Rafael Nadal: What do you fear most?

The question

Originally asked

Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire

The exact prompt is fixed in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire and independently sustained in The Guardian's The Q&A over multiple decades.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Rafael Nadal

Spanish professional tennis player, 2001–2024

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

I don’t think I have one in particular. I am pretty calm. Just some small things that I better not comment on :-).

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, October 2010 source ↗

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Mike Skinner English rapper

That I might have to do a normal job.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 January 2009 source ↗

Mindy Kaling

Generally? Hurting someone’s feelings. Specifically? Being kidnapped while on vacation.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, July 2015 source ↗

Fay Ripley English actress, television presenter, cookbook author

Spiders, needles, blood, pain and breaking wind in public.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 November 2022 source ↗

Michael Douglas

Personal: health. Globally: nuclear weapons.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, March 2011 source ↗

More from Rafael Nadal

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Question What is an unusual habit or small pleasure you are oddly fond of? Daily life

If I don't do that with the bottles, then I sit down, I could be thinking of something else. If I do always the same things, it means that I am focused and I'm alert to think purely about tennis.

Recorded Jon Wertheim, 60 Minutes, CBS, CBS News / 60 Minutes, 5 July 2020 source ↗

Question What trait do you most dislike in other people? Values & belief

Selfishness and no respect for the others.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, October 2010 source ↗

Question Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? Values & belief

Just normal people from my hometown, from my country.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, October 2010 source ↗

Question When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do? Daily life

Sometimes when I'm in the first round or second round, and I'm not playing well, I say, okay, just accept it. Don't get frustrated. Just accept and focus.

Recorded Jon Wertheim, 60 Minutes, CBS, CBS News / 60 Minutes, 5 July 2020 source ↗

Question What are you unwilling to optimise? Values & belief

These tics do bother me. Could I play a match without them? Yes, without some of them. I don't have to touch my nose or put my hair behind my ears before I serve. That's possible to stop. Not putting the bottles in front of my chair, I could go without that, too. But adjusting my underwear, that I could never get rid of. It's impossible.

Recorded Town & Country, 1 January 2025 source ↗

Question Which quality in your friends matters most to you? Relationships

The word says it all. To be a friend means that they are always there, for the good or the bad.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 1 October 2010 source ↗

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