“I was aware of how incredible the match was. Unfortunately there had to be a winner. From my point of view many left feeling sorry for me instead of being happy for Rafa. Which hurts.”

Seriously. I’m not playing to prove anything to journalists. I’m playing for myself, for my fans,to make people happy.

I fear no one, but respect everyone.

Hopefully I can just have another terrible year with only the one Grand Slam and that will be just fine.

In the locker room I was getting impatient to get on the court, I had to warm up several times.

I think it’s very hard for coaches to work with me. They’ll no doubt have a good CV afterwards, but at the same time they’re under a lot of pressure.

One of my big, big strengths I think early on in my career was that I could learn very quickly. You wouldn’t have to tell me the things 10 times or 50 times until I would understand them. You would only have to tell me two or three times.

I always believe if you’re stuck in a hole and maybe things aren’t going well you will come out stronger. Everything in life is this way.

Once you find that peace, that place of peace and quiet, harmony and confidence, that’s when you start playing your best.

Once you reach a good level in tennis it fills you with a lot of motivation. I hope I can do it for a long time.

My wife doesn’t like Football but she watches it just for Messi.

Oh, my God, I don’t think any player can look forward to or expect to a career of so many Grand Slam wins or title wins or being so long at the top of the game.

I have to fit holidays around tournaments, particularly the grand slams, in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.

For me, I’m in the driver’s seat; I’m No. 1 in the world. I’ve won the last couple of meetings, and I’ve won the big tournaments lately. Whoever comes, I’ll try to beat him. But it’s almost up to me to decide who’s my rival, isn’t it?

I don’t know how you can go through a four-hour match with Rafa and he never gets a time violation.

Sometimes I am a different character in different languages. I have different enjoyment from them. Sometimes different answers come out of me. Like, I didnt even know that about me. I get to know myself through different languages, actually.

It’s not so simple to just stay in the moment and trust your game and your strength that you can turn it around.