CAMELOT FANTASIES
The Truth Rafael Nadal Universe => Rafael Nadal Center => Topic started by: Embla on December 01, 2013, 10:06:59 am
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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/rio-2016-olympics/news/tennis/Rafael-Nadal-faces-trimmed-down-Olympic-programme/articleshow/53497127.cms
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http://www.skysports.com/tennis/news/12110/10285479/can-rafael-nadal-win-his-la-decima-at-the-french-open
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http://www.tennisnow.com/Blogs/NET-POSTS/November/Video-Rafa-Nadal-vs-Underwear-Model.aspx
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http://2015.ausopen.com/en_AU/news/articles/2015-02-01/rafa_the_social_king_.html?promo=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Australian-Open+%28Australian+Open%29
He has nearly three million Twitter followers more than the next closest tennis player on the planet and a handy 14 Grand Slam singles titles to his name certainly helps his popularity, so it is little wonder Rafael Nadal has topped the Australian Open’s Social Leaderboard for 2015.
The leaderboard tracks Twitter to determine the most popular players at the Open during the fortnight, and with a day of the tournament left to play, the Spaniard led the count for the tournament with 1,126,524 tweets, 76 per cent of them positive.
Two of the world No.3’s matches, in particular, drew a huge response – his scratchy five-set survival against American Tim Smyczek in the second round peaking at more than 10,000 positive tweets immediately after the win, and his quarterfinal loss to Tomas Berdych generating more than 8000 positive tweets.
Novak Djokovic came in a distant second with 562,470 tweets (keeping in mind this was before the men’s final had been played), with 90 per cent of them positive.
His five-set semifinal win over Stan Wawrinka drew the highest number of positive tweets for a match this tournament with nearly 19,000.
Maria Sharapova was the best of the girls, coming in at No.3 with 476, 493 tweets, 84 per cent of them positive. Her final showdown with Serena Williams drew nearly 8000 positive tweets, while her second round comeback from match point down extracted nearly 6000 positive tweets.
Despite losing in just the third round, Roger Federer still came in at No.4, with 343,511 tweets. His upset loss to Andreas Seppi had just 5000 positive tweets, while Seppi, who came in at No.10 overall, had nearly 9000 positive tweets after pulling off the win.
Serena Williams was the best of the rest, coming in at No.5 with 317,258 tweets, more than 16,000 of them positive.
Andy Murray came in at No.6, outgoing defending champion Wawrinka at No.7, Australian sensation Nick Kyrgios at No.8 and Nadal-slayer Berdych at No.9.
IBM developer Tony Johnson said the system only counted positive sentiment, with tweets linked via hashtags, twitter handles and the player’s name.
“It is a fun way to engage fans, they get to participate in the tournament by pushing their favourite to the top. It also give a real indication of the level of global buzz, or conversation about a player on Twitter,” he said.
“Negative, neutral and indeterminate sentiment is counted in the overall number of tweets for a particular player, but there's no classification for them.”
Nadal boasts 7.4 million followers on Twitter, ahead of Williams, with 4.56 million. Djokovic has 3.83 million, Murray 2.89 million, Federer 2.61 million, and Sharapova with 1.47 million.
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Good
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http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2015/05/20/Roland-Garros-Nadal-Brain-Game.aspx
ROLAND GARROS 2015
Nadal's Empire Built On One Golden Number
Paris, France
by Craig O'Shannessy | 29.05.2015
Rafael Nadal celebrates winning his ninth Roland Garros crown in June 2014.
Dominance has a number, and it’s a lot lower than you might think.
Rafael Nadal has won nine titles in 10 previous appearances at Roland Garros, firmly cementing his place as the greatest men's winner at a single Grand Slam tournament the sport has ever known.
A deep-dive analysis of his Roland Garros history between 2005-2014 reveals much: He came into Paris this year boasting a supreme 98.5 per cent win rate from 66 victories and a solitary defeat. He had played 9,968 minutes at Roland Garros - time mostly spent mauling opponents with ferocious spin on the terre battue.
But those numbers do not come close to telling the whole story. His journey of 12,632 steps, or points played on the beaten earth at Roland Garros, reveals that his supremacy has a secret: It's built on very small margins.
Matches are comprised of sets, and Nadal has won 198 of them while relinquishing 20, for a 90.8 win percentage. It's impressive, but the separation is a little closer.
Nadal has won 1302 games over his previous 10 appearances, losing 693. That's a 65.2 win percentage, and as you can clearly tell, the authority he commands diminishes.
The building blocks of tennis are points, and this is where the real numbers of Nadal's conquests in Paris are revealed. Points tell the real story.
Nadal has won 7,160 points at Roland Garros, and the mythical aura that he has built on Court Philippe Chatrier has his opponents, and the tennis world, presuming he is also putting up invincible numbers in this critical metric. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Nadal has also lost 5,472 points at Roland Garros - that's a lot of points any way you slice it.
The 'King of Clay' has won 98.5 per cent of his matches, 90.8 per cent of his sets, 65.2 per cent of his games, but only 56.6 per cent of his points.
The reality of tennis is that you only need to tip a 50/50 battle around five or six per cent to rule the world. Players such as Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer, who have all finished No. 1 in the year-end Emirates ATP Rankings over many seasons, are typically winning right around 55 per cent of their points for their entire year.
Professional tennis is a game of very small margins, played over very great distances.
In the nine finals Nadal has won in Paris, his win percentage is a combined 54.2 per cent.
NadalServing
Nadal has served 184 aces and 92 double faults the past 10 years, for exactly a 2:1 ratio. He has made an incredibly high 71 per cent of his first serves, winning 72 per cent of the time. Those numbers are impressive, but his 58 per cent points won on second serves is from another planet.
Returning
This is the real engine room of Nadal's success at the French, applying an incredible amount of pressure every time his opponent steps up to serve. Nadal prefers to stand way back near the linesmen, closer to the back signage than the baseline, taking full swings to neutralise his opponent’s strength.
Nadal has won an incredible 41 per cent of his opponents' first-serve points, and 58 per cent of his opponents' second-serve points - the exact percentage as his own second serve. It does not matter who is hitting a second serve on the court, Nadal clearly has the edge.
Break Points
Nadal has converted 45 per cent of his break points over his career, which by comparison is much higher than Federer's 41 per cent, but that surges to a jaw-dropping 52 per cent for the Spaniard at Roland Garros. Opponents have converted 34 per cent of break points on Nadal's serve over his career, but at Roland Garros, that drops to 30 per cent.
Nadal has won 64 per cent of his service points in Paris, which is actually three per cent less than his career average of 67 per cent, but he has won 43 per cent of his return points on the red clay, which is one per cent better than his career average. It’s clear that it's the return game that grows an extra leg in Paris.
Nadal's nine Roland Garros titles command ultimate respect and his 56.6 per cent points won is the small margin that his empire is built upon.
Brain GameCraig O'Shannessy uses extensive tagging, metrics and formulas to uncover the patterns and percentages behind the game. Read more at www.braingametennis.com.
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http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2015/04/15/FedEx-Performance-Zone-Career-Clay-Court-Records.aspx
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Rafa Roundup: Rafael Nadal does not need surgery on his injured wrist
Aug 22 Posted by Rafael Nadal Fans
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2014/08/22/rafa-roundup-rafael-nadal-does-not-need-surgery-on-his-injured-wrist/
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Breaking down Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray's gravity-defying shotmaking
By: Tim McGarry and Douglas Robson August 21, 2014
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/08/airborne-tennis-graphic-rafael-nadal-andy-murray
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Rafael Nadal's Absence from US Open Is Major Opportunity for Other Contenders
By Timothy Rapp , Featured Columnist
Aug 21, 2014
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2171720-rafael-nadals-absence-from-us-open-is-major-opportunity-for-other-contenders
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Ice Bucket Challenge
From Rafael Nadal Fans
AUG 17, 2014
VIDEO: Rafael Nadal Nominated for ALS Ice Bucket Challenge by Ben Stiller
Rafael Nadal was called to take part in the ice bucket challenge by American actor, Ben Stiller. If he agrees to take part in the challenge he will join many celebrities who have already volunteered to throw buckets of ice cold water over themselves in aid of charity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGXkDjQEmfQ
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2014/08/1...-rafael-nadal/
Rafa made it!
Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDLfHMVUwGQ
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Pretty long article
How Rafael Nadal's Injuries May Cause a Late-Career Scheduling Shift
By Jeremy Eckstein , Featured Columnist Aug 1, 2014
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2148642-how-rafael-nadals-injuries-may-cause-a-late-career-scheduling-shift
Rafael Nadal has a wrist injury that could very well derail his chances at winning the 2014 U.S. Open. This is hardly surprising, considering that injuries have been Nadal’s traveling companion through his decade of spectacular tennis.
Almost no part of his body has not been assaulted: right elbow, left-ankle stress fracture, tarsal scaphoid bone in left foot, requiring constant shoe adjustments and training precautions, shoulder, tendonitis in both knees, perpetually, back pains and right wrist.
I saw this earlier.
poor fellow. our warrior has been injured off and on since he was 16.
and look at all he has achieved.
can you imagine what his tennis records would have been like had there been no injuries.
that is why he is the ultimate gladiator of tennis.
he lets nothing stop him.
It's mind-boggling to think of what he could have achieved. That's part of Rafa's mystique, his will to remain positive in the face of such odds.
I seriously think he would have broken the record easily if it hadn't been for these ill-timed injuries.
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great stuff lady TT.
keep it coming.
I am still hoping he can make the u.s. open.
He's still practicing, even with his sling. But it's been reported that he can only hit forehands. It appears that Rafa knows exactly what's at stake for his career. He's taking it seriously and making the best out of the situation.
Still, it sets him up for a prosperous 2015.
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Rafa’s song rises to #2! It is pretty catchy!
Beatenberg Releases Tennis Anthem ‘Rafael’…By Nikki August 1, 2014
http://1musicnetworks.tv/beatenberg-releases-tennis-anthem-rafael/
Beatenberg Music Videonew video Rapheal slider
After “Pluto (Remember You)”, their indie-house collaboration with DJ Clock, Beatenberg is back with a new single off their new album The Hanging Gardens of Beatenberg. After making its radio debut earlier this month, ‘Rapheal’ quickly shot up to the #2 spot (and climbing) on South Africa’s National Airplay Chart.
“It was a bit of a toss-up between spelling the title with a ‘ph’ for Raphael the renaissance artist or an ‘f’ for Rafael Nadal the tennis player because both are invoked equally in the pun on ‘stroke of genius’. Although we finally decided on Rafael, who seemed to be the more central character to the song, it’s cool to see that fans are spelling the title as both Rafael and Raphael on Twitter – an elegant outsourced solution to the name dilemma! Look out for the official video coming very soon. And no, I’m sorry, Rafa himself is not in it, but you can see the band try their hand (feet) at some mad dance moves.
We hope that very soon people will be tweeting about The Hanging Gardens of Babylon as well as the correct name of our upcoming album The Hanging Gardens of Beatenberg too!”
While we wait for an official video, Beatenberg has shared a lyric video for the song featuring lead singer Matthew Field hitting the tennis court in Cape Town. The Hanging Gardens of Beatenberg is due out later this year.
Enjoy!
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Pretty long article
How Rafael Nadal's Injuries May Cause a Late-Career Scheduling Shift
By Jeremy Eckstein , Featured Columnist Aug 1, 2014
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2148642-how-rafael-nadals-injuries-may-cause-a-late-career-scheduling-shift
Rafael Nadal has a wrist injury that could very well derail his chances at winning the 2014 U.S. Open. This is hardly surprising, considering that injuries have been Nadal’s traveling companion through his decade of spectacular tennis.
Almost no part of his body has not been assaulted: right elbow, left-ankle stress fracture, tarsal scaphoid bone in left foot, requiring constant shoe adjustments and training precautions, shoulder, tendonitis in both knees, perpetually, back pains and right wrist.
I saw this earlier.
poor fellow. our warrior has been injured off and on since he was 16.
and look at all he has achieved.
can you imagine what his tennis records would have been like had there been no injuries.
that is why he is the ultimate gladiator of tennis.
he lets nothing stop him.
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great stuff lady TT.
keep it coming.
I am still hoping he can make the u.s. open.
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Pretty long article
How Rafael Nadal's Injuries May Cause a Late-Career Scheduling Shift
By Jeremy Eckstein , Featured Columnist Aug 1, 2014
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2148642-how-rafael-nadals-injuries-may-cause-a-late-career-scheduling-shift
Rafael Nadal has a wrist injury that could very well derail his chances at winning the 2014 U.S. Open. This is hardly surprising, considering that injuries have been Nadal’s traveling companion through his decade of spectacular tennis.
Almost no part of his body has not been assaulted: right elbow, left-ankle stress fracture, tarsal scaphoid bone in left foot, requiring constant shoe adjustments and training precautions, shoulder, tendonitis in both knees, perpetually, back pains and right wrist.
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The Impact of Rafael Nadal's Absence on US Hard Courts
By Joanie Agler Jul 31st 2014
http://www.tennisviewmag.com/tennis-view-magazine/article/impact-rafael-nadals-absence-us-hard-courts
Not again. Those are two words that are probably going through the minds of Rafael Nadal, his camp, and his fans throughout the world. The situation may not be as dire as what he faced in 2 012, but a right wrist injury sustained this past Tuesday once more finds the Spaniard having to sit out the Masters events in Canada and Cincinnati. It is also an injury that changes the entire outlook for the upcoming weeks of the summer hard-court season.
There is no getting around that Nadal’s absence in the coming weeks will be deeply felt, and he will be missed for a number of reasons. But the good news is that, at least for the time being, the wrist injury does not sound too serious. He seems relatively confident of being in New York, and even if not at his best, the sport will be better for it if he is. That said, should the injury prevent him from playing at the US Open, he should still be ready to go for the fall to help make for an exciting finish to
2014.
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Defending Champion Rafael Nadal Withdraws Due to Wrist Injury
http://www.cincytennis.com/news/defending_champion_rafael_nadal__withdraws_due_to_wrist_injury/
Western & Southern Open defending champion Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the 2014 tournament due to a right wrist injury. Nadal has also withdrawn from the ATP Masters 1000 event in Toronto, which precedes the Western & Southern Open.
"Unfortunately I injured my right wrist yesterday during practice and after the tests I have undergone today in Spain, including an MRI, and checking with my doctors, I will have to stay out of competition for at least 2-3 weeks. I am sorry and wish the best to the tournament and thank all of the fans for their support," said Nadal. "I'm extremely disappointed that I am unable to defend my titles and compete in Toronto and Cincinnati this year. I was looking forward to coming and playing again after my great results last year."
"It is very unfortunate that Rafa is unable to defend his title. He is a great champion, and his run to the title last year electrified our fans. We will miss him, and we wish him a very speedy recovery," said tournament director Vince Cicero. "The men's field remains incredibly strong, with five-time champion Roger Federer, two-time champion Andy Murray, and Novak Djokovic, who is on a quest to become the first to complete the Career Golden Masters with a title here. We're looking forward to welcoming these men along with the top WTA stars to Cincinnati in just nine days."
Nadal is one of five players to withdraw due to injury, joining Nicolas Almagro (foot), Alexandr Dolgopolov (knee), Tommy Haas (shoulder) and Florian Mayer (groin).
The withdrawals have allowed five players direct entry into the field, headlined by two-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt. Also joining the field are Julien Benneteau, Denis Istomin, Yen-Hsun Lu and Gilles Simon.
Twenty-three of the Top 25 players on the ATP World Tour remain entered in the Western & Southern Open. All 39 of the Top 39 ranked players on the WTA are on the initial entry list for the women's tournament.
Both the men's and women's tournaments at the Western & Southern Open will consist of 56-player singles fields. Four men and up to five women will be awarded wild cards into the tournament. In addition, a two-round qualifying tournament will be held August 9-10 in which an additional seven men and 12 women will earn berths into the W&S Open. The main draw will be made on the evening of August 8.
The Western & Southern Open is one of only five tennis events in the world, outside of the grand slams, where the best men and women play during the same week at the same venue.
