Olivier, do you remember this match against Rafael Nadal, a young anonymous player at the time?
Honestly, it’s funny, I remember it like it was yesterday. I can still see his outfit and his racket. I think he had a little problem with his shoulder, because he really wasn’t serving very hard or too well. I won 6/2-6/2. What impressed me was that the next morning, I arrived at the club quite early, at 8 a.m., and he was there, shooting baskets with his uncle Toni, who was his coach. And he had worked like crazy for two hours, even though he had been eliminated from the tournament. This blew me away. There are plenty of people who would have stayed quietly at home. I told myself that this kid had an incredible mentality. It was Rafa Nadal, that is. I will never forget this moment.
Obviously, we didn’t realize what it was going to become…
He was, quote, “skinny.” But at sixteen, he still beat Ramon Delgado in the first round, I remember that very well. Delgado, who was 80th in the world, who had a lot of experience, and who was a really good player. It was already very impressive.
You beat him that day, but then you never won against him again, in four attempts. Two years later, he eliminated you in two sets in Dubai. Did its rapid progress surprise you?
Yes, all the same. But he had changed, he had gained muscle. With Roger Federer, it had been the same thing, he was good at eighteen in juniors, but we could not imagine that he would be world number one in seniors just two years later. These players are legends, immense champions. They are different, they are not made like us, they do not have the same mentality. There are such champions in all sports, Messi and Ronaldo in football, Tiger Woods in golf, etc. I had the chance to play in the era of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic. And even before that, I played in the days of Sampras, Agassi, and company. Legends that we will never forget. Having such good players at the same time, that will never happen again. It’s an incredible chance to have experienced this. And what’s more, I was there at the same time as Justine and Kim. That was nice, really.
