Rafael Nadal

A page and forum to discuss all things Rafael Nadal.

Nadal 5

Current ranking: 14

Last result: Australian Open second round (lost to Mackenzie McDonald)

Next tournament: Roland Garros

56 Comments on Rafael Nadal

  1. A fan question:
    augusta08 says:July 13, 2015 at 2:49 pm

    I am wondering why Mr. Tiggy didn’t write that “Djoko screamed at the crowd because he was distracted by their oohs and aahs.”

    Humb10 response:
    Thank you for your question.

    Because he wasn’t distracted like he once was. He has turned that weakness into a strength. This was the turning point for the great champion.

    http://images.indianexpress.com/2015/07/ndjokoreuters.jpg

    You’re welcome My fan.

    Keep your fan questions coming. I like to do the discussions with fans. I will keep them here as a sort of FAQ so fans do not have to pose the same question twice.

    #Humb10

    Reply

  2. A comment from My No. 1 fan:
    augusta08 says:July 13, 2015 at 4:20 pm
    I am wondering why Mr. Tiggy uses double standards.

    http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/uploads/monthly_06_2014/post-8794-1403702267.gif

    You’re welcome My fan. And a reward for your ongoing support.

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJuSmXQUcAARIxQ.jpg

    Keep your fan questions coming. I like to do the discussions with fans. I will keep them here as a sort of FAQ so fans do not have to pose the same question twice.

    #Humb10
    #NomNomNom

    Reply

  4. A fan opines:

    augusta08 says: July 13, 2015 at 6:34 pm
    (i.e. some people just cannot let anything go!).

    Humb1e response:

    http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/uploads/monthly_06_2014/post-8794-1403702267.gif

    Wow. This expression illustrates My response to reading your comment…

    http://i1017.photobucket.com/albums/af292/Zlaja1991/djokoviceyes_zpsb5114f1b.jpg

    Keep your fan questions coming. I like to do the discussions with fans. I will keep them here as a sort of FAQ so fans do not have to pose the same question twice.

    #Humb10
    #NomNomNom

    Reply

  7. Rough translation from another article on Uncle Toni’s interview:

    “I do not think Rafael is tired, I think it a good time playing and maintains the illusion to get back up. We aspire to be competitive again in the majors ”

    “On Tuesday we return to coaching. From now on we are able to add, but the important thing is to be competitive. The goal is to be among the top 8 at the end of the season and to play the Masters Cup. ”

    “I do not feel bad words McEnroe and if it is time to change coach, is Rafael who shall take such a decision. I have a good relationship with McEnroe. If Rafa believe that a coaching change would be better off, I would, ”

    “I have never taken responsibility for his victories and his defeats now either. You have to accept the responsibility. We have a style of play, they have to adapt to new situations, but now we’ll get to play as Ferrer or Murray”

    “I think that sports must evolve and adapt to the new reality. Sometimes it feels that in today’s tennis coaching can contribute little. There is no sport that starts with a penalty waiting position is as a goalkeeper. I think we should look for resources that skill is more important than power. Federer or Dimitrov would remove advantage, and since I do well, but better when we’re gone. “

    Reply

    • Good thing (apparently): Toni is making it clear that it is entirely rafa’s choice if he wants to hire a new coach and he will support him.

      Bad thing: He continues to put a lot of pressure on Rafa by saying rafa is solely responsible for all his defeats and loss of confidence! that’s NOT how you support someone who is already struggling for confidence big time !

      May be rafa is reluctant to add a new member? he MUST do something! Simply going back to the practice court and hoping things will get better is not wise. Chances of it happening are very low.

      Reply

      • i read this earlier vr and didn’t know what to make of it partly because of the meanings being skewed by the translation.
        just sounds like the same old same old to me with toni passing the buck onto rafa all the time – his responsibility for everything…defeats, new coach &Tc….you can say that you would support someone but still set up all sort of road-blocks in relation to their capacity for change……think that toni is pretty good at doing this…..

        Reply

      • umm yeah..simply saying something in public is just not the equivalent to actually supporting.

        I don’t know exactly what is best for Rafa but I do think this notion of putting additional burden on him by saying he is responsible for everything is BAD! plain bad! Rafa does not deserve this!

        Reply

      • vamosrafa,

        Thanks for posting Toni’s words. It’s concerning that once again he seems to feel no need for Rafa to get some outside help. It’s true that he is still putting all the responsibility on Rafa.