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Rafael Nadal - The War Horse
by Jim Cole for Tennis World USA
http://www.tennisworldusa.org/rafael-nadal-the-war-horse-articolo19348.html
Rafael Nadal reminds me of the Edgar Degas bronze "Horse with Head Low," I saw while on vacation in Paris. The connection seems appropriate considering Nadal's success in Paris. This piece by Degas conveys immense determination, unbridled power, and collected grace. All are characteristics in Nadal's possession. Just like Degas' horse, these characteristics in Nadal reveal great muscular tensions rippling within the body. This tension creates the feeling that something explosive is about to happen and Nadal fans are rarely disappointed.
Nadal's Technique
Nadal's service is considered by many to be an on-again/off-again part of his game and a point of weakness. Nadal can seem to struggle with himself and his serve. Often, he has to fight to hold it, all true. It is also true that Nadal's YTD percentage of service games held is 85%.
Nadal's return game is superior by any standard, with a service break percentage of 36%. Nadal is an excellent defender with a great set of scrambling skills that make him a serious contender on all three court surfaces: amazingly quick footwork when change in direction is necessary (clay); dangerous shot-making selections manufactured on the run (grass); a survivor instinct for preserving a point when all seems lost (hard court).
Nadal's ground stroke game is where he separates himself from the pack, where he sets a pace the field cannot match. Playing aggressively from behind the baseline, Nadal relies on heavy topspin off a western forehand and a two-handed backhand to pound an opponent's ramparts into rubble. Nadal is an excellent counter-puncher with a killer slice backhand and nerves of steel. He is absolutely fearless. "Losing is not my enemy," Nadal has said, "fear of losing is my enemy."
By tour standards, Nadal's volley and forecourt skills are only adequate. He can handle easy to moderately difficult volley situations at the net well. Difficult volley situations are a career-long problem for Nadal. The root of Nadal's problems with difficult volleys and his problems with the serve share a common source: Nadal is simply not comfortable with a Continental grip. Not with the serve. Not with the volley. Not ever.
The Intangible. Nadal is like a wild stallion, pawing the dirt, challenging opponents. He is untamed and ruled by a great passion for the heat of battle. Among the best players in the world, he is the one who truly loves the battle more than spoils. "As a player,"Nadal has said, "you can win and you can lose and you must be ready for both”.
Nadal's Record and Results
Rafael Nadal Parera (AKA: Rafa) was introduced to tennis at age 3 by his uncle, Toni Nadal. Fast forward at 12 years, Rafael wins his first ATP match at the age of 15 years. Fast forward another nine years and Nadal is the youngest player (24 years old) to complete a career Grand Slam. Altogether, Rafael Nadal has been a top 5 player since 2003. His career singles record is 702 - 137.
His career prize money winnings total $70,704,129. He currently shares a two-way tie with Pete Sampras for 2nd most Grand Slam titles won (14) and for good measure won an Olympic Gold medal in Bejing. Many experts forecast Nadal is on pace to break Roger Federer's record of 17 Grand Slam titles sometime in 2017. Regardless, Nadal's 9 wins in Paris are alone an amazing accomplishment and define him as the finest clay court player in history. Andre Agassi was quoted in the Singapore Straits Times saying "Nadal is the greatest of all time, not Federer." Agassi may have a point, particularly if Nadal - now 28 years of age - ties or surpasses Federer's career Grand Slam record.
Nadal beloved as International Sports Celebrity
Nadal's Blue Collar approach to setting goals and achieving those goals with brawn has tremendous appeal to his fan base and goes a long way toward understanding his crowning as International Sports Celebrity. Nadal has so completely perfected the working man image, there is a part of me that would not be surprised to see him bring a lunch pail on court. In his work on the tennis court Nadal unfailingly shows respect for the game, his opponents, and by extension, himself. He asks for no quarter and he gives none. Of course, Nadal's game does not enjoy the approval of everyone. Referring to charges that Nadal is often guilty of slow play Federer has said "that's not cool."
Nadal's scorch-the-earth style of play is an endless fascination for fanatical and casual tennis fans alike. Nadal's build and style of play will always summon the question of career ending injury. Perhaps Rafael's slow evolution into more of an all court player in recent years is part of Team Nadal's (led by Uncle Toni) strategy to prevent nagging injuries from developing and shortening his career. Andy Murray has seen firsthand the slow evolution of Nadal into more of an all court player. "He is movingly better on the hard courts," says Murray,"I think he is changing the pace of the ball a little more and he is not playing back behind the baseline as much as he did in the past."
Nadal's Rivalry with Djokovic
Rafael Nadal has a long history with Serbian Novak Djokovic. Nadal and Djokovic have played 42 times, with Nadal holding a 23-19 advantage. There is a lot of history here. Nadal and Djokovic hold the Open Era record for most meetings.
In most recent times, it was Nadal who defeated Djokovic in the finals in New York in 2013. It was Nadal who crushed Djokovic's dream of a career Grand Slam eight months later (May, 2014) with a record ninth win on the clay in Paris. And it will be Djokovic's turn this upcoming September to settle the score with Nadal at this year's US Open in New York City. When asked if he enjoyed playing Djokovic, after losing to Djokovic in straight sets last April at The Key Biscayne Masters, Nadal replied "No. I like challenges but I am not stupid."
The Run Up to the 2014 US Open in New York
Nadal and Djokovic are likely to be the odds on favorites to reach the finals of the men's championship this September in New York. Most likely Djokovic will be seeded 1 and Nadal 2, despite the fact that Nadal is the US Open reigning Champion. As much as I respect Nadal, I expect Djokovic to live up to his seeding and win the US Open by narrow margins in 5 sets, if he remains healthy. Even the slightest weakness in Djokovic will open the gate to a noisy charge (I prefer the Spanish estampida) by Nadal.
Rafa Nadal News
We are on TWITTER! Follow us: https://mobile.twitter.com/FNadalista
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Tribute to Rafael Nadal at Manacor Tennis Club, July 29, 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkcDRrsDZp4
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• Nadal: “I’m training hard. Can’t wait to play at US Open” (via Twitter: @LuisGatTWI/Style – Il Giornale)
Q. In New York, in fact, you’ve won twice.
Rafa: And of course I can not wait to play there. It is always a Grand Slam, always a great emotion.
Q. Are you ready?
Rafa: Ah, who knows… I can only say that I’m training hard. The results then depend on many things.
Q. Let’s talk about your other sport passion: it was also the year of “La Decima” of your Real Madrid.
Rafa: Ah, what a thrill, too. Of course I saw the match, I would not have missed it for the world. My celebration was crazy: the title was unforgettable.
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Rafael Nadal predicts tennis's golden era will end soon
Jun 9 2014
After winning his ninth French Open title, an emotional Rafael Nadal said that tennis’s golden era, comprising of the ‘Big 4’ – himself, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, could soon come to an end.
Nadal’s win on Sunday against Novak Djokovic took the 28-year-old Spaniard’s French Open record to a stunning 66-1 since his debut in 2005. However, when he returns to Roland Garros in 2015 to challenge for his 10th title, he will be 29. After fighting constant knee and back problems throughout his career, Nadal’s road to his nine French Open victories, and 14 Slams overall, has not been easy.
"This year is emotional for different reasons," said Nadal after his record-setting fifth consecutive French Open title. “I am 28, it's not forever. I want to enjoy the moment because I have worked so hard to be here. I will have a few more opportunities but you don't know if I will ever win it again," he added.
Nadal admitted that fatigue had played a role in Sunday’s final as he began to feel cramps in his calf towards the end of the match which he won 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.
Nadal also added that had he not won the second set, he might not have been able to eventually fight his way to victory.
But ever the realist, Nadal put all of that into perspective.
“Our generation is on the way out. We have all been here for a long while. It's normal. A generation is walking away and others will replace us. It will not come overnight, but it will come," he said.
Rafa’s uncle and coach Toni Nadal too feels that retaining the title next year will be harder than ever before. He said, "What I hope now for him is to win it for a 10th time. But I know that it will be more and more difficult, even almost impossible. Each year the chances of victory are reduced. Next year, we will arrive with the fear of losing, telling ourselves it'll be really hard."
The ‘golden generation’ of tennis has seen four men throughly dominate the sport, taking each other’s game to ever higher levels. Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray have won 39 of the last 44 Slams dating back to Federer’s first Wimbledon title in 2003. But the next time they all return to Roland Garros, a year from now, Federer will be 34, Nadal will be 29, and Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic will have turned 28.
Murray and Djokovic may have time on their side but for Federer it has become a villain. Though his dominance is declining, the Swiss maestro has no intention of giving up just yet. “It's true that I have won everything, but I am still fascinated by the sport and by the desire to face the daily challenges of the world's best players and the young stars,” he was quoted as saying.
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French Open 2014: Rafael Nadal soars into cloud nine with victory over Novak Djokovic in the final
Jun 8 2014
http://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/french-open-rafael-nadal-defeats-novak-djokovic-9th-title/
An already formidable legend received yet another glorious chapter today. The emperor of clay continued his inexorable conquest with a fluid victory over Novak Djokovic to gain a ninth title in Roland Garros. The Spaniard proved too good for his opponent as he rallied from losing the first set to claim a dominant 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 victory in three and half hours inside a packed Phillippe Chatrier to successfully defend the French Open title for a fourth straight year. Nadal's victory left Djokovic's hopes for a career grand slam up in fumes even as the Spaniard walked away with his fourteenth career grand slam title, just three short of the seventeen held by Roger Federer.
The heat was causing discomfort even in the shade, so it was easy to believe Nadal had the edge with the conditions favouring the enormous top spin on his ball – allowing it skid and jump like a venomous serpent. The Serbian had complained of fatigue after his semifinal and needed to manage his physical and emotional balance under the warm skies this afternoon to stand any chance.
As is customary for him, Nadal chose to receive, soon as he won the toss. Djokovic though seemed willing to break away from pattern. Djokovic followed a backhand crosscourt wide in the Adcourt with another to draw a forehand error from Nadal on his way to 2-1 in the first set. And he was showing a happy propensity to strike at Nadal’s forehand without any fear.
The seventh game was a tight affair. Nadal worked Djokovic across with his forehand before taking the point with a steaming down the line winner to put the Serbian under pressure. Djokovic responded well, surviving the deuce game when Nadal pushed a backhand crosscourt wide, but the Spaniard was clearly pumped.
A relieved Djokovic sensed opportunity knock his door, when Nadal made a pair of forehand errors to fall to 0-30. The Serbian struck a brilliant backhand cross court winner to gain two break points. Nadal saved them both to force deuce, but a third followed. The break came when Nadal sent a forehand crosscourt wide.
Serving for the set at 5-3, Djokovic fumbled, dropping to 0-30 in the ninth game. Seeming strangely unsettled, Djokovic was missing the first serve and flew a backhand too far to offer two break points to Nadal. But Djokovic played with conviction then varying pace and striking deep to win four points in a row and snatch the set.
Djokovic may have beaten Nadal four times in a row, but the incredible Spaniard was yet to lose a clay court match over five sets since his shock defeat to Robin Soderling five years ago. In fact Nadal has an 89-1 record on clay for five set matches. So Djokovic was clearly operating with the odds stacked against him on a court that Nadal owned. The first set was vital for the Serbian, less so for the Spaniard.
The fifth game of the second set was an important one, in that Nadal had played his best game yet to spur himself forward. And tension mounted in the next game, when Djokovic sailed a backhand long to gift break point. Nadal thought he had a winner, but Pascal Maria, down from his perch confirmed that it was just long.
An unperturbed Nadal produced a pair of ferocious forehand winners to gain another break point. The break was his soon as Djokovic sank a slice in the net on the next point. Surprisingly Nadal followed that with a slack game – a double fault gave Djokovic two break points and he took the second of those, when the defending champion floated a forehand long to bring it back on serve at 3-4.
Djokovic survived deuce and a break point in the next game to get back to even terms at 4-4. A little later though, Djokovic, serving to force a tie-break, let his nerve slip a little. He let it be known with a double fault and Nadal tore into him with his forehand to take the second set 7-5. Like an aroused lion, he shook violently as he let out a guttural scream that might perhaps have been heard from anywhere in the 16th Arrondissement.
Nadal broke Djokovic for a second straight time, in the second game of the third set to a 2-0 lead. By now Nadal found the means to consistently draw Djokovic more and more on to his forehand – driving Djokovic wide off the Adcourt before milking a winner with a forehand into open spaces. As the match entered its third hour, Nadal was in control again at 3-0.
In the fifth, Djokovic had an opportunity to break when Nadal failed to control a forehand but a backhand error from the Serbian spent it quickly. A pair of explosive forehand winners took him to 4-1. The duo indulged each other in an attritional tussle in the seventh game, with the Serbian making a desperate effort to force a break.
But despite stretching Nadal to five deuces and a break point in a twelve minute game, the Serbian just could not breach the resilient defenses of the Spaniard. And perhaps dispirited by that, he made a series of forehand errors to surrender another break and the set to Nadal. The Spaniard could almost sense the kill, it was difficult to imagine his opponent taking the final two sets.
Djokovic missed an easy backhand volley on game point in the sixth game. And a pair of backhand errors were enough to hand Nadal what appeared to be a decisive break. But an uncharacteristically nervy game to follow that left Nadal vulnerable. The set was back on serve again, when Nadal sailed a forehand wide on the second break point.
The ninth game was intense, with Djokovic seeking a way past Nadal. The Serbian dragged his forehand wide at deuce and a big serve from Nadal forced a stretch return on the next point to leave Nadal just one game from a fifth consecutive French Open title. Djokovic appeared comfortable at 30-15 in the tenth game, but a brilliant backhand pass from Nadal put the stress back into the game at 30-30.
Djokovic pulled a forehand wide to gift match point to Nadal. And as the crowd started to make a raucous noise, Djokovic let it affect him, throwing in a double fault to hand victory to the great Spaniard. Nadal was beside himself in tears as he received the trophy and the Spanish national anthem rang out inside Phillippe Chatrier.
The victory here on Sunday only goes to embellish an already mighty legend. Even the great Bjorn Borg could not manage five successive titles in Paris. No other man has ever won eight titles at a single event, let alone nine as Nadal accomplished today.
Overall, it was a telling performance from Nadal, who managed to get the ball back on his forehand to dictate terms. Djokovic was on the defensive far too often and lacked in consistency and quality to mount a serious threat to the king of clay.
Only time will tell how far Nadal can reach in his quest for grand slam silver, but on Monday he will retain his position as the world No. 1 and head to the grass as one of the favourites for Wimbledon.
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A look at the great rivalry between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic ahead of the French Open final
Jun 7 2014
A good rivalry is essential to all sport. Plain as it sounds, it’s the DNA of the game. Real Madrid vs Barcelona, Manchester United vs Liverpool, Ali vs Frazier, India vs Pakistan, Australia vs England, Senna vs Prost, Connors vs McEnroe, Messi vs Ronaldo and the list goes on. Individuals or teams, rivalries tend to take a game to the next level.
Take a moment to breathe, the names above are all great, but spend another moment to think, would they have been as great without the other? In a time when only success is celebrated, must we not credit the game? Must we not credit the person/team that pushes the champion to that extreme level? Statistics are a dull point from sports fans, for true fans enjoy passion, moments and style.
Which is why, though Nadal has a huge head to head advantage over Federer, most fans rate Federer as a better player. Statistics are huge for TV networks and websites, but fans are not born from numbers. In modern tennis though, that line is drawn.
The most equal rivalry, the most matches played, and some of the greatest even, have now occurred between two players of equal measure, and even though they both emerged out the Federer era separately, they have now commenced the greatest rivalry on earth.
Novak Djokovic vs Rafael Nadal is now an expected match in major tournaments, even though the outcome is neither expected or predictable. In a game of 50-50 these two are capable of wild swings in fortune in the duration of one game, bringing about the greatest aspect of the sport, that the form book is nothing. A rivalry that when looked at through the eyes of the future, will take its rightful place at the top of the heap.
We have another epic in the making this Sunday, and yet only God knows if the eight time champion will make it nine against the guy who just needs this title to put him in the same league. Forget God, I’m sure even He will have hedged bets on this one. If this rivalry isn’t one to celebrate then I don’t know what is.
