So handsome,nice and talented. we see him here in Rome every year and he's one of those players who always stops with fans for pics and autographs even when he's lost a match.
letterman has to be one of the hardest late night interviews for a non english speaker. his speech patterns and brand of humor is so american that it can be hard to follow (as opposed to like, a conan or a kimmel). big ups to nadal
ubermensch826 Letterman does Midwest cornball. flyover country gets him. though I think politics wise he's a flaming liberal. he's a paradox he's a flaming liberal in a flaming liberal city who always comes off as a hick from the Midwest. go figure
I don't think that. He spoke about Mallorca and Menorca where's from Nadal. And Manolo Horantes that is a old player from Spain. He tried to speak about Nadal's world. It's a very good interview.
Shockingly bad interview technique. Ok it's known that Rafa's English is a little hindered but you get the feeling here that the interviewer is so worried Rafa might dry up he just asks one boring quick-fire question after another. He should have relaxed and allowed time for a conversation to develop and for Rafa to find something he could expand on.. This Letterman seems to be more interested in being a smart-arse than in listening to the guest's responses.
God doesn't Letterman like the sound of his own voice...not at all interested in what Rafa had to say ..just kept asking stupid questions and not even waiting for an answer!!!...Rafa is way to handsome and sweet ..shy..totally intoxicating
FFS.. Letterman really annoys me as an interviewer.. He just asks so many stupid questions. Anybody that would care about how many matches you need to win to win a grand slam would know the answer already.
Chris evert was so sexy. And letterman maybe was falling in love with Chris Ever. He's jealous of Nadal because he know Chris in person. The joke is about that.
As a fan of RAfael Nadal what a painful interview to watch. Letterman is horribly clueless and just the WORST interviewer. Rafa handles it all so well though. class through and through. i would have paid a million dollars to have been able to have the privilege to interview Rafa. THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME!
+leo zanetti this isn't a SERIOUS sport interview....Dave Letterman is a comedian whose humor you do not understand because you're an idiot...stay in Europe for your own little brain
it's dumb questions for a talk show. they didn't even talk about his book. dave is an ignorant old school talk show host not a comedian. i understand he's beloved in the states but his ignorance and low quality product seems so american that europeans find that cringeworthy as i do too. ps: am european
It was just an awkward overall interview. Most Americans don't know about tennis, much less about Rafael Nadal unfortunately. A lot of tennis terms that they don't understand.
When he started winning majors many people said his knees would be a problem in the future. They weren't wrong. He has a very physical game as opposed to Federer, for instance. Hence the key.
yeah it would really suck to be #5 in the world, at nearly 30 years old. thank goodness I, (and ALL of those who have written Rafa off) have never stooped so low and failed so miserably! i mean fuck, if i had 4 people on the planet better than me, at nearly 30, i would have waterboarded myself 30 times over! total failure. all washed up.
+carlsong643 English isn't Rafa's first language, and although he can speak it, he never appears totally comfortable doing so, so it's a given that he was going to be a little awkward during this interview. He comes off as much more confident when speaking Spanish. Letterman obviously knew this, so he had to keep the questions/conversation simpler than he would've done with someone that spoke English fluently
Steve Em actually, I know this! Funny how that works. I love Rafa, and I realize that it's his second language, but that still doesn't reduce the awkwardness. But thanks for the feedback. Very helpful
+Beth McAlpine I didn't see this interview when it aired, but since it was uploaded in 2011, and Letterman referred to him as the US Open defending champion with the Open starting soon, it would had to have been in late August of 2011. Since he won his first title there in 2010
im so sorry, Rafa..for all the cringe you had to endure..feeling secondhand embarassed from all these meanningless questions, that photo and that interviewer who clearly is not into tennis and doesnt really care about you as a person. Rafa, you a kind hearted, humble, smart, funny and beautiful soul, all of those questions about being no1\beating smbd\who win\who lose were unfortunately superficious...tennis is not really about it. i want to see your play, your skills, your talent, your passion. if a game was intense and interesting to analyze, that's enough for me.
This american guy is objecting to a young sportsman posing for the camera - for an ad... what is his problem...? people who looked at Rafa in that ad seemed to find him great in it...but this american elder mocks him for that...funny strange... Rafa loves his island...life in it... the way he talks about it...it seems like a paradise... :-) The young man seems much more grounded than the old man...what a shame...his experience has not stood him in good stead...does not even acknowledge the sporting greatness achieved by Rafa... in this interview he was just 24...
His English is quite bad for someone that spends most of time abroad... That tells that he doesn´t mingle with the locals when he travels... He's still a great guy!
