At the beginning, I felt like the crowd wanted Federer to win," says Nadal about the Parisian spectators
In an interview with the newspaper L'Équipe, Nadal answered many questions about his career. Having won Roland-Garros fourteen times, the Spaniard claimed his first title in 2005 at just 19 years old. While today the Parisian public has shown how much affection they have for the Majorcan, this hasn’t always been the case, especially during matchups against the Swiss Roger Federer:
"I always felt respected. But it’s true that during my first two years playing in Paris, I felt like the crowd wanted Federer to win. That was the strong feeling I had and experienced at that moment. In a way, they wanted me to lose because they probably thought Roger would have a better chance of winning the tournament because of it.
But since he won the tournament in 2009, I think the crowd started treating me completely differently. They saw me as a fighter, a good guy, who gives everything every time he's on the court. And I think they felt how much I loved Paris and Roland-Garros.
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