federer.
-They're so different. -Oh, that's what we love.
Look at them. Couldn't get two more different people.
How does Roger look? All dressed up, as if going to a dinner.
Roger Federer, looking as elegant as ever.
Not a single wrinkle. Everything perfect.
And Rafa?
He looked like Rambo.
Long hair,
lots of muscle,
the warrior's headband.
One is already thinking about the battle
and the other is keeping his image of a gentleman, all put together.
It was the perfect combo.
Federer or Nadal. Which is your favorite player?
Definitely Federer.
-Rafa? -My future hubby.
We support Roger.
Rafa, of course.
Don't get into any fights amongst yourselves.
It was quite interesting to see how people have to be on,
I guess, one side or the other.
How can you not like both these guys?
People wanted to watch them play, they were willing to do it
any way they could.
…On a unique and unusual court,
purposely-built for this occasion.
Half clay, half grass.
The battle of surfaces. Definitely a weird one.
They sold 7,000 tickets and could have sold triple that.
The French capital has lived the tennis dream
of being able to enjoy a final between the two best rackets in the world.
Roger Federer will try to break the curse against his clay court executioner.
This is a packed house at Court Philippe-Chatrier
for this men's final.
Roger Federer wanting to win the French Open for the first time.
The weight of expectation is obviously huge.
Federer wants to prove he can play the Nadal game on clay.
That was in!
In any other era, Federer would have been
the best clay-courter of that period in time.
But he had a force of nature that came along his path.
Rafa was creating difficulties for him that nobody else could create.
In those moments, I was frustrated.
But, you know, Rafa was just better than me on clay.
You had to hit so many good shots over a long period of time.
He just made you feel that you need to play superhuman
on a clay court to beat him.
Out!
6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Rafael Nadal has three successive Roland-Garros titles.
There's so much excitement around this.
It's a portent of things to come.
The boy from Manacor has made it clear that Roland-Garros
and clay are his territory.
-Thank you for coming. -Congrats.
Thank you.
-Uh… -Next year, the fourth, okay?
We train tomorrow!
-Next year, you win again! -Come on, man.
With hardly any rest,
Rafa Nadal is off to England, where his grass season begins.
-Good morning! -Good morning!
Good morning.
To me,
winning Roland-Garros and then Wimbledon is very difficult.
You win Roland-Garros,
then catch the train,
go to London, arrive at 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon,
and one hour later, start training full-on.
In the end, if you relax a little bit…
you drop a lot.
But Toni always had the feeling that they could push a little more.
Always.
And Rafa was never going to give you a little less.
I had to completely change my mentality and my way of playing.
Wait, then hit, pause, and then, "boom."
Federer on grass, he's gonna play faster than anyone else.
His tactic is not to give you time.
To be able to beat Federer on his favorite court,
you have to be aggressive.
On clay, it's slower.
You look for the winning shot
after having played five shots in the rally.
But on grass,
you have to win the point faster.
A bit more forward, Rafael.
Because if you don't, your opponent will.
Forward.
I felt I was well prepared…
to win.
What would winning Wimbledon mean to you?
If I win here,
well, it's gonna be my best moment of my career.
Coming further South and East,
that's the other part of the weather story.
We've got some more warm sunshine here, and across the Southeast, even warmer…
What a gladiatorial feel there is
to this Center Court arena.
Nadal has been number 2 in the world and snapping at Federer's heels.
And Federer, of course, endlessly the world number 1.
So these are the two boys who dominate the game at the moment.
And one feels, perhaps,
they're the only players who can beat each other
in the entire draw.
Something special on the cards, one feels here.
The final of Wimbledon.
Roger Federer to serve.
Right away, you could see he was already a much, much better grass-court player.
I had to try to take the ball early and dictate play that way.
One set to the defending champion.
You admit that your opponent, playing one-on-one,
is better than you at tennis.
So, I have to look for a tactic that will help me find his weakest point,
where I can really hurt him.
After a while, we realized
that when you played a high ball to his backhand,
he struggled a little more.
So, my tactic was to have him
hit as many backhands as possible.
