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Rafa Nadal serve Roland Garros

‘I don’t care, I’m going to win this match’ – Rafael Nadal mindset ahead of Novak Djokovic trouncing revealed


Carlos Moya says Rafael Nadal was more determined than he had ever seen him before ahead of his French Open final against Novak Djokovic.

Nadal secured his 13th Roland Garros title in the match, completely dominating the world number one and inflicting a first-set bagel upon the Serbian too.

However, before the match many analyst had declared Djokovic the favourite due to the cooler indoor conditions and heavier balls in Paris this year.

According to coach Moya, though, there was simply no stopping Nadal that day.

“When they come to tell us that the final will be played indoors, we wonder how we’re going to announce that to Rafa,” Moya explained.

“Fifteen minutes from the match, Francisco Roig told him so.

“And there, Rafa’s response was: “I don’t care, it doesn’t matter, I’m going to win this match.” Rafa had never said such a thing to me before a match!

“He knew he wouldn’t fail. Nadal is such a humble person. It wasn’t arrogance; it was a feeling of confidence, of security.”


Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.