Fox Sports Interview - Summary

Update
I've found another clip of the interview...

<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/fsla/video?vid=c3b2171e-34f9-40f2-8781-6bbd2066b061&from=IV2_es-mx_foxsports_videocentral" target="_new" title="A solas con David Nalbandian">Video: A solas con David Nalbandian</a>





After having watched the interview one and a half times (and that one, complete time on a very bad stream), this is as much as could gather. All in all, it was the usual blend of questions about the usual blend of topics...

- Recovery. He's doing well, he's feeling good. The trip to Barcelona, where he spent a week training under the supervision of Dr. Ruiz-Cotorro, was very "positive". Just like the results of the tests. His recovery is going well and according to plan. He still has to be careful with certain movements, though. And it's still a long way till his official comeback next year. But at the moment he's feeling good, having started to train again about a month ago. Before that, rehabilitation and doing all those exercises was difficult and lengthy (and very boring, I guess), those four hours a day.
At the moment, he's training on clay but he'll slowly change to training on hardcourt, knowing that he has to be careful about making that transition.

- Comeback. If all goes well, he'll play the exho(s) in December. (He only talked about the Copa Argentina in the interview so it was apparently filmed before he committed to playing San Juan.) But he wants to play again in December, he's looking forward to it. And those exho(s) will be important to judge how well he's really doing.
Then he talked about his official comeback in January. Saying that it's difficult to foresee how well he'll be able to play then as won't have any kind of rhythm. And I'm pretty sure he also said something about playing an event like Sydney or Auckland. Which was complete news to me. Can someone who watched the interview, Tamar for example, confirm this? That he said Sydney or Auckland?

- Ranking and important tournaments. Once more, David declared that doesn't care about his ranking. It's only important to get into certain events and be seeded at the Slams but he'll have his protected ranking and those eight chances to use it. Still, he hopes to recover his ranking as quickly as possible. He'll have to see how it goes after two or three months. And he'll need at least one month to get any kind of rhythm. He can only wait and see when he'll be back at 100%, maybe in time for Roland Garros, or Wimbledon or Rome (don't know why he mentioned that one). Masters events are difficult because you play every day and get to face very good opponents every match. Slams are different, you play every other day, there are more players but also more surprises.
Asked about his past Grand Slam experiences, David said that he had his chances but that it didn't work out for one reason or the other.

- Delpo and the US Open. Thought he would reach the quarterfinal or semifinal. Delpo played a great match already against Rafa and even more so against Federer and he recovered really well after the third set. Asked about Federer's outburst, David thought it was no big thing.

- Davis Cup. Sweden will be a tough opponent in the first round. (He specifically mentioned Söderling, which is not surprising...) It will be a tough tie and there's no guarantee that Argentina will win it. In the end, it'll come down to winning three of the four singles rubbers. About the doubles, we'll see...
He has often had to play on all three days in the past, which is very tough. And it's not so much that it's physically demanding but the pressure and just how much attention there is, how important each match is, that has had him finish those ties dead on his feet. Especially since former captain Alberto "Luli" Mancini relied on him, winning the ties, making him play doubles, which made it very tough to play on Sundays as well.
Next year, Argentina won't get to play a series of home ties but with the team they have now that's no longer as important, they can play everywhere as if they were playing in Argentina.

- Rafael Nadal. David spoke to him when he was in Barcelona and Rafa told him he was having an abdominal injury. His knees are better now but David thinks this kind of problem is typical for tennis players. And that it's also another sign of how brutal the calendar is, that Rafa is having such serious problems at age 23.

- Guillermo Coria. It's a strange situation. Coria has always been a player of great quality and David kept asking himself, as well as asking Coria, whether he'll come back...

- How long David will continue to play. His approach has always been - for as long as he wants to play, as long as he's still motivated. Right now, he still thinks the same. And he believes that he still easily has another two or three years of playing. That is if he can continue to play well and if his hip is okay. After all, tennis is the sport he has played all his life. And it's the sport he likes.