Q.  How would you describe your performance today compared to your first two matches.
        RAFAEL NADAL:  Well, it wasn’t bad.  Wasn’t enough, but wasn’t really bad.
        Yeah, you know, it was a match that I didn’t play for a lot, just to try to finish with not bad feelings.  And I think I did for moments.  I did some different things than I did the other days.  I play some good forehands.  I was serving a little bit better today.  Outside serve on the deuce was really good, and some good serves to the body on advantage, too.  I happy about how I served today, no?
        For the rest, the same as the other days.  Decisive moments, this necessary calm, for example, the forehand in 6-5 of the tiebreak, was an easy ball.  And when you are playing good, that wouldn’t be a problem, that ball.  But, you know, I had the mistake, I lose the set, and with that set the match.

        Q.  How disappointing is it to come to London and not win a match?
        RAFAEL NADAL:  Not very disappointing, no.  It’s disappointing if you arrive here with the feeling that you have a big chance to win.  But I didn’t arrive here with that feeling.  I know before the tournament that going to be really tough, difficult.  But I tried.  Every day I tried my best.  Nobody can say.
        I tried in every practice, in every match my best, and tried to improve every day.  And I think I improved a little bit.  But, you know, that’s tennis.  I’m playing against the best players of the world.  It wasn’t enough on this surface, no?
        Just still working.

        Q.  You requested the trainer during the second set.  What was the problem with your back?
        RAFAEL NADAL:  I felt a little bit with one serve in one-game-all in the second.  I felt then, no?  I felt the back, the low back.  With one serve, when I finished the serve, after, I put the forehand to the net, no?  But with that serve I felt a little bit and was difficult still serving and a little bit more with the backhand, no?  When I had to do the rotation, it wasn’t easy.

        Q.  In what way do you feel a part of Soderling’s success this year?  First Paris that started off his climb to the top and now here in London.
        RAFAEL NADAL:  No, probably he’s more mentally focused than before.  He always had the big shots, big serve and big shots.  Nobody understand before why Soderling wasn’t in higher ranking than what he did in the last few years, no?  So for me, that’s normal.

        Q.  Is this a tournament you want to forget or will you use it for the Davis Cup, as Fernando also lost three matches?
        RAFAEL NADAL:  No want to forget one tournament.  I only want to forget the tournaments that I didn’t play for the injuries.  For the rest, every tournament is important.
        Anyway, if you lose, you have to learn with the victories and the loses [sic].  Better with the victories than to lose.
        No, this tournament give me different feelings and give me probably the opportunity to see what I have to do to play better and to start the next year better.  I not gonna say I not gonna start very well next year.  I see the way what I have to do if I want to be more competitive in these kind of surfaces with that players for the next year, no?  The goal is try to play hard and arrive generally in perfect conditions.

        Q.  What do you plan to work on in order to get the confidence back for next season after the Davis Cup?
        RAFAEL NADAL:  Just work.  Sure still working a little bit more with the serve.  I have little bit more control of all the shots, no?  Have the feeling that when you are playing a point you’re not going to have a mistake.  That’s the first thing, you know.  That’s, I think, gonna be very difficult.  Because when I practice and when I am without problems, after you can win, you can lose.  But the feeling you gonna have mistakes, that’s a good things that I have.  In this surface, that’s one more difficult thing for me to play that way, especially against these players.  But I think that not gonna be a big problem.
        But the other thing is play more aggressive.  For example, I have to be more aggressive on the first shot.  You know, after the serve, when I touch the first forehand, I have to attack more than what I did in this last months, no?  Sure, when you are with less confidence, is more difficult to do it.  But the confidence gonna come back.  And when the confidence come back, I have to be ready.  I have to be trained enough to do it when the confidence come back, no?
        That’s it.  After the serve, play more aggressive with the forehand and recover my forehand winner and my intensity and my rhythm on the forehand.  For the rest, when I am playing well with the forehand, the backhand gonna improve a lot.

        Q.  How do you feel before the Davis Cup finals?  Are you confident enough after this tournament?
        RAFAEL NADAL:  I hope.  I hope, yeah.  No, I am confident.  I know gonna be a difficult final.  The change on clay, gonna be a big change.  Gonna be always difficult in the beginning.
        But, you know, that’s a big motivation for me, finish the year winning.  And I have the opportunity there, no, to play well, to play good tennis on clay, and to win, to win something important for my country and for the friends.  Win together, that’s what we gonna try, no?  I know gonna be difficult.  But we are confident.  If we are playing well, we’re gonna have a good chance.

        Q.  Until a few months ago, everyone was always talking about you as a very powerful player, a player capable of always playing close to the baseline.
        RAFAEL NADAL:  No, no.  You think?  I heard a lot of times I am a defensive player, anyway, when I was winning (smiling).

        Q.  Attacking from the baseline was your game.  Very deep, in general, very powerful.  Now sometimes they are saying you don’t seem that powerful anymore.
        RAFAEL NADAL:  Finish battery (smiling).  I need to charge a lot.

        Q.  You need to recharge?
        RAFAEL NADAL:  (Nodding head.)
Q.        What is your feeling about it, apart from the batteries?  Do you think you have lost a little strength somewhere?
        RAFAEL NADAL:  I don’t know.  The battery sometimes finish and you have to buy another ones.  That’s what I gonna do for next year, no?  Charge and practice hard.  Only practicing you can come back to your best level.  That’s what I did all my life.  I gonna still do it, no?
        That’s the thing, no, practice hard to recover your physical performance a hundred percent.  When you feel better physical, you can play more aggressive because you are not feeling tired after the points.  That’s important.  And, sure, recover the confidence on the shots, no?  Later everything is easier.