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5 reasons why the Nadal-Djokovic rivalry is better than the Federer-Nadal one
http://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/5-reasons-nadal-djokovic-rivalry-better-than-federer-nadal/
As exciting as the Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal rivalry has been ever since it unfolded for the first time exactly a decade ago, in the recent few years a shift seems to have occurred in the hierarchy of tennis rivalries. To be more precise, the Rafael Nadal vs Novak Djokovic seems to have usurped the top spot from ‘Fedal’.
This shift hasn’t come about immediately, but has rather been building up momentum slowly and gradually, as if allowing for people to get acclimatised to a new trend in men’s tennis. And while it cannot be said with absolute certainty that the Djokovic-Nadal rivalry will pip the Federer-Nadal one to go down in history as the defining rivalry of this generation, there is no doubt that at the moment, the Serb vs Spaniard battles rule the roost in the tennis world’s consciousness.
Here are five reasons why Djokovic-Nadal has eclipsed Federer-Nadal as the top rivalry in tennis, at least for the moment:
1. Close head-to-head numbers
Of the two rivalries, it’s been the Djokovic-Nadal rivalry that has been more closely fought with the Spaniard only marginally holding onto his lead in the head-to-head against the Serb. In the 40 matches they have played so far – the latest coming in the recently concluded Miami Masters final that Djokovic won – Nadal has won 22 times with Djokovic dogging his heels and trailing him just four matches behind, with 18 wins.
In comparison, the Federer-Nadal rivalry has been more about Nadal than about Federer, especially in recent years, with Nadal having a comfortable head-to-head record of 23 wins over Federer’s 10 victories. These irrefutable facts speak for themselves.
2. An all-encompassing rivalry
Another distinguishing factor between the two rivalries is that while Djokovic and Nadal have played against each other in almost all big tournaments, the Federer-Nadal rivalry still finds itself relatively confined to a handful of events. Federer and Nadal have never played each other at the US Open, Paris Masters, Canada Masters or the Olympics, while Nadal and Djokovic only have the Shanghai Masters missing from their list of battle venues, and even that doesn’t seem likely to be missing for much longer. Sure, the periodic alterations in the construct and distribution of ATP events is an important factor that cannot be ignored while documenting the tournaments contested between the two sets of rivals. But even with these underlying factors, it cannot be denied that Nadal vs Djokovic is a more evenly distributed battle spanning all surfaces and conditions as compared to Federer-Nadal.
3. The age factor
The five-year age gap between Federer and Nadal meant that there was a considerable disparity in the timings of their peak periods. Though Nadal has suffered from injury setbacks, Federer’s maturity in age has played a part in shifting the advantage in Nadal’s favour with the passage of time, which can be seen in the increasingly straight-forward nature of results between the two. But in the case of the Djokovic-Nadal rivalry, the lack of age difference (Djokovic is just one year younger than Nadal) has allowed each man to take turns dominating the other, because of which their rivalry has been thrown wide open.
4. Frequency of match-ups
Of the two sets of rivalries, in the recent couple of years, the Federer-Nadal rivalry has tapered off in volume – in 2013 Federer and Nadal faced off against each other four times and in 2012, they faced each other just twice. It doesn’t help that Federer has seen his ranking plummet recently, because of which he often ends up meeting his nemesis well before the finals. On the other hand, Djokovic and Nadal four times in 2012 before injuries cut short Nadal’s season that year, and as many as six times in 2013. Moreover, being the two best players in the world and being ranked as No. 1 and No. 2 (interchangeably) for a good part of three years now, Nadal and Djokovic have faced each other only in summit clashes (the notable exception being last year’s French Open, where Nadal’s ranking had taken a nosedive because of his injury).
These are statistics that have allowed the Djokovic-Nadal rivalry to make further inroads in the minds of tennis followers as the definitive rivalry in the world.
5. Peculiarities and differences in style and game
Style of play matters, and plays an important role in setting apart any rivalry. Admittedly, the Federer-Nadal rivalry is unique in that it brings two diverse styles of play into action. But the undeniable advantage that Nadal enjoys with his lefty crosscourt forehand aimed at Federer’s backhand has made the contrast in styles into something of a powerhouse vs light-weight battle.
On the other hand, the Djokovic-Nadal rivalry is well-heeled in terms of distribution of strengths and weaknesses. It allows both players even purchase in the course of the match unlike the Federer-Nadal rivalry, which makes the strategic and tactical planning all the more important. There’s no go-to tactic that either Djokovic or Nadal can employ to achieve any kind of consistent superiority over the other, so the two players look for the tiniest of cracks in each other’s game to gain the ascendancy. That makes their match-ups thrilling and fascinating in a way that very few other rivalries are in modern tennis.
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Rafael Nadal - Roger Federer's unconquered peak
Feb 1 2014
http://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/rafael-nadal-roger-federer-unconquered-peak-tennis/
There isn’t a trophy he has not won, there isn’t a court untouched by his elegance, there isn’t a fan unaffected by his exuberance, there isn’t a Challenger he has not thwarted. Still, there remains a peak unconquered for Federer, going by the name Rafael Nadal.
Both these tennis players have produced some jaw-dropping tennis action over the years. The Nadal vs Federer rivalry has been the most cherished rivalry in 21st century tennis. The rivalry has had 33 chapters in its history, with a 23-10 record in favour of Nadal. The Spaniard leads 13-2 on clay and 9-6 on hard court,s while Federer leads only 2-1 on grass.
The fiercest of competitors on the court have had a cordial relationship off the court, with no personal animosity. Both players have acknowledged each other as the best player in the world. The mutual respect and off-court friendship between these two rivals and their fans make this rivalry the most admired and revered in tennis history.
Federer first encountered the 17-year-old teenager in the 2004 Miami Masters. Federer, then ranked No. 1 in the world, lost to Nadal who was ranked 34th in the world in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. Who would have thought then that this match would herald tennis’s greatest rivalry ever?
The following years Nadal and Federer met on numerous occasions, with Nadal dismantling Federer on clay while Federer edged the Spaniard on grass. In the summer of 2008 Nadal defeated Federer in the Roland Garros final in a lopsided three-set match. Nadal was looking fitter and healthier than ever and there was an air of confidence around him.
Then came the most anticipated tennis match in their rivalry – the 2008 Wimbledon final. Grass was Federer’s strong territory and the All-England Tennis and Croquet Club was his fortress. Nadal had twice attempted a breach on his fortress but to no avail. The Spaniard had previously lost in four sets in 2006 and five sets in 2007 . Yet history was to be created now, as Federer lost in five sets in a rain-delayed final to the relentless warrior from Mallorca. This match was perhaps the turning point in Federer’s career; since then, Federer has never been the same again.
In the 2009 Australian Open final Federer again bowed out to Nadal’s perseverance and endurance in a five-set battle. The tears at the end of the final perhaps symbolized his mental exhaustion and helplessness to overcome the Nadal challenge. 2009 was still a memorable year for Fedex though, as he completed his career Grand slam by winning the French Open. He also defeated Nadal for only the second time ever on clay, with a straight sets win over him in the Madrid Masters. However, it can’t be ignored that Nadal’s injury-related problems that year were a blessing for Federer.
In 2011, Federer conquered every challenger, and even ended Novak Djokovic’s winning streak in the French Open semi-final, only to hit the wall again against Nadal in the final. While Nadal kept losing to Djokovic in major finals, he still managed to have an edge over the Swiss maestro. In the 2012 and 2014 Australian Open semi-finals Nadal defeated Federer in a relatively easy manner.
So what is it about the Spaniard that has unsettled the invincible Federer since their first meeting? Nadal is the only opponent in front of whom Federer seems to lose his aura of invincibility. Federer in his prime reigned over many good players like Djokovic, Murray, Roddick, Hewitt, etc., but not Nadal. Nadal’s footwork and tenacity seem to unsettle Federer’s class every time he takes the court. Nadal’s unbelievable volleys, vicious crosscourt forehands, his trademark banana shots seem to defy the sublime Federer backhand and forehand.
This indefatigable man from Mallorca runs roughshod over Federer from the baseline itself. His athleticism and agility seem to edge out Federer’s superior technical skills and racquet-head speed. It’s been seven years now since Federer last beat Nadal in a Grand Slam. Now that the Swiss maestro is in the twilight of his career there seems no possibility of this rivalry being competitive again.
To the eternal question – who is the greatest player ever – ardent tennis fans and profound experts would unanimously say “Roger Federer”. But for the other question – who is better between Nadal and Federer – statistics and logic says it’s “Rafael Nadal”.
Perhaps this rivalry is tennis’s greatest enigma which has made 21st century tennis even more fascinating.
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I think this battle will rage on for a few decades. It's interesting though to see the rationales for the debate.
Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal - who is the greatest of all time?
May 22 2014
http://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/roger-federer-vs-rafael-nadal-greatest-of-all-time/
Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal is undoubtedly among the fiercest battles ever seen in the history of tennis. There have been epic rivalries in the past, from Bjorn Borg vs John McCenroe, to Boris Becker vs Stefan Edberg, and later Pete Sampras vs Andre Aggassi, but for today's generation of tennis fans it is Federer vs Nadal that is considered the definitive rivalry of the sport.
The reason why I call the Federer vs Nadal rivalry the best rivalry in tennis history is because each of them has at some point or the other been called the greatest player of all time by different tennis legends – right from Sampras openly admitting that Federer is tennis' greatest ever to Aggassi saying that Nadal is the 'all time no. 1'. Then of course, there's the sheer mutual respect between Federer and Nadal which makes them praise each other as the 'greatest ever' in tennis.
The views are often contrary to each other; they all differentiate, and hence, can make it really hard for a tennis fan to actually come to a conclusion about who among these two is the 'GREATEST' of the game.
I'll acknowledge here that I've always been fond of Federer's classy tennis style, it's something that makes him stand out from the rest. But having said that, Nadal’s strengths cannot be ignored. His grasp of the court, his long reach and on top of that, his sheer fitness and enthusiasm for the game absolutely have to be respected.
Through this article I'll be looking at some very key aspects about the games of these two, including their respective records in the four Grand Slams as well as their overall sucess in all tennis tournaments. I'll also be taking into consideration the 'age factor' and the fact that both of them have been world No. 1.
Grand Slams
Nadal has always been rated as the 'king of clay' and Federer as the 'master of grass' – so the differentiation between these two must begin from these two very courts. Let's begin with clay first.
Claycourt: Nadal and Federer have played 15 matches on clay and thus far, Federer has performed shockingly below par with Nadal clinching 13 of the 15 matches that they've played. Nadal has always been the superior player on clay and in fact, has the highest win percentage in tennis history on claycourts. He’s won eight French Open titles to the solitary one that Federer clinched in 2009. No doubt, in this aspect, he's well and truly miles ahead of Federer.
Grasscourt: This is where Federer has enjoyed tremendous dominance throughout his career. Federer has won seven Wimbledon titles and Nadal only two. For the 3 consecutive years 2006-08, Federer and Nadal met in the Wimbledon finals, the first 2 were sealed by Federer and the last one – truly a thriller, Nadal snatched away from Federer 4-6,4-6,7-6,7-6,7-9, the match was played for 4 hours 48 minutes, making it the longest ever Wimbledon final. Tennis greats, critics and commentators widely consider this as tennis' "greatest match ever".
Hardcourt: Nadal and Federer have played 14 matches on hardcourts with Nadal having the upper hand here too, leading the tally 8-6. We have to distinguish this further and compare the stats in terms of – indoor and outdoor courts. In the former, Federer leads Nadal 4-1 but in the latter, Nadal leads Federer 7-2. In terms of Major victories, however, Federer leads the tally with nine as opposed to Nadal’s three.
Back in 2012, Nadal labelled Federer as the 'favourite on these kind of courts' – with reference to their match at the Australian Open earlier that year, which even though Nadal won, was a very neck-and-neck battle with the scoreline reading 6-7,6-2,7-6,6-4. The two have never played at the US Open so no comparison can be made there.
Rankings
In this area, there aren’t too many complications. Federer has been ranked No. 1 in the world for 302 weeks, while Nadal so far has been at the top for 137 weeks. The Swiss is the clear winner here.
Overall titles
Federer leads the tally here with 78 titles to Nadal’s 63, but Nadal has won far more Masters 1000 titles – 26 to Federer’s 21. So it’s difficult to say who comes out on top here.
Head-to-head matchup
It was fascinating to hear Federer admit after his match against Nadal earlier this year at the Australian Open that he is forced to alter his natural mode of play to compete against Nadal. For the Spaniard, however, the game plan has always been simple – attack the Federer backhand with the huge topspin crosscourt forehand. Nadal’s leftiness has always been an advantage for him against Federer, which partly explains the huge discrepancy in the head-to-head record on clay, where the ball bounces higher than other courts.
The bottom line
One of tennis' most well regarded players Bjorn Borg said in 2010 that Federer is the 'greatest' the game has ever seen, but went on to add, 'But Rafa has the chance to be the best ever'. It's always been very neck and neck between these two - one has been superior on claycourts and the other has been better on grasscourts.
Just a few months ago Federer had said that 'Nadal can break my record of 17 Grand Slams', further reinforcing the fact that these two don't actually mind the other being the superior, which is great to see. These two have had a friendly relationship for years now, playing charity matches together and engaging in fierce battles at the Slams, and it's very heartening to note that they have always had great respect and admiration for each other.
In terms of age, Federer is 32 and Nadal is 27. Age is just a 'number' for sportspersons, but surely in the context of this article, it cannot be ignored. Nadal does have the age factor in his favour and as Becker said, if Nadal "continues to be healthy", he may go on to become the greatest in the game.
Thus far in his career, Federer has won 17 Grand Slams, while Nadal has won 13. If we consider this from the age viewpoint - Nadal is 27 - it would be evident that if he does play till the age of 32, he still has about four years of solid tennis ahead of him. With that in mind, let's consider this – four years means 16 grand slams (four in one year), and Nadal at this point of time is just four Slams behind Federer. So if he even wins one Slam per year for the next four years, he'll be equal with Federer, and that is the worst case scenario for him.
Going by that projection logic, it clear that Federer is correct - Nadal can definitely break his 17-Slam record. There are very strict parameters for longevity in tennis though - it is not an easy game, and it requires a high level of mental and physical fitness. If Nadal continues to be strong mentally and physically, then he's surely a force to be reckoned with – even as far as being the 'greatest ever' in tennis is concerned.
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Agassi seems to love to keep mess going. I always suspect him of playing Devil's Advocate.
Andre Agassi creates storm by calling Rafael Nadal the greatest player of all time, ahead of Roger Federer May 9 2014
https://cricket.yahoo.com/news/andre-agassi-creates-storm-calling-111136044.html
Andre Agassi says Rafael Nadal is the greatest tennis player of all time, ahead of Roger Federer. The former World No. 1 said, “I’d put Nadal number one, Federer number two.”
Agassi, an eight-time Major winner himself, and one of only six men in the Open Era to have won the Career Grand Slam, is highly respected in the tennis world for his insights about the game. It goes without saying, then, that his latest comment is sure to reignite the much-debated GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) discussion in tennis.
“Federer separated himself from the field for four years. He separated himself from Roddick and Hewitt. Nadal had to deal with Federer, Djokovic, Murray in the golden age of tennis. He has done what he has done and he’s not done yet,” he added.
Agassi made these comments in an interview with Singapore publication Straits Times. The view expressed by Agassi is in contrast to remarks made by his arch-rival and fellow GOAT candidate Pete Sampras, who had once said, “The Greatest? I have to give it to him (Federer). The critics say Laver, and Nadal’s beaten him a few times, but in my book he is.”
Although statistically Roger Federer seems to be a better player at the moment, with the Swiss having won 17 Grand Slam titles compared to the Spaniard’s 13, Nadal has a better head-to-head ratio (23-10) against Federer. Moreover, Nadal only has to win the Australian Open to become the third player ever to win all four Grand Slams twice. Agassi emphasised this, saying, “He has won multiple majors, every single one (more than once) except the Australian Open – and give him another year on that.”