Federer struggles with the high backhand.
High ball to his backhand, and again.
And again, and then repeat.
I managed to take that tactic to the limit.
Most of the balls going to the Federer backhand.
One set all.
Which way is this gonna go?
Federer is stepping up and going for more.
Toni said to me,
"What you can't fail at is concentration and motivation."
"Those things that depend on you and your head,
you can't fail at them."
"They have to be…
at 100%."
You're seeing Nadal at the top of his game on this surface.
Nadal wins the fourth set.
The momentum's in his favor right now.
In the fifth set, I thought I was going to win the match.
Nadal serving 2-3, fifth set.
But tennis is about taking advantage of opportunities.
Especially with Roger.
At any moment, he can break your serve.
Stunning!
A break for Federer.
When he broke my serve…
I think I got really disappointed and…
I wasn't able to focus a hundred percent on the match.
On the ropes in the fifth set.
The only time we've seen Nadal look displeased.
In the last eight minutes of the match, I eased up a little bit.
And that hurt me.
He's only two points away from losing.
2007 Wimbledon gentlemen's singles champion
is Roger Federer!
I remember being in the Wimbledon locker room,
crying… alone.
I thought, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to win at Wimbledon."
Later, when I talked to Toni,
he told me that I wasn't at 100% the entire match.
And he was right.
The stage is set at the Barcelona Open
for the Rafa Nadal comeback.
-Only one racket? -Yeah.
Because I saw Rafelet with another one.
Rafael Nadal's roadmap has long since gone out the window,
and now it's day by day…
Training is one thing, competing is another.
They're two very different things.
What is clear for me is that Rafa Nadal, at this moment,
must already be thinking, undoubtedly,
that his career will soon end.
Rafa, anyone would be scared
after so many injuries.
How do you manage that worry on a daily basis?
We know the deal.
Am I aware of it? Yes.
Do I know it can happen? Yes. So…
Take it easy. Nothing to prove to anyone.
Just get out there, enjoy yourself…
Tension will be high, you just be relaxed.
Being here is a win.
I know it's not feasible, but…
I go out, and in a corner of my head,
-I win the tournament. -I know.
Think we don't think that?
The only thing you need to avoid, 100%, is hurting yourself.
And if something happens to you…
Shit. It'll be devastating.
I know it's not easy, you've never done it before.
But it's time to change your mindset a bit,
'cause now, to me, there's no other way.
My wife, my parents, my team,
when they see me suffer, they don't want me to play.
But, to me, things are not so easy.
I never told Rafael it would be easy.
But, well, he got used to…
suffering.
There's a quote by Goethe that says,
"Talent is developed in solitude,
character is formed in the stream of the world."
The rain is falling
and it has been falling for about the last hour or so.
Rafael Nadal will, for the third year in a row,
challenge Roger Federer for the Wimbledon title.
Because of the rain, the match was pushing late.
And even before that, there was so much buildup
and anticipation.
I mean, it all added to this sort of classic,
almost biblical quality to this match.
Everyone knew this was an extraordinary sporting event.
This was really a momentous occasion in the rivalry.
And the stakes were really, really high.
The hope there'll be enough break in the rain to allow
this men's championship to be played.
The third straight between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
This has the potential to be a classic.
He's had to suffer at the hands of Roger Federer.
The final that everybody's looked forward to.
"Last year, I failed at Wimbledon
because I wasn't able to perform at the highest level."
"This year…
I'm not going to fail."
Two sets it is to Rafael Nadal!
That's incredible.
Nadal, one set away from his first Wimbledon title.
Rafa comes out, wins the first two sets.
And there was this real sense of concern about Roger Federer.
This was supposed to be his kingdom.
Roger looked really shaken.
You could see it in his face.
It was like Rafa has taken his hope away from him here.
The match was also tougher, to be honest.
You could feel that he was definitely now a next-level player on grass.
I knew I needed a mental change, because you don't want it to…
To linger, you know, and just have this very negative mindset.
I had to truly believe I could turn this match around.
I have a big advantage, but there's still…
a long way to go.
Come on, Rafa!
Between them, you could see there was this intensity.
