Rafael Nadal Interview

Miami, Fl., U.S.A.

26.02.2011

R. NADAL/K. Nishikori

6 4, 6 4

An interview with:

RAFAEL NADAL

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How tough was that match in the end?
RAFAEL NADAL: Was a difficult one for sure, yeah. Nishikori is a very, very good player. Is one of these first rounds that you don't want to see, I think. I'm very happy about how I played today. I think I played at high level tonight. The feeling was better than last week, so that's important thing. The serve worked very well at the end of the match. In general, I think was a really complete match, because Nishikori for a moment was really good and was difficult.

Q. You mentioned that you felt that you served better today. What did you have to work on to improve it? Because last week particularly in the final it was very much trouble for you.
RAFAEL NADAL: Nothing. I tried to (indiscernible) about how I serve when I serve well. I tried to slow down a little bit the speed, but at the same time serve with higher percentage.
I think that worked well, no? Because I served 117 to 124, 25 miles almost every time. That's enough speed if you put the right percentage inside and if you put the balls close to the lines.
Nishikori I think is a good returner. He return very fast. He's fast and long and he's difficult. Only thing a little bit that I have to improve a little bit was the second serve, because the speed of the second serve was for moments 85, 88, 89, 90, 92, but I had to try to serve a little bit faster the second serve. But in general, seriously, I am very happy about the match of tonight.

Q. Earlier today Roger said that the surface is quite slow and it feels like clay. What do you think?
RAFAEL NADAL: Never. Never can be like clay on hard because the movements are completely different. So that's makes impossible have a similar than clay when you are playing in hard, because in clay you cannot slice and you have more time. For sure I am not agree on that. The court is not very fast, not very slow, is average court. I think is normal one like probably the rest of the normal tournaments on hard. So no, I feel that the court is like every year.

Q. Next round you play Lopez, and you had pretty much a lot of success against him. Are you going to approach the match the same way as always?
RAFAEL NADAL: For me the important thing is play my best tennis. If it's like this, I know it gonna be difficult match because he has a very good serve, good volley, and he's aggressive player, very dangerous, but playing very well I have my chances. I have to play aggressive with my forehand, try to move him, and go to the net when I have the chance. Similar than every time, but always every match is different and always a difficult one.

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