Agassi concluded by saying, “It’s just remarkable to me what he has done, and he has done it all during Federer’s prime.”
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PHOTOS: Rafael Nadal practices in Mallorca
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2014/07/29/photos-rafael-nadal-practices-in-mallorca/
Rafa is so sweet. Look what he did when he couldn't sign for the fans after his practice.
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And this one.
Relaxing before Wimbledon on board a yacht with his uncles.
Calm before the storm! Rafael Nadal relaxes with his family on board luxury yacht in Mallorca ahead of Wimbledon 2014
By Daily Mail Reporter Published: 04:47 EST, 17 June 2014 | Updated: 06:36 EST, 17 June 2014
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2659987/Rafael-Nadal-relaxes-pals-board-luxury-yacht-Mallorca-ahead-Wimbledon-2014.html
Rafa is blessed. he has amazing family support.
all his uncles and other members of his family are 100% behind Rafa 100% of the time.
He does have get extended family support. His uncles, cousins, sibling, and for important events and awards, Rafael the Elder often shows up. That's really nice to be a world class athlete and have so much family support.
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http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Toni-Nadal-Murray-is-rich-so-he-can-afford-Mauresmo--Nadal-is-less-rich-so-he-chose-me-articolo18826.html
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And this one.
Relaxing before Wimbledon on board a yacht with his uncles.
Calm before the storm! Rafael Nadal relaxes with his family on board luxury yacht in Mallorca ahead of Wimbledon 2014
By Daily Mail Reporter Published: 04:47 EST, 17 June 2014 | Updated: 06:36 EST, 17 June 2014
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2659987/Rafael-Nadal-relaxes-pals-board-luxury-yacht-Mallorca-ahead-Wimbledon-2014.html
Rafa is blessed. he has amazing family support.
all his uncles and other members of his family are 100% behind Rafa 100% of the time.
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http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2014/06/26/Wimbledon-Brain-Game-Saturday-Nadal-Federer.aspx
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And this one.
Relaxing before Wimbledon on board a yacht with his uncles.
Calm before the storm! Rafael Nadal relaxes with his family on board luxury yacht in Mallorca ahead of Wimbledon 2014
By Daily Mail Reporter Published: 04:47 EST, 17 June 2014 | Updated: 06:36 EST, 17 June 2014
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2659987/Rafael-Nadal-relaxes-pals-board-luxury-yacht-Mallorca-ahead-Wimbledon-2014.html
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http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2014/06/17/video-new-rafael-nadal-wax-figure-unveiled-at-madrid-museum/
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and here is another great article about Rafa:
http://www.sportskeeda.com/slideshow/tennis-10-records-rafael-nadal-never-broken/?imgid=4567&ref=slide-prev
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another article about Rafa:
http://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/is-rafael-nadal-the-greatest-player-of-all-time/
This article is so amazing. It's everything I would write if I could write a sports story. I agree with everything that the writer said. I have said all of this from the beginning. To me, it's just obvious.
another article about Rafa:
http://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/is-rafael-nadal-the-greatest-player-of-all-time/
This article is so amazing. It's everything I would write if I could write a sports story. I agree with everything that the writer said. I have said all of this from the beginning. To me, it's just obvious.
True TT. You really described the essence of Rafa. He is always truly natural in their words and expressions.
I'll never forget his speech amidst the pain, sadness and disappointment, but with words that flowed from his heart and soul.
And this article is perhaps the most perfect I've ever seen about Rafa.
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this one is from the Miami herald:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/03/15//v-fullstory/3997156/excitement-builds-for-return-of.html
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another article about Rafa:
http://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/is-rafael-nadal-the-greatest-player-of-all-time/
This article is so amazing. It's everything I would write if I could write a sports story. I agree with everything that the writer said. I have said all of this from the beginning. To me, it's just obvious.
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Really good interview Lady TT... Rafa is always so honest in your analysis... He always speaks honestly and objectively about the facts, about the happen, future expectations... I was so discouraged, but it is impossible not to renew the positive energies after seeing Rafa so sincere and fun. Rafa is Rafa, he is much more than tennis. ;)
Rafa seems to be more like a regular person, than a star. I think he is the most realest of them all, except Murray. He exhibits the same quality.
I'm not into people who think too highly of themselves.
Some people call that confidence, I call it vanity.
I don't like vanity.
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another article about Rafa:
http://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/is-rafael-nadal-the-greatest-player-of-all-time/
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Really good interview Lady TT... Rafa is always so honest in your analysis... He always speaks honestly and objectively about the facts, about the happen, future expectations... I was so discouraged, but it is impossible not to renew the positive energies after seeing Rafa so sincere and fun. Rafa is Rafa, he is much more than tennis. ;)
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Nadal's transcript vs. Dolgopolov: Rafa is so philosophical and funny!
Interview with Rafael Nadal (Indian Wells, March 10, 2014)
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2014/03/11/interview-with-rafael-nadal-indian-wells-march-10-;
2014/
Excerpts:
Q. Explain your feelings in the match. What happened?
Rafa-You can lose. I lost today. Congratulate him. He played I think better than me. That’s it. Life continues.
Gonna keep working hard to try to be ready for Miami.
Q. You mentioned the other day after your match with the back that you were afraid to hit your serve normally. I’m wondering if you felt the same today or…
RAFAEL NADAL: I served much better today than the other day.
Q. More normal?
RAFAEL NADAL: I am better with my back, so it is not a question with the back.
Q. The great thing about tennis, or one of it, is that it’s a cycle. In less than a month or so the tennis will turn to the clay season. You do so well on the clay. You feel so comfortable. Could you talk about what your feelings are when the clay season comes around, what you feel inside, and do you think you should be favored as the favorite for the French Open?
RAFAEL NADAL: I won on clay when I was playing well on clay. If I am not playing good tennis, doesn’t matter if it’s clay, hard, grass, or I don’t know, new surface. (Smiling).
I had a lot of success on clay during the last probably nine, ten years. It’s obvious that is a surface that probably help me to find the right feelings. But clay doesn’t mean success. Is a surface that I know how I have to play. In the end, it’s a tennis court. If you are not playing at the top level, I don’t going to have success on clay. Happens the same this year than years in the past. And talking about French Open, remain a lot about the French Open. My goal is try to be one of the candidates.
To be one of the candidates, I need to play well in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, and Rome to arrive with the right feelings. That’s what I gonna try.
Q. You played him recently. He’s never beaten you. Did you find that he was doing anything different tonight tactically against you?
At the end I have to analyze my part and opponent. I cannot talk about the opponent because what the opponent does is not in my hands. I can talk about what is in my hands, and what is in my hands I didn’t play enough solid today.
Q. You said you had good feelings in practice coming into the matches. So is it unusual that you are feeling very good in practice and then when you get to the match you don’t find the same level?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, is unusual.
Q. It’s unusual.
RAFAEL NADAL: When I am practicing well, normally I play well because I am a good competitor. That’s what happened most of the times in my career. Maybe I’m not a good competitor anymore (smiling). I am joking. Is not drama. Is lose. I accept that. Try to rest few days and be fresh mentally, and I hope to be ready for Miami.
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I just came across this site. it has an article on Rafa and the other top guns:
http://www.crunchsports.com/category/tennis/
http://www.crunchsports.com/category/tennis/indian-wells-2014-rafael-nadal-is-red-hot-favorite-to-retain-his-title-201403030022/
People always accuse Rafa of fake humility when he doesn't consider himself a favorite in any tournament, but I actually understanding his reasoning, based on the fact that :
ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN
And as much as this adage is repeated over and over in history, people are still shocked and blown away when upsets happen. It's very odd to me, but like Nadal, I don't believe in favorites, H2H statistics, or any other thing, but you can have a bad night's sleep, be lethargic from having a cold, or an upset stomach. Anything can throw you off of your game, just like us in real life.
Some days you're ultra productive, and other days you're working at half speed.
Don't believe in favorite.
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I just came across this site. it has an article on Rafa and the other top guns:
http://www.crunchsports.com/category/tennis/
http://www.crunchsports.com/category/tennis/indian-wells-2014-rafael-nadal-is-red-hot-favorite-to-retain-his-title-201403030022/
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affirmative. Rafa is too big for IMG anyway. his stock is going to continue to rise.
it is also time for Rafa to demand more money from Nike.
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Rafa forms his own management company:
http://www.10sballs.com/2014/03/03/rafael-nadal-creates-his-own-management-company/
Rafa always has something going on. They're all smart to brand themselves and quit giving IMG all that money.
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Rafa forms his own management company:
http://www.10sballs.com/2014/03/03/rafael-nadal-creates-his-own-management-company/
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I will start looking for more articles about Rafa so we can post them here.
felix nadalista has some content on his website that I hadn't seen before. Maybe we could borrow some with his permission and credit his website for the articles we get.
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I will start looking for more articles about Rafa so we can post them here.
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Beautiful Rafa Nadal Photo shoot
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/03/11/beautiful-rafa-photoshoot-by-clive-brunskill/
Rafa’s “distraction”
http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Rafael-Nadal-I-felt-emptied-throughout-the-whole-match-But-on-Twitter-fans-have-the-solution-articolo16330.html
wow lady TT. those are incredible pics of Rafa.
Rafa fans are going to love that.
keep them coming if you have more.
I firmly believe that Camelot has one of the best centers for Rafa that I have seen. it is totally dedicated to Rafa and there is so much material on Rafa here.
and if that was not enough, we have a ton of his matches at the CETSVids Global Tennis Video Center.
he also has 3 picture and art galleries.
I have some more ideas now for his picture and art galleries:
I think we should have a specific picture gallery for each of his title runs this year. so get ready for more Rafa picture galleries.
Agreed. This is the best place for news about Rafa
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Beautiful Rafa Nadal Photo shoot
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/03/11/beautiful-rafa-photoshoot-by-clive-brunskill/
Rafa’s “distraction”
http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Rafael-Nadal-I-felt-emptied-throughout-the-whole-match-But-on-Twitter-fans-have-the-solution-articolo16330.html
wow lady TT. those are incredible pics of Rafa.
Rafa fans are going to love that.
keep them coming if you have more.
I firmly believe that Camelot has one of the best centers for Rafa that I have seen. it is totally dedicated to Rafa and there is so much material on Rafa here.
and if that was not enough, we have a ton of his matches at the CETSVids Global Tennis Video Center.
he also has 3 picture and art galleries.
I have some more ideas now for his picture and art galleries:
I think we should have a specific picture gallery for each of his title runs this year. so get ready for more Rafa picture galleries.
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Nice article. He talks very open and honestly. No games, just simple truth.
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here is a Rafa interview:
http://www.palmspringslife.com/Palm-Springs-Life/March-2014/Reigning-Rafa-Returns/#.UxDlv_9efww.twitter
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Beautiful Rafa Nadal Photo shoot
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/03/11/beautiful-rafa-photoshoot-by-clive-brunskill/
Rafa’s “distraction”
http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Rafael-Nadal-I-felt-emptied-throughout-the-whole-match-But-on-Twitter-fans-have-the-solution-articolo16330.html
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...And the brazilian Rafa fans are very excited about this idea. We are cheering a lot for this partnership to be successful. Vamosssssssssssssssssssssss!!!
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That's a decent article. Pretty much as and how it happened.
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http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/10527561/rafael-nadal-signs-deal-ronaldo-marketing-agency
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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1973721-breaking-down-rafael-nadals-title-run-at-the-2014-rio-open
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Rafa signed with Ronaldo's marketing agency.
I will post the article here. I think I just saw something in our news tickers on the top of the page.
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Video: Nadal Barely Reacts to Sparkling Defensive Winner in Rio
By Chris Oddo | Thursday, February 20, 2014
http://www.tennisnow.com/News/Video-Nadal-Barely-Reacts-to-Sparkling-Defensive.aspx
So Rafa!
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http://www.tennisnow.com/News/A-Million-Dollars-a-Night-for-Rafa-in-New-Tennis-L.aspx
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Federer: Nadal can eclipse my Grand Slam record
ESPN staff
http://www.espn.co.uk/tennis/sport/story/286027.html
I will be overjoyed if he wins any of the remaining three.
Please do it, Rafa!
thanks for posting the article.
Federer is correct.
its a done deal if Rafa can snatch 2 slams this year. he will still be very close to the record if he snatches just 1 slam this year.
I believe he takes RG and the U.S. Open again this year.
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Federer: Nadal can eclipse my Grand Slam record
ESPN staff
http://www.espn.co.uk/tennis/sport/story/286027.html
thanks for posting the article.
Federer is correct.
its a done deal if Rafa can snatch 2 slams this year. he will still be very close to the record if he snatches just 1 slam this year.
I believe he takes RG and the U.S. Open again this year.
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New Rankings 2/24/14: Rafael Nadal tops, widens gap between himself, Novak Djokovic and others
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2014/02/24/new-rankings-february-23-rafael-nadal-tops-widens-hole-between-himself-novak-djokovic-rio-open-title-4000-points-alexandr-dolgopolov/
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Federer: Nadal can eclipse my Grand Slam record
ESPN staff
http://www.espn.co.uk/tennis/sport/story/286027.html
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**this is a great article about Rafa:
http://www.tennisnow.com/News/10-Things-That-Have-Happened-Since-Rafa-Last-Lost.aspx
Didn't like this part. Since when does a feat over double the one you're comparing it too, come off as lesser than?
I don't understand people who write this stuff, and understand even less, the people who believe it.
Is it as amazing as Roger Federer's Grand Slam semifinal streak, which reached 23? Probably not, but as far as clay court records go, Rafa's dominance at the penultimate level of clay events is quite a monumental achievement.
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**this is a great article about Rafa:
http://www.tennisnow.com/News/10-Things-That-Have-Happened-Since-Rafa-Last-Lost.aspx
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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1960671-will-rafael-nadals-influence-protect-the-future-of-clay-courts
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http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2014/02/8/Nadal-Laureus-Nomination.aspx
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well said maria.
vamossssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
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http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/02/nadal-cautious-return-following-back-injury/50666/#.UwUEzWeYZ9B
Let's hope for a wonderful recovery and a free year of injuries to our "Toro"!
May God protect and bless you Rafa! Vamos! ;)
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http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/02/nadal-cautious-return-following-back-injury/50666/#.UwUEzWeYZ9B
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excellent read about Rafa:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/toni-nadal-put-chip-rafa-nadal-39-shoulder-172300941--ten.html
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-14/rafael-nadal-says-he-s-confounded-critics-with-long-career-.html
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http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/02/nadal-unsure-if-he-can-match-federers-major-mark-aims-2016-games/50612/#.Uv7otGeYapo
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http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2014/02/11/manolo-santana-rafael-nadal-win-french-open-again-2014-roland-garros-paris/
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Thanks Clay Death! :D
...I love the sea and run the bike too.
I confess that I have a space in Camelot would be wonderful ... I'm not as bright as you, but I promise to work tirelessly to make cool things like you. :)
you don't have to do anything here maria. there are zero requirements at Camelot.
Camelot is lucky to have your blessings.
your place is here already. enjoy. you can post as much as you like or as little as you like.
and also you can post about anything you please. we are cool like that here.
all of us pretty much do whatever we please.
there is no need to be shy. you have as much right to Camelot as any of us.
Camelot was created and built for cool people.
growth will eventually happen. we are sure of it. we know more and more people will discover Camelot in time.
anyway enjoy all of Camelot and also your very own board. now you don't answer to anybody here but yourself.
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you may be the brightest maria.
you have a noble and bright character and that makes you very bright.
your very own place is here already. I placed it right next to felix nadalista's place.
I will start you off with your own show and then you can take it from there
I also just sent you a PM here.
it will be at the top of the main page.
also we have all these news tickers at the top. you can click on any headline and you can get the full article.
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Thanks Clay Death! :D
...I love the sea and run the bike too.
I confess that I have a space in Camelot would be wonderful ... I'm not as bright as you, but I promise to work tirelessly to make cool things like you. :)
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welcome Maria and thanks for everything.
we are glad to see you at Camelot.
we also have tons of rafa's matches at the tennis video center.
rafa's Montreal masters run in 2013 was fantastic.
we have all his matches from Montreal also.
post anywhere you wish and have fun.