        Q.  Back to the Davis Cup final.  Who is the best player, Stepanek or Berdych?
        RAFAEL NADAL:  Every one.  Every match will be difficult.  Both players play well on clay.  That’s not the final that if you play — anyway, sometimes you play at home, but you play against some players that they are not specialists on clay.  But they have very good results on clay, too.
        We are very focused and we know how tough gonna be the final.  We know the Czech Republic wants to win the Davis Cup, too, no?  But we hope be in enough well to win that final.  We gonna have one week to play together there and to practice together, to work like a team.  And I think gonna be a good week before start.  I think every one of our team are emotional to play this final and we have a lot of motivation for that final, no?

        Q.  How much more do you feel you need to go up in your game to be totally satisfied with the way you’re playing?
        RAFAEL NADAL:  I don’t know.  I don’t know.  I think the sport is not mathematics.  Is more difficult to say that, that answer, no?  Sometimes that’s change with one victory.
        Just the thing is practice enough well to be ready to win next year.

        Q.  What do you think about the Masters rules?  Do you like this tournament?  Is there something you don’t like?
        NOVAK DJOKOVIC:  Well, I think it’s good for the players who are participating in this tournament because you have three matches guaranteed.  The round robin system is something that we tried to put into the regular tournaments, but it didn’t work out in the end.
        But I think in Masters Cup, in World Tour Finals, it’s actually good.  In my situation maybe not now, because my destiny doesn’t depend from myself, and didn’t today.  You know, but that’s the way it is.

        Q.  You can lose the first set 6-0, but you can win the two others.  With this round robin, it’s becoming very important to win every game.  Will that make you change, or tennis is tennis?
        NOVAK DJOKOVIC:  Well, I don’t think any player should do any calculation because on the court you can’t really perform your best tennis.  It didn’t really make any difference to me when I played in these last two years.  I’ve tried to give maximum in every match I play.
        Of course, maybe you would think for the players who are playing in the last day, in the night, for Soderling, who qualified already, may be better to save some energy for semifinals, because it’s more important, but…
        On the other hand, he’s first time playing and taking part in the World Tour Finals.  Every match is bringing a lot of points and a lot of prize money.  So it depends how you take it.  Everybody’s different.
        But I think each match should be played a hundred percent.  Maybe the fact that every set counts and every game counts that you win puts a little bit more pressure on you.  But, again, it puts a kind of pressure that makes you perform best and focus on every game you play.

        Q.  You keep tell us you’re dead tired, you cannot play anymore, but yet you keep winning.  How can you do that?
        NOVAK DJOKOVIC:  Well, I’m not saying I’m dead tired.  I’m saying I’m exhausted from the season.  And I think that you don’t need a confirmation from my place to see that.  I think it’s obvious on the court that I’m not moving and I’m not that energetic as I was maybe in Paris or Basel.
        I think the season that I had this year has took a toll on me a little bit on this tournament.  I’m not saying that I should have done some things different.  Look, in that moment, you don’t think about it.  You try to win every match you play.  Unfortunately for me, the exhaustion came in the tournament where I should have been the freshest:  here.
        But, still, I managed to get two out of three wins.  If I finish today the season, I will be very happy to finish in this way, and just hope to rest well for 2010.

        Q.  You’re in a very difficult position now.  Obviously you have to wait and see what happens in the other match.  Will you have enough time to prepare for Federer tomorrow if you learn at midnight tonight you will be playing tomorrow at 2 p.m.?
        NOVAK DJOKOVIC:  Well, look, I will try to use the same procedure I do before each match.  I will behave now as I’m playing tomorrow.  And if I don’t, as I said, it’s absolutely deserved for Davydenko if he qualifies.  He played really well.  There’s nothing to do there.  I just have to wait and see.

        Q.  Bearing in mind what you were saying a little earlier about the schedule you’ve had this year, do you intend to make any changes to your schedule next year?
        NOVAK DJOKOVIC:  Well, this season was in particularly special for all of us because it brought more commitment tournaments.  From my side, I have played very solid on most of the events I’ve played.  I’ve played quarterfinals or more.  It’s not that maybe I’ve played too many tournaments.  I had, next to the 18 tournaments that are counting as a ranking tournaments, a couple more aside.  One of them was my hometown tournament I couldn’t miss.
        You know, I think in this moment there’s too many obligations, too many commitments.  But there’s things that we have to change, but we can’t change for next year.  So I guess that we will have to try.  From my side I will have to try to do everything I can to put priorities on events that I have to perform my best tennis in.  Those are Grand Slams and 1000 events.

        Q.  Regarding the Davis Cup final, the two top Spanish guys look out of form.  Do you think the Czech Republic has a chance against Spain?
        NOVAK DJOKOVIC:  Look, Davis Cup final is unpredictable I think, even though the home advantage is very important.  Obviously, Spanish players love playing in front of their crowd on clay courts, which is going to be the surface.  So they are favorites.
        But still, you know, both Czech players, Berdych and Stepanek, didn’t play from now, Paris.  We’re gonna see.  I wouldn’t rate Czechs as favorites because they have to go to Spain, but you never know what’s gonna happen.

        Q.  You’re still tired, obviously.  You’re answering the questions tonight intelligently and eloquently as you normally do.  That wasn’t the case two days ago.
        NOVAK DJOKOVIC:  Well, I apologize for that.  But everybody has a day like this.  There has been many press conferences and many matches I had this year.  I just came in the wrong moment.  So I apologize if I had a bad conference two days ago.

        Q.  Accepted.
        NOVAK DJOKOVIC:  Thank you.