SURPRISE !!

Comme promis, une petite surprise ! J’ai eu la chance de pouvoir poser quelques questions à Tommy, donc voilà l’intégralité de l’interview que j’ai pu faire de lui !

Un grand, grand merci à une personne formidable qui se reconnaîtra, sans qui tout cela n’aurait pas été possible !! :)

J’espère que cette interview vous plaira, j’ai souhaité faire des questions assez originales, donc j’espère avoir réussi ! N’hésitez pas à commenter !

Par ailleurs, j’ai gardé l’interview en anglais (car elle a été faite en anglais) pour plus de fidélité aux paroles de Tommy que j’ai retranscrites telles quelles. Mais si vous avez des problèmes de compréhension, n’hésitez pas à me demander une traduction ! 
 

INTERVIEW WITH TOMMY ROBREDO – SATURDAY, MAY 27^TH 2006 
 

So I’m gonna begin with… I’m not gonna do it all.
Oh do it. 

So… How do you see your fans ?
How do I see my fans ? I don’t know, I think I see them… a few of them follow me on the Tour, a few of them follow me on my website… and I don’t know. I think it’s great to have fans following you around the world. 

Okay, so what do you think fans expect from you ? 

Eeeee… Well, it depends, sometimes they expect a few things, but sometimes they expect a lot of things, no. I think they just expect to see me, to have the chance to talk to me a few times, to sign a few things to them. That’s the normal ones.

What is the most beautiful present you’ve been given by a fan ?
I have received a few peluches.

And what is the strangest thing you’ve been given by a fan ?
Eeeee… The strangest thing ? I don’t know. Chocolates…

(His agent) This is not strange.
Eeeee… What can I say ?

(His agent) I don’t know. 
I don’t know. They just give me peluches or chocolates or maybe pictures but not… Well, the Japanese ones, they just send someone… sometimes flags, and things like this.

Now, about the life outside tennis. Have you already thought of what you will do when you stop playing tennis ?
Eeeee… No, I don’t know. I just wanna keep playing, till I cannot move anymore on the court, and then, eeee… I don’t know. Then I will maybe enjoy life a few years, and then maybe work in something, but I don’t know what.

What are your passions outside tennis ? What do you like ?
I like the mountains a lot. I like to do a normal life, like a normal person, not a huge tennis player, no. I just like to go out, go to the cinema, go to the bar (his phone rings, he stops it) go to the mountains, and I don’t know, different things, not just the tennis routine.

You’ve said on your blog that you love music. Do you have favourite singers or bands ?
Well, I like right now a lot rock music, pop rock music. I like James Blunt, I like Bon Jovi, I like Brian Adams, Evanescence, The Rasmus, I don’t know. A lot of music, groups like this.

How would you define a perfect day ?
Perfect day for me outside tennis courts ?

Yeah.
For sure I would be in a place that nobody can see me. I would be with a few friends, and a few… maybe a really nice girlfriend and I don’t know… I’m gonna just relax there in a beach with a boat, nothing to do, fishing, or going with a jet-ski or… I don’t know. Without having time to lunch, having dinner whenever I want, things like this, without people, just outside and quiet.

Where do you like to spend your holidays ? Like mountains or beach ?
I go home. I go home because I’m never at home and I like to be at home with my friends and I’m being there relaxed. It is on the mountains and I love to go with a quad. I have a quad and I love to go with it.

Have you ever spend holidays in France ?
No.

So, now about tennis. What is your best weapon ?
Well, I think the forehand.

Which is your favourite tournament outside the Spanish ones and why ?
I think Australia, the tournaments in Australia, they are so nice and then also Bastad maybe. I love to be there, it’s nice.

According to you, what are the advantages and the drawbacks of being a tennisman ?
Well, advantage is that, in my case, it’s I do what I want to do and I’m doing great, and I’m famous about that and I don’t know, I win money and I’m in a great level of life, no. But that’s… the bad things of that, it’s that everyone knows you, everyone expect things from you and sometimes you can not do your normal type of life. You just have to do things, when you don’t wanna do. And that’s the toughest part, no. But at the end, if I get the balance, I prefer to do this and be a great tennis player than maybe go to the cinema and nobody knows me.

How do Spanish players get along on the ATP Tour ? Do you get along well with the others or… ?
Along well what do you mean ? If we have good relationship ?

Yeah.
Yes, I think we are a lot and it’s so nice because we can go dinner, we can go having lunch, we play cards, we do a lot of things together and it’s a lot helpful for us, because if not, being not at home every year, every week, it’s tough.

How important is Davis Cup for you ? And do you see tennis as an individual sport or do you think this competition between countries is important ?
Well, if you ask me this before winning Davis Cup, I would say Davis Cup is a most important thing maybe. After winning once, eeee, I don’t know, it’s tough, no. It’s a very important competition but if right now you ask me what I would prefer, win Davis Cup three times again or winning one Grand Slam title, I would say one Grand Slam title. Or if you tell me “Two Master Series or one”, I would say one Master Series, because I have already Davis Cup and I think right now it’s more important to see or to watch by myself.

You seem to enjoy your double matches. Do you play them with less pressure, or do you play them seriously, or do you just enjoy playing them ? Because you’re laughing when you’re playing doubles.
No, I think doubles for me it’s advertising, it’s practise and also it’s… I don’t know, it’s being on the court and having fun, no. I’m not playing for the money. I’m not playing for winning the tournament. If I can, I would do it, but I’m just there just to improve my serve, my volleys, my returns. Have fun with my partner and to spend this one hour practising, because I think sometimes it’s helping.

How do you see your victory in Hamburg ? Congratulations.
Thank you.  

And, do you see it like an accomplishment of what you’ve been working for for years, or like a new beginning ?
Well I think it’s a little bit of everything. No, it’s… all the players we are looking forward to win a title or a few matches, and in that week I had a lot of things together, no. I win a lot of matches, I win a title, I was in the top 10 for the first time in my life, just with the one number, not the number 10, I was 10 but not 9 or 8, and I think it’s a lot more… a lot great things that week. And I don’t know, I think it was great.

And last question : what would you like to ask your fans ? Do you have a question for me ? Like I’m asking you a lot of questions, and do you have one for me ?
(He looks astonished) I don’t know, I just will… I don’t know… 

It’s okay.
No, I think it’s nice to have people that they follow you so much, no. And I don’t know what I would ask them. Just… I would ask if they get fun doing this or if they… If they enjoy trying to travel and I don’t know, but it’s obvious that if they do it it’s because they want it.

Thank you very much.
It’s okay.

(His agent) Merci.
C’est bien ? 

C’est très bien ! Merci beaucoup.
Merci beaucoup.