I am out near the ocean and about to go for a bike ride.
I nearly forgot to mention something. just like Felix nada lists you too can have your own board.
all you have to do is let us know if you want one.
have fun and take care.
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The articles about Rafa are wonderful.
Journalists inspired by the exemplary attitude of Rafa, wrote beautiful things.
The "In the world obsessed with victory, Nadal Provided education in defeat" by Asia One Sports, posted by Clay Death is my favorite.
Thanks to All. ;D
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another cool article about Rafa:
http://news.asiaone.com/news/sports/win-obsessed-world-nadal-offered-education-defeat?page=0%2C0
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interesting stats there lady TT.
keep them coming.
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Here's another article courtesy of The Ticker.
Tennis Now Blogs
Number Sense: Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal, Round 33
http://www.tennisnow.com/Blogs/NET-POSTS/January-2014-(1)/Number-Sense-Roger-Federer-vs-Rafael-Nadal,-Round.aspx
By Nick Georgandis
Compelling numbers from the Final Four matchups of the Australian Open.
10.2% - Percentage of Roger Federer's career losses that have come to one man - Rafael Nadal. Federer has 216 total losses in his career, 22 of them to Nadal.
31.3%, 83.5% - Federer's career winning percentage against Nadal (10-22) followed by his career winning percentage against everyone else combined (921-194).
9 - Federer's win over Andy Murray in the quarterfinals was just the eighth time in a Grand Slam that he has played against an opponent ranked higher than him since 2002. Federer is 3-6 in those matches.
3 - Friday will be just the third time Nadal and Federer have met in a Grand Slam semifinal. The other two times were the 2012 Australian Open (won by Nadal in 4 sets) and the 2005 French Open (won by Nadal in 4 sets). Their other nine Grand Slam meetings have all been in finals, with Nadal owning a commanding 7-2 lead.
2004 - The last time two women seeded 20th or lower reached at least the semifinals of the Australian Open before this year with Eugenie Bouchard and Dominka Cibulkova pulling the trick. In 2004, it was 32nd seed Fabiol Zuluaga and 22nd seedPatty Schnyder. The pair lost to No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne and No. 2 Kim Clijsters in the final four.
4 - This will be Li Na's fourth Grand Slam final since 2011. The only woman to play in more in that time span is Serena Wililams (5), while Victoria Azarenka has also played in four.
1 - Dominka Cibulkova is the first Slovak player male or female, to reach a Grand Slam final.
17 - Despite being a county of just 7,997,000 people, Switzerland has had at least one Grand Slam finalist in 17 of the last 18 years. Martina Hingis reached at least one Slam final from 1997-2002 and Roger Federer from 2003-2012. After being shut out in 2013, the country already has its first finalist of the 2014 in Stanislas Wawrinka.
Posted: 1/23/2014 10:49:49 AM
- See more at: http://www.tennisnow.com/Blogs/NET-POSTS/January-2014-(1)/Number-Sense-Roger-Federer-vs-Rafael-Nadal,-Round.aspx#sthash.kT2hfabK.dpuf
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those Camelot tickers rock. we will add more cool features as we learn more about these things.
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Rafa injured his back ahead of the final:
http://www.stevegtennis.com/2014/01/nadal-injured-back-ahead-of-final-says-unbelievable-wawrinka-deserving-of-title-win/
This is why I am a fan of Rafa's. I like his mental outlook on life, wins, and disappointments. He handles everything so well. His mind needs to be studied. What an amazing person and athlete. I put person first.
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great read lady TT.
we must think alike. I was going to post it here too.
I was reading this same article just now as well. I saw it at our news tickers at the top of the main page at Camelot.
http://www.tennisnow.com/News/Nadal-Says-Australian-Open-Loss-Is-Still-Haunting.aspx
That's where I got it from. I read the tickers everyday. It's such a cool feature.
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Rafa injured his back ahead of the final:
http://www.stevegtennis.com/2014/01/nadal-injured-back-ahead-of-final-says-unbelievable-wawrinka-deserving-of-title-win/
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great read lady TT.
we must think alike. I was going to post it here too.
I was reading this same article just now as well. I saw it at our news tickers at the top of the main page at Camelot.
http://www.tennisnow.com/News/Nadal-Says-Australian-Open-Loss-Is-Still-Haunting.aspx
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I'm snitching this from Nadal News. http://www.nadalnews.com/2014/02/03/.../#.UvG5U7SGfqc
Rafa won two awards, Sporting Excellence and Best Sportsman of 2013, at the Mundo Deportivo award ceremony last night.
And I am snitching it also:
Couple of quotes from interviews he gave:
Quote:
[He's also been asked how he's feeling emotionally] I’m fine. What can I say… It’d be quite unfair to say that I’m not OK after all the things life has given to me. I’m a person who accepts defeats very well, I’ve always have, and after a few hours I don’t think of it any more. This time it’s taking me a bit more. In the end, it was an important match for me and I couldn’t compete. It was a bit unpleasant what happened and emotionally I’m now eager to be back competing because the best way to forget is by competing again.
Injuries never come at a good time, but this [back] was at one of the worst possible times: in front of 15000 people in a GS Final in a match at which you arrived well prepared, as the opponent, but ready for the challenge, after having gone through a difficult week due to the blister in the hand, after having been months preparing this tournament with all the dedication. Having done all the right things to reach to this moment that I dreamed to get to in good conditions, and then this happens… It’s part of the athlete life, but better if it doesn’t happen often (laughs). It’s turned out this way, you have to accept it and try to create more chances in the future.
[on the tears he shed on court]
There aren’t tears for back pain. They’re for pain of the helplessness, of having got there and not being able to compete. Obviously they are moments difficult to accept, even more if you are in the middle of the court and you know that you’re not going to win; that you have no chance at all to win. And I have no intention to retire because it’s a difficult and very unpleasant situation to retire in a final like that. Thus, I went through a very complicated moment there, the worst 1 hour and a half I’ve spent on a tennis court because of what the match meant to me, because of the match itself: a GS Final. But, well, that’s what happens sometimes and I tried to take it the best possible way get over it and end well. I think that was the only way to leave – at least with the head held high and that’s what I did, and here we are!
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I missed it. I don't know what steve flink said.
I know what my eyes said.
my eyes said that the man was injured and pretty much in tears.
can you post the article by steve flink here. we will check it out tomorrow.
I have to grab some sleep. I will have more time tomorrow.
we will try to build rafa's center a little bit tomorrow.
I know rafa's game better than anybody on the planet. I knew something was wrong even before he stepped out on the court.
sure stan played great in the first set but I also saw rafa not moving like he was moving against Federer who really takes the ball early.
so either rafa was worn out or he had a slight back issue which just got worse over time in that match. perhaps he stretched too far for some shot.
it can happen to anybody. it happened to me too.
I had to stop playing instantly. I could not stand up straight.
Sorry about that. I was having computer problems and it wouldn't let me post both at the same time. I attached the article in my previous post and bolded the excerpt.
But like you, I knew something was wrong immediately. I saw it early in the first set as well. When you watch a player's matches for over a decade you begin to notice the nuances. It was very early in the first set when I realized it, at 1-all or 1-2. You could see it all over his face. There was too much history at stake for him to fake an injury and the notion that he would is beyond ludicrous.
The day that Rafael Nadal comes on a court and does not compete full on hasn't happened yet. It's sad that people can even think this way when he has never exhibited such a quality.
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I missed it. I don't know what steve flink said.
I know what my eyes said.
my eyes said that the man was injured and pretty much in tears.
can you post the article by steve flink here. we will check it out tomorrow.
I have to grab some sleep. I will have more time tomorrow.
we will try to build rafa's center a little bit tomorrow.
I know rafa's game better than anybody on the planet. I knew something was wrong even before he stepped out on the court.
sure stan played great in the first set but I also saw rafa not moving like he was moving against Federer who really takes the ball early.
so either rafa was worn out or he had a slight back issue which just got worse over time in that match. perhaps he stretched too far for some shot.
it can happen to anybody. it happened to me too.
I had to stop playing instantly. I could not stand up straight.
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basically Rafa has 3-4 years to capture 4-5 slams.
I think he is going to do it.
this loss was tough for him but his resolve has most likely gone up a few hundred percent.
he will remember how it all went down and it is going to fuel his fire.
For sure, Nadal is defined more by his comebacks, than by his setbacks.
Did you see this from Steve Flink? It was funny on TW we were debating this and naturally there were these trolls coming in with the usual accusations. They were running rampant and accusing us of living in a parallel universe. Today, Flink wrote this and guess what? Not one of them were there.
Mouths wide shut, LOL!
Steve Flink:
http://www.tennischannel.com/news/Ne...x?newsid=13500
The injury/medical timeout lasted about seven minutes. While he was gone, Wawrinka vented on Ramos, wanting to know why Nadal had left the court and for what reason. He later explained he wanted to know the nature of the injury. Ramos stood his ground. He is a very experienced umpire who was explicitly following the rules. He was not obligated to answer Wawrinka, who was uncharacteristically out of control. When Nadal returned to the court, he was booed by a good many fans.
That was a terrible injustice. Did the crowd react that way because they sensed Wawrinka was questioning Nadal’s motives for leaving the court? I doubt it. The television audience could hear what Wawrinka was saying to Ramos but the audience was largely in the dark. Inexplicably, the fans did doubt the legitimacy of Nadal’s injury. Some fans on this site have suggested that Nadal fakes a lot of injuries, but I fundamentally disagree. That is ludicrous. He is a great sportsman, a man of integrity. The crowd was simply allowing their worst instincts to prevail. By the time the match was over, they knew full well that Nadal was genuinely hurt, and they applauded the Spaniard effusively during the presentation ceremony.
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basically Rafa has 3-4 years to capture 4-5 slams.
I think he is going to do it.
this loss was tough for him but his resolve has most likely gone up a few hundred percent.
he will remember how it all went down and it is going to fuel his fire.
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Roddick weighs in on AO 2014
Andy Roddick: ´Wawrinka deserved to win, but without injury Nadal would have made it´
The American Star reviews the men´s tournament
American Tennis 29 Jan 2014 - 12:40 / by Ivan Pasquariello
Former World No.1 and winner of the 2003 US Open, Andy Roddick - who know works as a commentator for Fox Sports - expressed his thoughts about the 2014 Australian Open Men's tournament. First on the list, Stanislas Wawrinka's victory: "I don't thin anyone expected him to win., but he deserved it. He beat Djokovic in the quarters, who was almost unbeatable in Melbourne since 2008, then Berdych who is a great player. In the final I personally think that without the back injury Nadal would have won, but Wawrinka did what he had to do and played great. Before the match I predicted Nadal to be the winner, if they'd asked me the same question today, I'd answer it the same way".
About Rafael Nadal's injury: "I don't think it is anything serious. He decided to finish the match, which was a nice sign of respect for Wawrinka, who could enjoy the actual moment of the victory. Despite that I think Nadal is going to be 100% ready for the French Open. If Rafa can reach 17 Grand Slam titles? I think it'll all depend on his physical condition. To win in Melbourne would have made it easier to achieve, but I think he can win the next two Roland Garros. If he doesn't have injuries over the next two years, he can manage to break the record".
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i think he is going to Barcelona on Monday for medical treatment but I am not 100% certain.
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Rafa, Rafa, Rafa.
He shouldn't be saying anything until he actually sees the doctor.
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here is another article.
I wish he would skip Miami. too much hard court activity can lead to injury:
http://msn.foxsports.com/tennis/story/rafael-nadal-not-to-miss-any-tournaments-with-back-injury-012914
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Rafael Nadal already 2014 Sportsman Of The Year
http://www.examiner.com/article/rafael-nadal
January 27, 2014
If you ever wanted to see a sportsman, you saw one on Sunday as Rafael Nadal gave a master class at the 2014 Australian Open men's final.
A back injury that kept Nadal from playing all out from early in the second set onward was not going to keep him from doing what he had to.
Nadal lost the final match to Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Wawrinka was already bullying the great Rafa before his back went out and spoiled the big media and fan story of Nadal taking his 14th Grand Slam tourney, tying Pete Sampras on the list.
There was majesty in the air, Sampras in the stands ready to hand the trophy to Nadal, but something happened on the way to that result.
Two things occurred in quick succession. Nadal went to the training room and came back, unable to chase down balls hit to the corner, losing more than 30% of his serve velocity. Then Wawrinka couldn't do anything to capitalize on it.
Rafa lost the second set as an observer, watching balls pass him. The crowd that booed him when he came back from the training room realized he was truly injured. No one in their right mind would go down two sets as a stalling tactic.
Wawrinka was stunned after he stirred the waters for the crowd when Rafa left the court. Stan went from pissed he wasn't told why his opponent was taking a break, to a player who couldn't or wouldn't take advantage of the injury.
ESPN commentary went from clueless to guessing games. Each game that Nadal lost in the second set, the guys on the microphone kept thinking would be his last. That was not going to happen.
The pain killers took time to kick in and while Nadal took the third set, he was at 3/4 speed and Wawrinka was still in his confused mental state about what the heck to do.
Nadal stayed on the court when he could have given up and given Wawrinka his first Grand Slam. He didn't. There was his pride, his respect for the game, the great tournament in Melbourne, the paying customers and the millions of fans around the world.
He stuck it out and put up as much of a fight as he could. He wiped away a tear or two after it was over, but gave the speech everyone expected. This was not about him, it was about Stan Wawrinka, who has come from the scrap heap of a few years ago to #3 in the world, out of the shadow of the great Federer.
The guy has always been a class act and proved it once again to those who doubted. Sure he's got his "quirks" as the media delicately calls his OCD-like behavior. And yes, he takes too much time between points, leaves opponents standing their with their rackets and no opponent across the net. But the guy should be the ultimate role model for anyone playing sports.
Gracious in both triumph and defeat, no enemies on the tour and a resume that could end up being the best of all time. He may have lost the match, but he won everything else there was on Sunday in Melbourne.
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fascinating article about Rafa:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/28ff29b4-78c4-11e3-a148-00144feabdc0.html?utm_content=buffer23f46&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer#axzz2riA3OY3H
I agree with Rafa's philosophy.
I think believing in your own hype is a recipe for disaster.
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affirmative.
I expect him to come out firing and not let himself be dictated.
;D ;D ;D ;D
So did I. So when he came out playing tentatively I thought something was up from the get-go.
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fascinating article about Rafa:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/28ff29b4-78c4-11e3-a148-00144feabdc0.html?utm_content=buffer23f46&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer#axzz2riA3OY3H
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affirmative.
I expect him to come out firing and not let himself be dictated.
;D ;D ;D ;D
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Fingers crossed it will be healed and he'll go back into warrior mode.
He's expecting a sterner test against Dmitrov, so I'm sure he'll be ready.
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affirmative.
hopefully Rafa can manage to let that blood blister heal.
I think his next match might be a little better if the blister is better.
he also needs to return better and he has to trust his backhand. get those 2 things going and he can make the match easier for himself.
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I almost can't wait for this to be over.
The tension is building, the quality opponents are all hungry.
AO 2014 definitely living up to the hype so far.
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here is one from the bleacher report:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1930028-rafael-nadal-is-the-only-one-who-can-stop-himself-from-winning-2nd-australian-op
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http://2014.ausopen.com/en_AU/news/articles/2014-01-18/nadal_monfils.html?promo=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Australian-Open+%28Australian+Open%29
Easy as 1-2-3 for Nadal
Saturday, 18 January, 2014
By Alexandra Willis
Rafa ran him ragged. That's one way of describing Rafael Nadal's neat 6-1 6-2 6-3 victory over Gael Monfils, an encounter that had promised to be a Saturday night gourmet but was more fast food instead, so good was the world No.1.
Monfils had teed up his 12th meeting with the Australian Open 2009 champion by describing it as "very nice" to be facing Nadal. Not exactly words of intent. The flexible Frenchman has the weapons and temperament to play the former champion tough, and he knows it. But, having lost to him two weeks ago in Doha for the ninth time, he also knows that he lacks the concept of what to do when to make that happen.
