CAMELOT FANTASIES

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!

Quote from: thetruth on August 02, 2014, 10:37:29 pm

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.

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

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/

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.

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.