The Radio Interview - Final Part

(La Nacion; close-up version of a pic posted earlier)

I still owe you the rest of the Radio interview from earlier this month (06/08/09). Once again, Tamar (thanks!) made a transcript for me, covering almost the rest of the interview.
We go on right from where we stopped at the end of the last part, the topic still being the Davis Cup and last year's final...

Q: Still, with your analysis of the Davis Cup and those things that went on behind the scenes, you reduce all of that to 'having to walk onto the court and win' because you walked onto the court and you won. But in order to form a Davis Cup team, obviously when you take to the court, everyone has to win, and that goes beyond just walking onto the court and winning. It means talking, getting along with each other, spending time together, until you can push the other [player] on to win a very difficult match because there's a certain understanding within the team, which is also a part [of Davis Cup]. Obviously, when you play the game you have to win.

D: Yeah, I completely agree with you, it's true.

Q1: It's not just walking onto the court and winning, there's more to it than that.

Q2: Do you think you'll fit in with this team that Tito Vázquez has put together -

D: (interrupts) Let's see. I completely agree with you. We always got along well during all the Davis Cup ties - or during almost all the Davis Cup ties. But when things aren't going well, then you have to go out there and give it everything you've got and make sacrifices and be... totally focused on it. Afterwards, you can fix the problem or whatever it is. It's not like we argued for the last five years in a row. It was that one tie, not the whole year. We all spend the entire year together on the circuit, we travel together, train together, we share coaches, physical trainers, hotels... We spend the whole year together and in Davis Cup, during the majority of ties, everything is perfect, everything is fine. And then there are those ties where, for whatever reason, some have differences with others, all kinds of differences. About who wants to play, who wants to play singles, who wants to play doubles. I'm talking about discussions in a good sense, here. [There are] different issues and problems with every Davis Cup tie. When you have four players on a team and one of them is injured, one is in some pain, one is in good shape, one is in bad shape and there's a lot at stake, then there are lots of things to talk about. Things that maybe people don't know about. And the experiences and the way you get along during a Davis Cup tie are different for each and every tie.

Q1: - Says David Nalbandian, analysing last year's Davis Cup final. (...)

Q2: We'd say it's a matter of pride...

D: Absolutely. It's about goals, triumphs, achievements, the personal fulfillment of each player's goals. It is a team but every tennis player wants to win the Davis Cup.

Q: Absolutely. Until which age do you see yourself playing, David? You're 27, Roger's age, right? You were juniors during the same period, and you're not passionate [about tennis] but you're a highly competitive athlete, fair and square. Will we see you play until age 30?

D: Yes, yes. Minimum, minimum. That will be the minimum in case I come back and I feel really good after surgery, if I can play at a good level again, if I can manage that. If I continue to have problems, then that will make things complicated for me, but I think I still easily have another two or three years of playing left.

Q1: Or just look at Schumacher! Right, David?

D: (laughs) We sat down to watch Schumi last weekend and learn a little (laughs).

Q2: We still have to see if he [Schumacher] gets the okay from the doctors... [Note: he didn't.]

Q: As long as you're still recovering, are there things you're not allowed to do? For example taking part in a rally, get into a [rally] car? Do you have to ask yourself - when will they let me do those things again that I enjoy?

D: No, no. Those are thing I could do. What I can't do, obviously, is playing tennis, playing football. I can't run, I can't do any of those sports. But I can get into a car and drive, and take part in a race or whatever. I could do that. I don't do it because believe it or not, I don't have much time. I spend the mornings and the afternoons doing rehabilitation and a little training. So I can't. But theoretically, I'm able to do these things.

Q: But you can have a barbecue?

D: (laughs) If we light the fire slowly, one hour before [starting the barbecue] and then use a small flame, do it all slowly... (laughs)

Q: When Tito Vázquez was appointed [Davis Cup] captain, everybody was surprised, the journalists, the public and also the players. Has that surprise now changed into something else? Among the guys who played the last tie it was said that there was an atmosphere they were excited about, that he (Vázquez) knows a lot, that he went for a new approach with the team. What about you and the captain? What happened before and what's happening now?

D: I still have the same opinion. I've known Tito for ten years. No, a little longer than that, twelve years. Since he once accompanied Coria and myself for some juniors tournaments and after that we lost track of him a little bit. He then went to England, he worked abroad for a while, we didn't get to see anything of him in Argentina. And then the appointment came and it surprised us because we didn't know he had any intentions of returning, that he was here. But well, everything is fine.

Q: You are still with Diego Rodriguez. So what will your team look like? Will you have a coach, what do you think?

D: It [the team] will stay the same. Fitness coaches Claudio Galasso and Claudio Fernando Cao, Diego Rodriguez as my kinesiologist and Lobito [Luis Lobo] as my coach. Everything [stays] the same.

Q: Is Lobito with you at this stage you or did he tell you - when you return, then we'll talk?

D: No, I see him from time to time, as he is with Pico (Monaco), traveling, coming and going, so well, whenever he's here in Argentina... The other day he came to Cordoba, now I'm in Buenos Aires and we see each other whenever he's here. And when I'll start playing tennis again, he'll spend a little more time with me, to be there on the court.

Q: If you had to pick one tournament to play next year...

D: Davis Cup.

- What else...
In the remaining two or three minutes of the interview, amongst lots of laughter, jokes and general chaos, David insists that he has only one girlfriend, that one is all he needs and that it's difficult enough to have a relationship, leading the life of a tennis player. Finally, he explains that he still lives in Unquillo, still in the same house where he used to have to share a room with his brothers Javier and Dario. But now that they have moved out and have their own families, he does have a room for himself... Lucky David. ;)