That is not to say that ‘LaMonf’, as his fan club fondly call him, played badly or with any lack of effort. He catapulted himself after balls as best he could, and even sent down a 214km/h second serve ace to show that he was not to be trifled with.
But Nadal was simply better. While Monfils ran, he ran faster. While Monfils hit, he hit harder. While Monfils roared, he roared loader.
"Tonight I think I played a great match," Nadal said. "Very happy the way that I played against a very tough opponent like Gael. So that makes the level that I played tonight better, because was against tough opponent."
Skipping his way into the fourth round in two hours and four minutes, it was not a wealth of winners that was impressive, just six, five and 10 set-by-set. It was Nadal's relentless consistency everywhere else. Making 90 per cent of returns in set one, and keeping his first serve figures above 65, he executed as if every point were a match point, no quarter given, no easy route taken.
Back- to-back breaks to start things off were the product of Monfils' forehand flying long, followed by a backhand at 5-1 in Nadal's favour. Two breaks came in set No.2 at 3-2 and 5-2, an unforced forehand error and a double fault from the former world No.7 deciding both. And in the third, another forehand error, this time at 4-3.
The Frenchman had six break points, six chances to take the match to Nadal, and on every one, he was left unsatisfied.
His 57 unforced errors didn't help either.
The third set presented the potential to turn things around, Monfils earning two break points at 3-3, the crowd urging him on with allez's and come on's. But Nadal snuffed them out.
"I just keep fighting, that's tennis, that's always tough. My spirit was to keep trying," Monfils said about that third set.
"Definitely today he was in great shape, much better than Doha for sure. Been a while since I play Rafa like that."
Ominous for his opponents, the next of whom is Kei Nishikori, the 16th seed. Nadal has dropped just one set to Nishikori in five meetings, and on Saturday night's showing, looks highly unlikely to add to that number.
"Kei is a great player, he is able to play very aggressive, make very easy the very difficult things,” Nadal said.
“He is very quick on the movements and will be a very tough opponent for me. He is playing great, it will be a tough one. I need to play the way that I played tonight."
In fact, Nadal was unusually complimentary about his level.
"Well, today I think I have to say that I played well from everywhere," Nadal said. "I think I played very well with my forehand. Very good control of the ball. Good winners. Movements were great tonight.
"Backhand very good, I think. If we can add to that, I didn't lose serve during the whole match. That's another good thing.
But, true to form, he remains circumspect about what comes next.
"Just one very good day," Nadal said. "That makes me feel confident, but I am in fourth round. That's all.
"At the end, no one is unstoppable."
Monfils and his other conquered opponents might beg to differ.
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http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/01/doha-nadal-d-monfils/50140/#.UsirEfRDvxY
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http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/01/doha-nadal-d-gulbis/50120/#.UsYsQmeA2po
Rafa vs Gulbis: Doha 2014
The year was new, but the story was old. That’s the quickest way to describe Rafael Nadal’s 7-5, 6-4 win over Ernests Gulbis today in Doha. It happened on the second evening of 2014, but it could have been played in any season going back to 2008, when these two players first met. For the seventh time in seven matches, Nadal survived a Gulbissean onslaught of brilliant shots, bone-headed choices, and ball-abuse warnings. The only difference is that, for just the second time, Rafa and Ernie got it all over with in straight sets.
Last March, after beating Gulbis in three in Indian Wells, Nadal said, “To play against a player like Ernests, the right thing to do, in my opinion, is play against his backhand and change to his forehand quick, no?” But that’s not how Nadal, the newly minted poker pro, went about his business today. For much of the match, he used the opposite tactic, working Gulbis’s forehand over before going quickly to the open court on the backhand side. Nadal also looked to move forward a little more on important points, eventually winning 11 of 15 up there. This wasn’t Rafa at his best or most freewheeling, which shouldn't be unexpected on January 2nd. But from a focus perspective, Nadal appeared to be in mid-season form already. Down 1-3 in the second, he held off four game points to break. Two games later, he put two passing shots on the line that not only broke Ernie’s serve again, but his mind as well.
As for Gulbis, the match resided, as it always does when he plays Rafa, on his racquet. He hit 35 winners and made 38 errors, while Nadal hit 16 and 14, respectively. When Gulbis made a first serve or put a deep return into the court, the points were typically his. But once again, he didn't have the psychological stamina to stay with Nadal the whole way. Gulbis needs a mental break or two over the course of a match, and unless your name is Novak Djokovic, mental breaks spell doom against Nadal. A case in point was Gulbis’s service game at 3-1 in the second. He was up 40-15 and had four chances to end it, but Nadal never caved. The key point of the game, and the set, came at deuce, when Gulbis drilled a putaway forehand right back to Nadal and eventually lost the point. Ernie pounded, but he couldn't pound long enough to make the wall fall down.
Along with his efficient baseline play, Nadal made 81 percent of his first serves, and he had Gulbis guessing to the end. On match point, Rafa hit a rare second serve down the T in the ad court; it fooled Gulbis and Nadal won the point easily. “Go quick to his forehand”: Rafa, who always seems to hold the right cards when he needs them, came back to his old strategy just in time.
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An Interview With Rafael Nadal (Doha, December 31, 2013)
Jan 1
R. NADAL/L. Rosol 6‑2, 7‑6
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Well done. How much did it mean to you to get your revenge?
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, I never take revenges, first thing. Thinking about revenge is a bad way to start the match, my opinion. You have to start with the calm and with the mind very open to analyze what’s going on in the match.
I was a little bit nervous. I didn’t have a great memory of the last match playing against him. After that match I didn’t play not one more match in a tennis court for almost eight months, so it was a bad feeling in that moment.
Today, first match of the season, always a little bit nervous playing against a player that I lost last time. Not a lot of practices on my shoulders yet, but I felt that I should win before.
I had a lot of chances in the beginning of the second. I finished the first set playing a little bit better, so the second set I had a lot of mistakes in that important moments, too, but in my opinion I should go and make the difference on the score from the beginning.
So then became very close, everything, and I was close to lose the set.
Q. He hits the ball flat and his style is difficult.
RAFAEL NADAL: Yes, he hit the ball very hard, very flat. But at the same time, probably for moments I played too short, no? If I’m able to play longer, to play a little bit higher or longer, he takes a lot of risk in every shot.
Playing from more difficult positions, in my opinion, he will not have that success that he had in the second set, no? So my opinion was more my fault. But he was in the match until then.
Q. You said yesterday that because you had some treatment on your knee that you had a bit less time to practice during this last offseason. Will that make it especially difficult for you going to the Australian Open this year? Because everyone only has two weeks of competition, anyway, and you’re saying you had less time to practice this year.
RAFAEL NADAL: I don’t think so, no. Always more difficult for me here. Starting in Australia, I think I will have two more weeks practicing with the best players. That makes you feel on rhythm, and I won a match today. That helps. Always a win is important, but is more important today because I have another chance tomorrow I play again.
It is beginning of the season, and without having a lot of time for practice at home, every match that I will be able to play will be very important practice for me. That will help me to get the rhythm faster. So the victory means to me today I gonna try tomorrow again.
Q. Obviously New Year’s Eve. Wondering if you’re the kind of guy who makes any kind of declarations about next year, what you like, any kind of resolutions or New Year’s resolutions.
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, at the end it’s another day. It’s true that ends a very special season for me, and season 2013, this year, will be in my heart forever.
Just the same, like everybody says, but is difficult to say another thing, no? Health for everybody. That’s most important thing. Without health, the rest of the things are impossible. So for everybody that’s the most important thing. That’s it.
Then, sure, a lot of things to work in this world to make the world better for everybody. Don’t have this big disadvantage between someones and other ones. That’s why I have foundation that I’m working, and hopefully everybody gonna do it more and more in the next years and will try to help more people and will be a more fair and equal world.
Q. Is it easier to come back to play in a year following a year that you have been out for injury or something? Is it lesser expectations on you in the new season like it was for you last year and maybe for ‑‑because if you had a bad year, the next year, if there is less pressure when you come back like maybe for Federer this year.
RAFAEL NADAL: No, the pressure ‑‑my feeling, you know, at the moment of our careers or my career, the pressure is only the pressure that you put on yourself. The rest of the pressure today doesn’t exist.
I did more than what I ever thought I ever dreamed, so just the pressure is try to keep having chances to compete well, keep chances to enjoy to play in the best stadiums, in the best matches, and be part of these matches. Then hope to be ready for the next year.
I feel the same pressure today than one year ago. Just makes the difference that today I already had one year on my shoulder playing with my knee, and one year ago, one year before, a little bit less was everything new for me. I didn’t know what’s going on after the injury.
So hopefully stay healthy and can play again another full season.
Q. We all know that you are a big fan of football. You probably know that two of the most prestigious teams of soccer will be here, some of your friends of the Real, will be playing against Paris Saint‑Germain. So will you be going?
RAFAEL NADAL: We are playing tomorrow?
Q. After tomorrow.
RAFAEL NADAL: After tomorrow. I don’t know. If I lose tomorrow, sure (smiling). Hopefully not.
Q. The game is at 6:00 p.m.
RAFAEL NADAL: Is not the best timing for us if I still in the tournament. If I’m not on the tournament, then I will have the chance to practice in the morning and visit the friends and visit the match on the afternoon.
So we’ll see what’s going on. Hopefully I will not have that chance. I gonna try my best to not have that chance.
Q. I’m just curious, is this kind of a strange week because you’re playing next year but it’s still this year? Is it confusing at all?
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, no. It’s fine, I think. Good thing is next year we start later. Last year that will happen this way. Next year we start the season around 4th, so that’s better for everybody, my opinion, because it’s good to start the new season is really the new season, not when you’re in the last season.
So that’s all, no? As I said before, at the end it’s just another day, but it’s true that tomorrow we will say we are in 2014, and at the end that’s a good thing.
Q. Andy Murray wins his match today with less efforts. Do you think this is a good thing, positive thing, or negative thing?
RAFAEL NADAL: What?
Q. With less efforts.
RAFAEL NADAL: Okay.
Q. This is positive or negative for a player coming from injury?
RAFAEL NADAL: Doesn’t matter. Important thing for him, if I be in his position, positive thing is if he’s able to play with no pain, he’s able to compete and to have matches in his shoulders today. And winning, it’s true that the match, his match of today, I saw a little bit, and was not ‑‑it was not real match, because at the end he played against a wildcard, and even if the wildcard tried hard, you know, was a hard moment for him, I think, for the wildcard.
Important thing for him is he take a feeling on court, on the competition again, and now tomorrow will have ‑‑he will have another opportunity to compete better against a very serious opponent like Mayer. So I think it’s positive for him. It cannot be negative.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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Rafael Nadal Pre-tournament Press conference at Qatar Open (Transcript)
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Welcome back to Doha. It feels very good to see you. We missed you here last year. What an incredible comeback. You had an amazing year after your injury. Are you happy with your achievements? You became No. 1 again, two Grand Slams, I don't know how many titles this year. What would be your goals for this coming year?
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, thank you very much. Yeah, what happened is the past, so we talk enough of 2013. Happy for everything, but in one day we are in 2014. Let's talk about 2014.
Excited to be back here in Doha. It's a place I feel very comfortable. Have good friends here.
Last year was hard not have the chance to start the season from the beginning. So this year is a special feeling, start again, and the goals are very similar all the time. Just health, most important thing. Without health, the rest is impossible.
Going to try to be competitive since the beginning. First two events are very early for me. I did some treatment on the knee after the end of the season, so I didn't play ‑‑I didn't have the chance to play tennis for a while. But the good thing is that treatment is working really well, so I am feeling better and better every day. So that's most important thing for me today. So very happy for that.
But is true that talking about how much I had the chance to practice before Abu Dhabi and before here, I started two weeks ago, two weeks and a half, and the first week I didn't move myself, just practicing from the middle. So realistic, I was playing for one week or something, no?
I gonna try my best. I start today in doubles. It will help me for a little bit for a little bit more practice and trying to practice as hard as I can during these days. I hope to be competitive tomorrow, but if not, I gonna keep practicing hard because in two weeks that is important for me.
Q. Just on the treatment on the knee, what was it? Was it similar to the treatment you have had in the past? In the past, how quickly did you recover after that treatment?
RAFAEL NADAL: No, seriously, I really felt that this one is the ‑‑I don't know how to say in English, so it's difficult for me to explain, but I feel that this one really make me feel more comfortable because I don't have pain like I had, no?
So even if I was able to play very well this year, you know, is true that I played a lot of days with anti‑inflammatories. But anyway, I was able to compete very well during the full season since I started. That was my goal and idea, so very happy about everything.
But for the normal life, not talking about playing tennis, with normal life is true that with that last treatment I feel more comfortable on my knee during the rest of the day. I feel that I can do much more normal life than what I did last year and a half, because at the end I was playing tennis, but for the rest, I just relaxed.
Is true that I played some golf, but not able to play in other sports, not able to, you know, to enjoy myself practicing the sports outside of tennis. For me, that's a very important part of my life, because I love to practice sport. Is true that I am professional tennis player, but I feel more happy when I am able to do different things.
Q. This treatment was the same as...
RAFAEL NADAL: No, it was a little bit different. Yes.
Q. Just following up, we all know you love football. The state of your knee at the moment, can you kick the football?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah. I did in Argentina. Few penalties. I will not do it. I will not play a football match. I didn't play football for the last two years and a half. I love to play football more than nothing else, but today I feel will not be the right decision to take risks on that, and especially the better feeling on the knees is from few weeks ago, so, you know, I am not confident on that yet.
Q. My other question is the ATP are trying to make a longer offseason, but you don't seem to have had any offseason because you went to South America and then you went Madrid and Paris getting awards. How much time did you actually have in Majorca?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yes, in the end, in my opinion, my opinion about the calendar and the offseason is ‑‑the problem is not how many weeks you have offseason. The problem is the mandatory events that you have to play until the last week of the season. So for me will not be any problem have tournaments until 24th of December, but you don't have to be forced to play, no? You can choose.
If you put until 24th of December events, 1000 Masters Cup, so you are forced to play, because then if you are not playing these kind of events, you're gonna lose a lot of chances to be in the top positions of the rankings. So nobody wants to do it.
So my feeling is sometimes for us, even if we don't rest a lot, is truly probably you understand very well because in our world we have sponsors, we need to do things for them. At the end, the sponsors have the confidence on ourself, so we need to have a good response for them. That's what they did during December, because during the rest of the season I didn't have a lot of time to take care of them, no? So I had to work a little bit more than usual in December.
Talking about exhibitions, for us sometimes is important to visit places that you cannot visit during the normal tour, no? And in the end I have the chance to visit places that I feel close to them, talking the same language, playing in places that I didn't play them in that places for a long time ago.
I had the chance to visit some of my friends, have some holidays, too, and then when you're playing exhibitions, you try your best when you play the match, but for the rest is a little bit like holiday for me, no? So I enjoyed when I went there with friends, so I had fun.
Q. How many days at home in Majorca?
RAFAEL NADAL: I cannot say. I was back on 27th, Majorca, and I spent since 27th of November until 25th of December I have been there almost every day. Is true I fly to Prague to play the tournament one day. I fly to L'Equipe to receive the award, half day. I arrived there in afternoon and then I come back during the night. Didn't lose practice.
In Madrid I received award when I was coming back from South America. So even ‑‑I didn't lose time, no? That's all. The rest I have been in Majorca.
Q. What attitude will you take to your tournament schedule? Will it be a little less than before? And will you be prepared to change it if you don't feel quite right, the number of tournaments you play? Which tournaments will you be prepared to change that if you don't feel right?
RAFAEL NADAL: Tennis is you have an idea. You have an idea before the season start, and you prepare because you have to prepare your calendar. But in tennis is completely different than in a sport that not change the calendar. Depends if you are winning or if you are losing, no? The calendar is not about how many tournaments you play. It's about how many matches you play.
From beginning I am playing here, I am playing in Australia, and then I have in my calendar Buenos Aires and Rio that I had great experience playing last year in clay in February, so I want to be back there. And then my idea is play Indian Wells and Miami, but you never know.
