“I overcame very tough stages and today I feel very strong”

Phew! To be honest no. I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t expect to achieve what I have achieved. It has been a spectacular year in which everything has come very quickly. I am very happy with what I have experienced in these months.

If I make you choose … What would be the three moments of gold, silver and bronze for you in this 2021 that soon ends?

I choose first, without doubt, the title of Indian Wells; then Madrid because it was my first Masters 1000 reaching this far, to the semifinals, and playing at home. It was a very special tournament in which I started as 70 in the world. I’d say that was the moment I made the click switch. And finally, I stay with Roland Garros, where I made my first quarter-finals in a Grand Slam.

When you were a child, with what Grand Slam did you drool thinking: “I have to raise this glass”?

By tradition, by proximity, by playing on clay … Roland Garros. For me it has always been very special, on top of that I won Junior Roland Garros.

You can see him training again in Valencia, do you have a special ‘feeling’ with the place?

Completely! I came here the first time when I was 14 years old, it was the beginning of a career. I did not know how everything would go, from one day to the next we decided to come here to take a step forward in search of being a professional. In Valencia there has always been a lot of tennis tradition, many players, a high level, many academies … So, we thought that here it was the best option. Now, almost ten years later, I am back. Yes, I have a special connection here.

Do you like to eat well? Does the diet of a tennis player suppose great sacrifices?

Yes, honestly yes. Look, it is something that is not talked about too much, but food is a very important part for us. To recover without complications, to be physically well … There are many things that go into the diet that, in the end, make up a lifestyle for me. You have to make a lot of efforts. For example, in my case, I love to eat, I am fascinated by chocolate, I would eat many more paellas … And one has to be retained because it is not what it touches. From time to time I eat it, like when you need to disconnect and live your moments, but the athlete’s diet is a lifestyle that involves making sacrifices.

What does your coach, Jorge García, give you or what has he given you because it is not the first time you train with him? I have never cut the relationship with Jorge, we talked even when we were not coach-player. He has given me a lot: Balance, stability from a very young age, and now even more because I am much more exposed, I live moments of pressure. In this context, having that security and unconditional support for me is very important. In football it is said that coaches make their teams more offensive or offensive.

It happens too. There is a very tactical part and, in my case, I try to be a fairly complete player, although I think I am very aggressive on the court. Jorge helps me control while remaining aggressive. The technical-tactical part comes into play a lot in tennis. Besides, we talk so much about the mental because he trains many hours, but at the moment of truth, of the competition, one is alone. That’s where the most complex part comes in.

What is the meaning of the gesture to which we have become accustomed of bringing the index finger to the temple?

It is that, that I am a stronger player in the head, also remembering a bit all the processes and stages that I have lived until I get to where I am right now, which have been difficult, hard. And because tennis is a very mental sport, sometimes you are alone, and everything that I have been through comes together, that now I feel very strong, but at the same time this is still something very psychological and I like to emphasize it on the court. .

Let’s go back to the girl Paula. Who were their idols?

Maria Sharápova and Rafa Nadal. For the same reason, mentally they have seemed to me the best that has existed in tennis. Two examples in this regard, they have never given up showing an incredible capacity for struggle and suffering; which is why I have admired them so much.

Speaking of Rafa Nadal, I don’t know if he read the words of ‘Sasha’ Zverev in which he almost ‘retired’ him with Federer … What do you think, Rafa still has one last arreón left?

I read it. I think he speaks based on the results, he says that this year Djokovic, Medvedev and he have won more tournaments. It is like that, but Rafa and Roger were not there either. In the end, we have to accept a reality, that they are older and that one day it will end. They won’t be around forever. It’s a shame because they have given so much to tennis and have been the inspiration of anyone. But you never know if Rafa is finished. I remember that five years ago, eight and ten already said the same thing and it has always been improved. It is an out of series and you can never end it. He is the best in history, not only in tennis but in sport in general. If this year he wins Roland Garros, I wouldn’t be surprised … hopefully we can continue to enjoy Rafa Nadal more.

Why is there now no dominator like them on the female circuit?

In men’s tennis the same thing would happen as in women’s tennis, what happens is that three out of series have come out that make a huge difference compared to the others. At the time, it did happen with Serena Williams. But it is that these people are geniuses, there is a 0.01% that comes out like this, players who mark history, an era. When the three of them leave it, the men’s circuit will be similar to that of today’s women, there will be more general equality, more surprises. The normal thing, because they are not normal (smiles), they are amazing. You don’t have to imitate them, you can’t. Today in women’s tennis there is no extraterrestrial, although I do think that the level in the top 50, the top 100, has risen a lot. It is an attractive circuit, with a high quality, where anyone can beat anyone.