And it felt like this was about way more than the result on this particular Sunday.
Gradually, and then suddenly, Roger claws his way back into the match.
Rafa likes rhythm. I don't need it.
When there's no rhythm, I'm the better player.
And I think Rafa also knows
that this type of tennis can make you extremely tired.
Federer.
Six games all.
Fourth set, tie-break.
You didn't think that he was gonna give this championship away
after five years as the boss.
I wasn't calm at any moment.
It was probably the worst day of my life.
In the fourth set, we reached the tie-break.
It was, uh, an extremely stressful situation for me.
Because every point counts.
Here we go. Fourth set tie-break.
Come on!
If all seven points in the breaker are gonna be like that,
the crowd are gonna lose their voices.
There were multiple moments when they played,
"Anything you can do, I can do better."
One all.
They both deeply believed it was their match to win.
Two-one.
Three-one.
Four-one.
Four-two, Nadal.
That's wide! And that could be the crucial blow!
Uncle Toni can't even watch anymore.
Five-two, Nadal.
He's coached this young man since he was four years old.
Serving, the pressure is on him.
Because 5-2 in the tie-break of the fourth is almost a victory.
Fault!
Fault.
At that moment, I was thinking,
"Don't do a double fault."
Fault!
Double fault.
Five-three.
The moment and the situation
take their toll on me and I make mistakes.
He knows that two or three bad points on his serve
can cost him the match.
And I think that stress maybe manifested itself.
There were too many missed opportunities.
Moments like these are to Federer's advantage.
Stunning!
Eight-seven, Nadal.
I told Rafael, "If you have a match point,
serve to his backhand and charge the net,
so you don't think so much."
Eight all.
Federer didn't follow my lead, he didn't miss.
Championship point's gone for Nadal.
Game. The fourth set.
Two sets all.
Nadal has had his heart ripped out.
He must feel absolutely hollow.
Up two sets and then losing the two breakers
certainly can make him start to question things again.
Like in 2007, where he wasn't able to close.
The inevitable has finally struck Center Court.
This band of sort of dark clouds, it finally produced some rain,
but it has in this…
great exercise at Wimbledon.
Back into the locker room once again.
When I got to the locker room…
I thought, "Okay, Rafael will be…
he will be very upset, right? After having lost so many opportunities."
And I thought, "What can I say to cheer him up?"
And…
I didn't have many ideas.
And then, Rafael, who was tying his shoes, said to me,
"I think you can stop the rain."
"I'm not going to lose."
"He may beat me, but I'm not going to lose. I'm not."
"Mentally, I'm going to be 100%
in every point."
"I can't allow myself
a single moment of weakness."
I was willing to suffer more than him.
A brief rain shower has passed.
We've got one more segment
to see if there will be a Wimbledon champion declared tonight.
And when I saw him go back out on the court again,
I knew he would win.
Six and a half hours of the entire exercise today.
By that time, it was really dark.
And my screen on my laptop was just glowing.
They should not have been playing tennis.
But it was tremendous.
Come on!
It was a tough match.
And you couldn't see much.
And I was at my limit.
Just focused on trying to keep giving myself opportunities.
There's always the temptation to give up.
But when you get used to enduring a little more…
"That one more ball."
That's what great champions do…
endure one more ball.
A phenomenal get by Nadal here.
Now he's got the championship point.
I think Roger, at that moment, was at his limit.
"He's waiting for me to serve to his backhand."
"Maybe I could surprise him."
There are no easy balls.
I had given him a ball where he had time to think.
Sometimes it's easier to hit without thinking.
There's not only one path to success.
It's probably not necessary to suffer the stress that I have suffered
to become what I have become.
But I followed the path that Toni set for me.
And I think it was the right path.
Game, set, match, Nadal!
People thought that I was a winner.
I'm not a winner.
I'm a competitor.
Victory…
lasts but a while.
It's momentary.
WIMBLEDON CHAMPION CONGRATULATIONS, RAFA!
What has always motivated me
is the desire to keep fighting.
'Cause the way I see it,
satisfaction comes from what's challenging. .