Q. You'll see how you feel?
RAFAEL NADAL: Exactly. That's my idea. But you never know what's going on after Australia. You never know what's going on after Indian Wells. Depends.
Q. Can you talk a little about the coaching arrangement, new coaching arrangements in tennis? Novak with Becker and of course Lendl and Murray is old, but Edberg now with Federer. Can you talk a little about that? You're not having the former players coaching. Even Chang with Nishikori.
RAFAEL NADAL: At the end, my opinion, tennis is a simple sport. I said a few days ago in an Abu Dhabi you don't need to study a lot to teach tennis, my opinion.
But talking about the tour, is true it's much better if you have big stars, past stars involved in our sport like Lendl, like Becker, like Edberg, that they will be around the tour much more often today because of the new status that they have. So that will be great news for our tour, for our sport.
So happy to hear this news, because in the end, what makes the sports big is the combination of history and new events. I think it's great to combine events with a lot of history, so at the same time it's great to combine the past champions and they have a lot of influence on the tour today with the new status. I think it's great for us.
Q. Kind of on the same theme, but can you talk about ‑‑you have always had a consistent relationship obviously with Uncle Toni, and that your coaching hasn't changed. How important is that, do you think, to your success?
RAFAEL NADAL: Today I am working with Toni, with Francis, and for me, it worked well. Everybody has his feelings. Not for everybody work the same things. I am a person that 95, 99% of the times feel that if something is going wrong is because of me, not because of the others.
When something is going well is because I am doing the right things, too, with the help of the rest. But if never worked well for me what I have, maybe you can think on change. But if worked well for you of any time in the past is because the team is the right team. If now is not working well is because you are not doing the right things or you are not that good.
But my idea of life and teamwork is, you know, have continuation on all the work for so many years, and what says that is I never fire no one people in my team since I started my career. That's the real thing. No one in my career. That's the thing.
I changed physio. Today Rafael is with me, but the other one that I had before he left because he has kids and he prefers to be at home, not because I fired nobody, no?
That's the real thing, no? I feel comfortable like this. If I don't change it until the age of 27 1/2, I probably don't gonna change.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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http://www.gulf-times.com/sport/192/details/376192/after-a-memorable-2013%2c-nadal-eyes-an-awesome-2014
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http://www.stevegtennis.com/2013/12/reasons-behind-rafael-nadals-remarkable-comeback-in-2013/
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http://www.stevegtennis.com/2013/12/nadal-set-to-play-copa-claro-in-buenos-aires-in-2014/
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I love these articles, because they confirm what I knew back in 2005 after seeing him for the first time. I've never been swayed by the opinion of others, neither the majority or the minority. God gave each of us a brain and we should use them accordingly. Accepting what comes from others has never appealed to me in the least.
Now the naysayers and saying what many Rafa fans knew all along. It's awesome!
all rafa has ever done is prove the world wrong.
I still think the best is yet to come.
he will show the world something they have never seen before.
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I love these articles, because they confirm what I knew back in 2005 after seeing him for the first time. I've never been swayed by the opinion of others, neither the majority or the minority. God gave each of us a brain and we should use them accordingly. Accepting what comes from others has never appealed to me in the least.
Now the naysayers are saying what many Rafa fans knew all along. It's awesome!
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I will keep posting any and all articles that I see about the clay warrior.
our Rafa center is going to be the very best one day.
he is skyrocketing in popularity. we are sure to attract a few other Rafa fans here.
Camelot is a good place for people to relax and also stay informed about tennis and all the other sports.
our wide world of sports has links to breaking news on ALL of the sports.
all in one place.
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Gre
here is another good article about Rafa:
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20131224/ARTICLE/131229595
Nice article, but they get on my nerves with counting his ticks. Every player has ticks, they just don't highlight them. Even in the clip that they show the other player is sitting over there "ticking" away.
But, the good thing is that it shows that ticks, in the end, have nothing to do with performance, or the end goals.
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Rafa just raked in another award:
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/12/24/rafael-nadal-named-2013-united-states-sports-academy-male-athlete-of-the-year/
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here is another good article about Rafa:
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20131224/ARTICLE/131229595
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This is a great new article on Rafa's 2013 in review.
The writer encapsulates all that Rafa is to his fans.
I really enjoyed this article, and hope you all do too.
http://www.tennisnow.com/News/2013-in-Review-Rafael-Nadal.aspx#sthash.9qHuFO7t.dpuf
Excerpt:
When taken in context, Rafael Nadal's 2013 was really one of the most incredible seasons in recent memory. Nadal's campaign began with whispers of impending doom and, almost miraculously, after the Spaniard made a stunning return from career-threatening knee issues in Chile in February, ended with satisfied screams of ecstasy and whispers of GOATness.
It wasn't just that Nadal gobbled up titles and racked up milestones in 2013, it was the way that he emerged from a giant cluster of depressing black clouds like some magical raptor straight from the sun, all glimmering and glistening, and playing with a renewed vigor that, simply put, was undeniably beautiful.
Nadal's modus operandi as a tennis player is to run hot like a muscle car or a thoroughbred, and because of that fact, many had him pegged as over the hill at the tender age of 26. When he announced his withdrawal from the 2013 Australian Open there were a lot of puzzled scribes in tennisland who couldn't help but prognosticate that the end was near. His game, that combustible concoction of fast-twitch muscles and a high-revving heart, simply was not built to last...
Well, that point was proven to be further and further from the truth as the season wound on and Nadal, playing passionate, shaman-like tennis on hard courts as well as clay courts started racking up improbable victory after improbable victory.
great read.
keep them coming.
;D ;D ;D
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This is a great new article on Rafa's 2013 in review.
The writer encapsulates all that Rafa is to his fans.
I really enjoyed this article, and hope you all do too.
http://www.tennisnow.com/News/2013-in-Review-Rafael-Nadal.aspx#sthash.9qHuFO7t.dpuf
Excerpt:
When taken in context, Rafael Nadal's 2013 was really one of the most incredible seasons in recent memory. Nadal's campaign began with whispers of impending doom and, almost miraculously, after the Spaniard made a stunning return from career-threatening knee issues in Chile in February, ended with satisfied screams of ecstasy and whispers of GOATness.
It wasn't just that Nadal gobbled up titles and racked up milestones in 2013, it was the way that he emerged from a giant cluster of depressing black clouds like some magical raptor straight from the sun, all glimmering and glistening, and playing with a renewed vigor that, simply put, was undeniably beautiful.
Nadal's modus operandi as a tennis player is to run hot like a muscle car or a thoroughbred, and because of that fact, many had him pegged as over the hill at the tender age of 26. When he announced his withdrawal from the 2013 Australian Open there were a lot of puzzled scribes in tennisland who couldn't help but prognosticate that the end was near. His game, that combustible concoction of fast-twitch muscles and a high-revving heart, simply was not built to last...
Well, that point was proven to be further and further from the truth as the season wound on and Nadal, playing passionate, shaman-like tennis on hard courts as well as clay courts started racking up improbable victory after improbable victory.
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http://espn.go.com/blog/espntennis/post/_/id/967/amazing-year-makes-rafa-slam-dunk-poy
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good to see you around Moxie.
don't be a stranger around here. Camelot gates are always open.
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Some really great reads. Thanks!
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manolo Santana:
Rafa can hit 17 slams:
http://www.stevegtennis.com/2013/12/manolo-santana-nadal-can-equal-federer-in-grand-slam-titles/
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you, me, and embla have the rafa center at Camelot rocking.
general Tee loves Rafa too.
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this is one hell of an article about Nadal:
http://thebestyoumagazine.co/hunger-win-profile-rafael-nadal/
Loved it!
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breaking new on Rafa:
http://www1.skysports.com/tennis/news/12110/9057508/
he is going back to Argentina.
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que pasa Rafa fans?
;D ;D
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I am searching for the interview with Toni this year. Just a fab interview where you really get to know Rafa better, Rafas mind.
The Truth.. Have you read it? I can't find it!!
Edit/ found it!!
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/09/01/toni-nadal-rafa-is-probably-the-player-with-the-most-match-wins-playing-poorly/
No, I hadn't seen it. I enjoyed it very much, thank you.
I love the way Toni talks, straight and to the point. He keeps things in perspective too. I'm glad he's finally admitting that Rafa is indeed good at tennis. He used to talk him down a bit, but now with him having achieved so much, it's harder to deny it.
This was one of my favorite parts (I don't know how to bold on here yet), because this is exactly how I see Richard. I don't understand why people think Gasquet is so talented. Maybe he is, it doesn't seem that way to me, but his lack of fighting spirit has always been a problem imo.
Overall, Toni tells the truth, and I like it.
Thanks for posting the article. Great read.
Why is it the case that there are players that the press talks up, pushes hard about their potential – I’m thinking specifically of Richard Gasquet – and then they just stagnate?
Because one has a potential as a youth, but if you analyze it carefully – as a professional, not an amateur – you’d say: OK, this player has a good serve, fine. He has a very solid backhand. The drive is OK. Is he a fighter? Not so much. Physically? Also, not impressive. Therefore, sure, you’re a very good player, but not for assaulting the throne of Djokovic, Murray, or Federer.
You’re saying that often times the press or fans are putting more on a player than is really there?
Yes, very often. Because often the writers aren’t experts in what they’re writing about. [...]
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I am searching for the interview with Toni this year. Just a fab interview where you really get to know Rafa better, Rafas mind.
The Truth.. Have you read it? I can't find it!!
Edit/ found it!!
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/09/01/toni-nadal-rafa-is-probably-the-player-with-the-most-match-wins-playing-poorly/
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this is one hell of an article about Nadal:
http://thebestyoumagazine.co/hunger-win-profile-rafael-nadal/
What makes the world’s Number One tennis player so great? The Best You discovers Rafael Nadal and finds a fascinating combination of brilliance and vulnerability.
With his famous chiselled features and his mop of dark hair, Rafael Nadal is every inch the 21st Century photogenic sporting hero. His intensity before matches is legendary, and on the court he maintains an extraordinary focus on winning.
Describing his mental state during his 2008 Wimbledon win, Nadal says:
“What I battle hardest to do in a tennis match is to quiet the voices in my head, to shut everyting out of my mind but the contest itself, and concentrate every atom of my being on the point I am playing.”
About Wimbledon, he says “the cathedral hush of Centre Court is good for my game.”
And just as if he really is in a cathedral, Nadal is a man of rituals. Before matches he runs through a series of “inflexible routines” that awaken the world-class sportsman in his soul.
If he is about to play after lunch, he eats the same pasta dish – “no sauce, nothing that could possibly cause indigestion – with olive oil and salt, and straight, simple piece of fish. To drink: water.”
Then, an hour before play he goes deeper into the routine. “I stop being the ordinary me when a game is on. I try and become a tennis machine, even if the task is ultimately impossible. I am not a robot.”
He bottles up all his normal feelings. Doubts, hopes, everything is flattened out. He begins to think only in the moment.
Forty-five minutes before a match, Nadal takes an ice cold shower. “Under the shower, I enter a new space in which I feel my power and resilience grow. I’m a different man… I’m activated,” he says, talking of being “in the flow” – that moment in which a sportsman no longer thinks about his game, but enters a trance like state of heightened consciousness.
The rituals continue. Be they receiving a massage, putting in his hair band with a kind of automated absence, or having his hand strapped to prevent the skin tearing when he takes the powerful shots he is famed for.
He talks of it with extraordinary precision. And though he claims not to be a “tennis machine”, this ritual of focus certainly seems to take away the ordinary Nadal from the equation.
Nadal on the court is intimidating, fast, strong and powerful. Standing at 1.85 metres (6 feet 1 inch) tall, he exudes invulnerability – perhaps even arrogance.
Off the court, however, he is a different person altogether. Cautious, even neurotic and vulnerable, Nadal’s rise to fame is not one of the all-conquering individual rising to world dominance driven solely by his sporting genius.
While individual brilliance is an element of his success, his life and his personality tell a far more complex story, revealing how much he is the product of a tight-knit family and community.
Born in 1986, Nadal grew up in Mancora on the Spanish island of Mallorca. He remembers his childhood days fondly. “It was a fairytale childhood,” he says, recalling how he used to spend time with his grandparents and other adults, staying out till late as a boy.
He loved football best of all. Playing on the streets with the other boys was a delight for him, and he played whenever he could, loving the team ethos.
He started to play tennis at the age of four, when he saw his uncle Toni Nadal, a former professional tennis player, teaching a group of boys and decided to join in.
Uncle Toni’s influence was to be pivotal to Rafael’s life. Described as a “severe man from another era” by some who have met him, Toni saw Rafael’s talent and decided he had the potential to be a superstar.
Rafael’s father, Sebastian, operated a glass manufacturer selling trinkets for the growing tourist trade in Mallorca. He arranged for Toni to look after Rafael’s coaching in return for a partnership in the business, and the coaching started in earnest.
“Toni was tough on me right from the start, tougher than the other children,” Rafael remembers. He used “rough language” with Rafael and fired balls at him to startle him when his attention wandered. Toni made him clear up the balls from the court and sweep it after the sessions, something none of the other boys had to do. Little Rafael would sometimes come home from training sessions crying. Once, when his mother asked him what the matter was, he recalls telling her his uncle had called him a “mummy’s boy”. But he begged her to say nothing to his uncle, because it might interfere with his coaching.
Despite Toni’s toughness, Rafael stuck at the sport, growing keener when he started to win competitions at the age of seven. But Toni remained harsh. He never gave praise, focusing on the mistakes Rafael had made and how to improve. When the seven-year-old Rafael forgot to take his water bottle to a tournament, Toni wouldn’t buy him another. He should “take responsibility for his actions” he told him, both on and off the court.
When asked if he was unnecessarily hard on Rafael, Toni replies that he “never pushed the boy more than he could take.” His aim, he tells people, was to ensure that Rafael should learn about endurance.
“Endure. Learn to overcome weakness and pain, push yourself to breaking point, but never cave in. If you don’t learn that lesson, you’ll never succeed as an elite athlete,” he would tell him.
Toni accepted no excuses from his nephew. It was never a good enough excuse that the strings were too loose on the racket, or that Rafael had slept badly. Everything he did on the court was Rafael’s responsibility.
He admits that “Often I’d struggle to contain my rage.” But he also adds: “All that tension in every single coaching session, right from the very start, has allowed me today to face up to the difficult moments in a match with more self-control than might otherwise have been the case. Toni did a lot to build that fighting character people say they see in me on court.”
Admirable? Perhaps. But listening to this account of his childhood, you can’t help asking why Rafael regarded his childhood as a “fairytale one”!
For Toni, the answer is clear. Rafael was “clever.” clever enough to know that his elders knew what was good for him. A simple answer, and partly right. But it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Whether it was something that Toni instilled in him, or something he had naturally, Rafael was intensely competitive, even when he was young. His reward from playing was winning.
“I don’t have a sense of humour about losing,” he says with a set to his jaw. He recalls his fits of rage a child when he lost at card games. It’s still in him. Even as an adult he has accused his family of cheating at cards because he would not accept defeat.
The importance of winning came home to his father, Sebastian, when Rafael was just 10 years old. He had spent the summer with friends on the beach rather than training, and it showed when he lost his next match.
His father, seeking to console him said: “Come on, you’ve had a terrific summer. Why’s that not enough?”
Young Rafael’s answer was clear and to the point: “Yes Dad, but all the fun I had then can’t make up for the pain I’m feeling right now. I never want to feel this way again.”
It is this attitude that Rafael has brought to the game as an adult. Combined with his capacity for endurance, it is an unstoppable mixture.
Rafael says of himself that unlike Federer, who appears to be a “natural” on the court, he has had to work at everything he does. For example, before his first Wimbledon win, his left foot hurt so much he had to have an injection in the sole to anaesthetise it.
He is used to playing through pain and fighting on. As a boy he slipped and broke the little finger in his left hand (Rafael is a left-handed player) in the first round of the Spanish under-14s national championship. Rather than withdraw, he played on, and took the title.
