Noelia and Oliver have been studying at Embassy in Brisbane. Back in January they went to the Australian Open in Melbourne where they met the world number one tennis champion Rafa Nadal! They recently spoke to Embassy Brisbane about what happened.
What matches did you see at the Australian Open?
We saw the matches of Richard Gasquet vs Fernando Gonzalez, Djokovic vs Baghdatis, Rafa Nadal vs Tonny Haas, Roger Federer vs Tomas Berdych… and others!
How did you meet Nadal?
We went to see the training in one of the courts of the Melbourne Park. There we spoke with the coach, Toni Nadal (Rafa's Uncle), during this training, and we asked if we could take a photo with Nadal. We were the only Spanish people there at the time. When Nadal finished training, we spoke with him and took photos. It was amazing!
What did you say to him?
We talked with him a little bit, so, Oliver could say thank you for the wristband that he gave us at the end of his match, in the third round. I (Noelia) said, “Rafa, you are going to win this Open, you can see!” and so it was; Rafa won the Australian Open, for the first time.
What did he say to you?
He is very shy, but... he said, "Thank you", all the time and he was very pleasant and talked about this opportunity to win the Open.
What is he like?
He is shy, polite and friendly with us. And he is taller than we could imagine.
Where is Nadal from in Spain?
He is from a little town called Manacor, on the island of Mallorca.
Nadal is the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open. Do you think he’s the best ever Spanish player?
We think that he’s amazing, incredible… he is like a man from another world because of his stamina and power. He can stand a long time in the court playing without breakand he never loses concentration. Hhe has the power of his mind and the confidence that every player needs to win. We think that he’s one of the best!
Did you watch the Australian Open final where Nadal beat Federer?
Yes! It was amazing! We felt really happy but, at the same time, we felt sad because the tears of Federer. He never usually shows such emotions in front of the adversary. But he spoke the truth; it is very difficult for any player to win a match with Nadal in front of you…
When you want to encourage Nadal, what do you say in Spanish? (in English, we usually say "Come on!")
We say, “Vamos Rafa!”, which is like, "Come on!", most of the time, but we say other things like: "Rafa, eres el mejor!" ("Rafa, you’re the best!")
Do you like Rafa’s fashion? Jim Courier said that some women preferred his sleeveless look?
Well, I think, and in this case the answer is given by me, Noelia, now he looks more elegant, it means that before, he looked very attractive for the girls, because we could see the complete arms when he played. By the way, I think he looks attractive too and I like his fashion.
Have you enjoyed your time in Australia? Our time in Australia was unforgettable. We would like to come back some day because we think Australia is one of the best countries in the world and we really fell in love with this lovely country.
We saw many things here: we went to the desert and slept under the sky and stars, we drove all up the east coast and went to the Great Reef Barrier, and we even passed New Year's Eve in Sydney, at the Opera House! We met people from many different countries.
We are now in Spain. We’ve come back to the routine, to work… but we’ll never forget all that we did in Australia. We’ll always keep it in our minds and hearts. We wrote a blog during our trip and all people can see our adventure and feel our sensations there: www.koalascanarios.blogspot.com (in Spanish)
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