Manacor, Spain - July 7th 2009

This morning I woke up to one of the worst news anyone can receive. I heard about the death of my friend Mathieu Montcourt and I am still in shock, I can't believe it.

I knew Mathieu since we were kids. We competed together at all the events at an international level for kids: Les Petit As, Copa Borotta, etc, and of course, we played again afterwards after we became professionals.

When someone like this disappears, when something like this happens, you realize where you are and you put into perspective your life, winning or losing a tennis match, not competing at an event and everything else. This is the loss of a guy who was only 24 and who was a sportsman. He won't be playing with us again.

I would like to send my deepest and most sincere condolences to his family, to his friends and to the French fans.

Mathieu, Rest in peace.

Rafa Nadal