He has also had to fight against a painful problem in his right foot, no doubt exacerbated by all the hard work he put into tennis as a child. He has a weakness in the staphoid tarsal bone that sits directly over the arch, causing him excruciating pain. At the age of 19, when the weakness came to light and nearly crippled him, he was faced with having to give up tennis after one of the world’s leading experts on the condition told him he would never be able to play again. It was perhaps his darkest time.
Then, since he was already sponsored by Nike, Rafael approached them to design an inner sole to his shoe that would take the weight off the troublesome bone. It caused further problems with other muscles and tendons as the weight in his foot was subtly shifted, but he began to play again. He admits now that he “plays through the pain” every day. The change to the sole of his trainers is what he describes as a “work in progress”.
Because of this, there is a sense of urgency in Rafael’s play. He is acutely aware that his playing time is finite. Always at the back of his mind is the idea that the shot he is now playing may be his last. Of course, all athletes have this, but it has been hammered home to a greater extent to Rafael than to many others, making him aware that every day and every minute of every game must count in the most intense of ways.
Yet, with all of this intensity on the court, Rafael is vulnerable and soft off the court. It seems difficult to believe, but he doesn’t like the dark, preferring to sleep with the lights on, and he is deeply reliant on his family. His mother describes his driving as “cautious”, while his sister calls it “terrible” because he is so nervous. He is also afraid of animals. As a child his friends had to lock their dogs away before he would visit them. On tour in South Africa when others went to see and handle tame lion cubs, he would not go. He doesn’t, he says, “trust the motives” of animals.
Nadal’s is a tightly controlled and extreme world. On court, he is a hero. At home, he is an ordinary man, who needs his world to be a very particular way. He relies heavily on his extended family and worries about his sister to a level bordering on neurosis, calling her two or three times a day when he is away on tour.
There will come a day when Nadal is no longer playing tennis at a world class level. Perhaps then it will be time for him to relax and learn a little more about the other things in his life that his tight, controlled view of the world has not yet allowed him.
Yet perhaps his achievements have been so great so far precisely because of that very need for control.
Rafael Nadal At A Glance
•Born in Manacor, Mallorca in 1986
•Handled his first tennis racquet at the age of 4
•Coached by his uncle Toni from early childhood
•Won first ATP match age 15
•Entered the top 50 players age 16
•Beat World No 1 Roger Federer at the Miami Masters when he was 18
•Became the youngest player to chalk up a singles victory in the Davis Cup
•13 Grand Slam singles and 5 Grand Slam doubles titles to date
•Took Gold for men’s tennis in 2008 Beijing Olympics
•Beat Federer at Wimbledon in 2008 in the longest match in Wimbledon history
•Ranked world Number 1 tennis player in August 2008
•Is very closely supported by his family
•Afraid of the dark, of dogs and is “nervy” off court
•On court is an extraordinarily passionate player
•Has won 60 careers titles to date
bump:
here is the article thetruth.
enjoy.
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I have a feeling he is going to take it.
you are 100% spot on. he has worked too hard and waited too long for these awards.
he deserves them all.
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more awards for Rafa:
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/12/04/vote-for-rafael-nadal-for-2013-united-states-sports-academy-athlete-of-the-year/
more awards for Rafa:
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/12/04/vote-for-rafael-nadal-for-2013-united-states-sports-academy-athlete-of-the-year/
more awards for Rafa:
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/12/04/vote-for-rafael-nadal-for-2013-united-states-sports-academy-athlete-of-the-year/
I voted. I usually don't do polls, but if they're made available to me...what's it hurt?
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this is one hell of an article about Nadal:
http://thebestyoumagazine.co/hunger-win-profile-rafael-nadal/
What makes the world’s Number One tennis player so great? The Best You discovers Rafael Nadal and finds a fascinating combination of brilliance and vulnerability.
With his famous chiselled features and his mop of dark hair, Rafael Nadal is every inch the 21st Century photogenic sporting hero. His intensity before matches is legendary, and on the court he maintains an extraordinary focus on winning.
Describing his mental state during his 2008 Wimbledon win, Nadal says:
“What I battle hardest to do in a tennis match is to quiet the voices in my head, to shut everyting out of my mind but the contest itself, and concentrate every atom of my being on the point I am playing.”
About Wimbledon, he says “the cathedral hush of Centre Court is good for my game.”
And just as if he really is in a cathedral, Nadal is a man of rituals. Before matches he runs through a series of “inflexible routines” that awaken the world-class sportsman in his soul.
If he is about to play after lunch, he eats the same pasta dish – “no sauce, nothing that could possibly cause indigestion – with olive oil and salt, and straight, simple piece of fish. To drink: water.”
Then, an hour before play he goes deeper into the routine. “I stop being the ordinary me when a game is on. I try and become a tennis machine, even if the task is ultimately impossible. I am not a robot.”
He bottles up all his normal feelings. Doubts, hopes, everything is flattened out. He begins to think only in the moment.
Forty-five minutes before a match, Nadal takes an ice cold shower. “Under the shower, I enter a new space in which I feel my power and resilience grow. I’m a different man… I’m activated,” he says, talking of being “in the flow” – that moment in which a sportsman no longer thinks about his game, but enters a trance like state of heightened consciousness.
The rituals continue. Be they receiving a massage, putting in his hair band with a kind of automated absence, or having his hand strapped to prevent the skin tearing when he takes the powerful shots he is famed for.
He talks of it with extraordinary precision. And though he claims not to be a “tennis machine”, this ritual of focus certainly seems to take away the ordinary Nadal from the equation.
Nadal on the court is intimidating, fast, strong and powerful. Standing at 1.85 metres (6 feet 1 inch) tall, he exudes invulnerability – perhaps even arrogance.
Off the court, however, he is a different person altogether. Cautious, even neurotic and vulnerable, Nadal’s rise to fame is not one of the all-conquering individual rising to world dominance driven solely by his sporting genius.
While individual brilliance is an element of his success, his life and his personality tell a far more complex story, revealing how much he is the product of a tight-knit family and community.
Born in 1986, Nadal grew up in Mancora on the Spanish island of Mallorca. He remembers his childhood days fondly. “It was a fairytale childhood,” he says, recalling how he used to spend time with his grandparents and other adults, staying out till late as a boy.
He loved football best of all. Playing on the streets with the other boys was a delight for him, and he played whenever he could, loving the team ethos.
He started to play tennis at the age of four, when he saw his uncle Toni Nadal, a former professional tennis player, teaching a group of boys and decided to join in.
Uncle Toni’s influence was to be pivotal to Rafael’s life. Described as a “severe man from another era” by some who have met him, Toni saw Rafael’s talent and decided he had the potential to be a superstar.
Rafael’s father, Sebastian, operated a glass manufacturer selling trinkets for the growing tourist trade in Mallorca. He arranged for Toni to look after Rafael’s coaching in return for a partnership in the business, and the coaching started in earnest.
“Toni was tough on me right from the start, tougher than the other children,” Rafael remembers. He used “rough language” with Rafael and fired balls at him to startle him when his attention wandered. Toni made him clear up the balls from the court and sweep it after the sessions, something none of the other boys had to do. Little Rafael would sometimes come home from training sessions crying. Once, when his mother asked him what the matter was, he recalls telling her his uncle had called him a “mummy’s boy”. But he begged her to say nothing to his uncle, because it might interfere with his coaching.
Despite Toni’s toughness, Rafael stuck at the sport, growing keener when he started to win competitions at the age of seven. But Toni remained harsh. He never gave praise, focusing on the mistakes Rafael had made and how to improve. When the seven-year-old Rafael forgot to take his water bottle to a tournament, Toni wouldn’t buy him another. He should “take responsibility for his actions” he told him, both on and off the court.
When asked if he was unnecessarily hard on Rafael, Toni replies that he “never pushed the boy more than he could take.” His aim, he tells people, was to ensure that Rafael should learn about endurance.
“Endure. Learn to overcome weakness and pain, push yourself to breaking point, but never cave in. If you don’t learn that lesson, you’ll never succeed as an elite athlete,” he would tell him.
Toni accepted no excuses from his nephew. It was never a good enough excuse that the strings were too loose on the racket, or that Rafael had slept badly. Everything he did on the court was Rafael’s responsibility.
He admits that “Often I’d struggle to contain my rage.” But he also adds: “All that tension in every single coaching session, right from the very start, has allowed me today to face up to the difficult moments in a match with more self-control than might otherwise have been the case. Toni did a lot to build that fighting character people say they see in me on court.”
Admirable? Perhaps. But listening to this account of his childhood, you can’t help asking why Rafael regarded his childhood as a “fairytale one”!
For Toni, the answer is clear. Rafael was “clever.” clever enough to know that his elders knew what was good for him. A simple answer, and partly right. But it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Whether it was something that Toni instilled in him, or something he had naturally, Rafael was intensely competitive, even when he was young. His reward from playing was winning.
“I don’t have a sense of humour about losing,” he says with a set to his jaw. He recalls his fits of rage a child when he lost at card games. It’s still in him. Even as an adult he has accused his family of cheating at cards because he would not accept defeat.
The importance of winning came home to his father, Sebastian, when Rafael was just 10 years old. He had spent the summer with friends on the beach rather than training, and it showed when he lost his next match.
His father, seeking to console him said: “Come on, you’ve had a terrific summer. Why’s that not enough?”
Young Rafael’s answer was clear and to the point: “Yes Dad, but all the fun I had then can’t make up for the pain I’m feeling right now. I never want to feel this way again.”
It is this attitude that Rafael has brought to the game as an adult. Combined with his capacity for endurance, it is an unstoppable mixture.
Rafael says of himself that unlike Federer, who appears to be a “natural” on the court, he has had to work at everything he does. For example, before his first Wimbledon win, his left foot hurt so much he had to have an injection in the sole to anaesthetise it.
He is used to playing through pain and fighting on. As a boy he slipped and broke the little finger in his left hand (Rafael is a left-handed player) in the first round of the Spanish under-14s national championship. Rather than withdraw, he played on, and took the title.
He has also had to fight against a painful problem in his right foot, no doubt exacerbated by all the hard work he put into tennis as a child. He has a weakness in the staphoid tarsal bone that sits directly over the arch, causing him excruciating pain. At the age of 19, when the weakness came to light and nearly crippled him, he was faced with having to give up tennis after one of the world’s leading experts on the condition told him he would never be able to play again. It was perhaps his darkest time.
Then, since he was already sponsored by Nike, Rafael approached them to design an inner sole to his shoe that would take the weight off the troublesome bone. It caused further problems with other muscles and tendons as the weight in his foot was subtly shifted, but he began to play again. He admits now that he “plays through the pain” every day. The change to the sole of his trainers is what he describes as a “work in progress”.
Because of this, there is a sense of urgency in Rafael’s play. He is acutely aware that his playing time is finite. Always at the back of his mind is the idea that the shot he is now playing may be his last. Of course, all athletes have this, but it has been hammered home to a greater extent to Rafael than to many others, making him aware that every day and every minute of every game must count in the most intense of ways.
Yet, with all of this intensity on the court, Rafael is vulnerable and soft off the court. It seems difficult to believe, but he doesn’t like the dark, preferring to sleep with the lights on, and he is deeply reliant on his family. His mother describes his driving as “cautious”, while his sister calls it “terrible” because he is so nervous. He is also afraid of animals. As a child his friends had to lock their dogs away before he would visit them. On tour in South Africa when others went to see and handle tame lion cubs, he would not go. He doesn’t, he says, “trust the motives” of animals.
Nadal’s is a tightly controlled and extreme world. On court, he is a hero. At home, he is an ordinary man, who needs his world to be a very particular way. He relies heavily on his extended family and worries about his sister to a level bordering on neurosis, calling her two or three times a day when he is away on tour.
There will come a day when Nadal is no longer playing tennis at a world class level. Perhaps then it will be time for him to relax and learn a little more about the other things in his life that his tight, controlled view of the world has not yet allowed him.
Yet perhaps his achievements have been so great so far precisely because of that very need for control.
Rafael Nadal At A Glance
•Born in Manacor, Mallorca in 1986
•Handled his first tennis racquet at the age of 4
•Coached by his uncle Toni from early childhood
•Won first ATP match age 15
•Entered the top 50 players age 16
•Beat World No 1 Roger Federer at the Miami Masters when he was 18
•Became the youngest player to chalk up a singles victory in the Davis Cup
•13 Grand Slam singles and 5 Grand Slam doubles titles to date
•Took Gold for men’s tennis in 2008 Beijing Olympics
•Beat Federer at Wimbledon in 2008 in the longest match in Wimbledon history
•Ranked world Number 1 tennis player in August 2008
•Is very closely supported by his family
•Afraid of the dark, of dogs and is “nervy” off court
•On court is an extraordinarily passionate player
•Has won 60 careers titles to date
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http://the-slice.com/2013/12/murray-nadal-among-reuters-best-photos-of-2013/
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more awards for Rafa:
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/12/04/vote-for-rafael-nadal-for-2013-united-states-sports-academy-athlete-of-the-year/
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I find this interesting too. Before the majors, Novak usually says he knows the way he has to play to beat Rafa. Now, he's saying "hopefully" he'll get revenge at the FO, 2014.
Anybody else think this change in wording, odd?
Novak Djokovic 'Hopeful' For Beating Rafael Nadal At French Open 2014
http://www.sport.co.uk/tennis/novak-djokovic-hopeful-for-beating-rafael-nadal-at-french/4513031/
Hmm. What say you?
interesting.
clay warrior cannot be defeated at RG.
and now the task is even harder for nole since nadal is the top seed.
he can only meet nadal if he gets to the final.
"thetruth" I was going to ask you something:
would you like me to create any additional boards for you? are there any other ideas that wish to pursue?
remember that Camelot exists only for you and the others.
also I have a story about the clay warrior is that is coming up.
stay tuned.
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that is an amazing story.
our own general matsterclass is pretty high on this player. I have seen footage.
he is incredible. all he does is win.
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I find this interesting too. Before the majors, Novak usually says he knows the way he has to play to beat Rafa. Now, he's saying "hopefully" he'll get revenge at the FO, 2014.
Anybody else think this change in wording, odd?
Novak Djokovic 'Hopeful' For Beating Rafael Nadal At French Open 2014
http://www.sport.co.uk/tennis/novak-djokovic-hopeful-for-beating-rafael-nadal-at-french/4513031/
Hmm. What say you?
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Isn't this interesting?
Meet The Spaniard Who Won More Tennis Matches Than Rafael Nadal This Year
http://www.forbes.com/sites/miguelmorales/2013/12/02/meet-the-spaniard-who-won-more-tennis-matches-than-rafael-nadal-this-year/
PCB hoisting the ATP Newcomer of the Year Award in London. The award was given to him by his peers (Credit: red-photographic.com)
Spanish pro Pablo Carreno Busta isn’t a household name but he should be thanks to an unusually grueling feat this season. He played a staggering 110 matches on the men’s tour, skyrocketing up the rankings with a 92-18 record. At the beginning of the year, Carreno Busta was ranked No. 715. He now stands at 64 in the world, leapfrogging 651 spots in the process while posting a tour-high ranking jump among players in the top 100.
His remarkable year ensured financial success–$182,192 in 2013 to be exact–in a sport where it’s tough for players outside the top 150 to break even. For pros costs can run as high as $100,000 a year if they travel with a full team, whose services come in handy in order to keep up with the Janowiczes. At No. 715, he likely made less than $5,000 in prize money for all of 2012. At that rate, it would take him 14,200 years to make what Federer earned the past year–$71 million. Carreno Busta told FORBES, “Sponsors have helped a lot during my tough times.” As a promising youngster from a tennis-rich country, he has the opportunity and marketing potential to count on sponsors in these moments, a coup less talented players with less established home bases can’t rely on.
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rafa's popularity is soaring all over the globe right now.
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Great thread, Embla.
I love reading about Rafa. I will have plenty to contribute here.
Starting right now!
Rafael Nadal's Win at US Open Has Set Stage for Monumental 2014
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1768239-rafael-nadals-win-at-us-open-has-set-stage-for-monumental-2014
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excellent stuff.
keep it coming.
;D ;D
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http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/09/rafael-nadal-is-the-leonardo-da-vinci-of-tennis/279383/