        I have said this before and it bears repeating. Rafa cannot come out of this on his own. He’s been doing the same thing for at least six months now. Practice, practice, practice. Nothing has changed. I also thought that it was interesting to hear that Toni’s expectations are for Rafa to be in the top eight and play the WTF. Those are pretty low expectations. Is he writing off the USO?

        Reply

    • absolutely vr!! we have talked a lot before about the really excessive responsibility that rafa has always had to carry and which he has internalised to a high degree. the last thing he needs is to hear more of the same. this moralising tone is BAD as you say and rafa deserves much more!

      Reply

      • I am going to check out VB and see if they have some translation of Toni’s word. There are some members on that site who are Spanish and will give excellent translations, so that we can understand completely the real meaning of his words.

        Reply

  8. And look at one of the most annoying female tennis players on court ever trying her hand at being an expert:

    Rafael Nadal no longer ‘big four’ material – Marion Bartoli

    “When you play against him [Nadal] the ball is 25 kilometres per hour slower, the opponent doesn’t have the same difficulty to play,”

    “When he serves, he can’t go beyond 115 miles per hour.

    “He is exposed in every return.

    “There is an [solution] and his team need to find it because it’s vital for him.”

    “There is a group of five or six players [at the top],”

    “There is Novak [Djokovic], Andy [Murray], Rafa, [Kei] Nishikori, [Tomas] Berdych [and] Stan [Wawrinka]. This group is at the top, top level.”The level and the difference between the players is very small.”

    What is she up to?! Rafa’s avg first serve speed in his first match at Wimby was 116mph and he can hit 120-125 mph serves with ease! :s

    May be she said these things in French and the translation is giving a little different picture?

    And she did not name federer in that group ? :s

    Reply

    • wow….bartoli doesn’t half talk some rubbish!! she was quoted earlier in the tourney saying some dumb things along these lines which i just ignored….sorry but i don’t think this kind of rubbish is worth taking seriously….
      am not a fan of bartoli anyway….

      Reply

  9. Uncle Toni says:
    “today’s tennis coaching can contribute little”

    Toni, you serious?

    Try telling that to Nole (or any other top player on tour).

    #HeadInTheSand

    Reply

      • All we need to do is look at what Magnus Norman did for Stan. Look at what Boris Becker has done for Novak. The advice that BB gave him before the final was brilliant. I have to give him credit for that. He also told Novak why he lost that final to Stan. He put it all succinctly – Novak wasn’t aggressive enough in that match. He was too defensive, waiting for Stan to make the errors. So he was able to let Novak know why he lost that match and what he needed to do differently at Wimbledon. He also was very astute in saying that Fed played his best against Murray and would not be able to produce that quality of tennis in the final. He said that Murray can play better than he did in that semi. So BB realized that Novak had the tools to take it to Fed in a way that Murray could not. His ROS is a much more dangerous weapon. He also has a strong second serve, something Murray does not. Therefore, in pressure situations on his serve if he doesn’t get that first serve in, then he has a great second serve to bail him out. That takes a lot of pressure off him.

        Rafa needs to hear from someone else. A different perspective, another point of view. It’s
        imperative that this happens and quickly.

        Reply

  10. guys, you can take a fair bet that even factoring in the rubbish translation there is little coherent meaning in what he says. the ostrich has so much sand in his eyes now that he can’t see what’s going on anywhere……!

    Reply

    • amy,

      I agree. Even if I went over to VB and someone there who is fluent in Spanish gave the best translation ever, it would still be the same old thing. It’s just unnerving to me that Toni has nothing different to say at this point in time.

      Reply

      • nny, yeah…is so depressing….if he can see that things are bad why doesn’t he try and approach the situation at an active level by changing it not implementing the same old boring not-working status quo??
        he has already said that they only have a very very small chance at the us open which is frankly realistic but not exactly helpful.
        remember that this is a guy who does not see tennis as a mental game but as a physical one…..
        he gave an interview to melissa isaacson of espn the day before the brown loss in which he said that there would be no coaching changes because a. it is expensive. b. having him as coach was good for rafa (!!!!!!!) I don’t know if these comments were meant to be a joke (i hope they were!) but if they were serious then that shows what a roadblock he is in reality. isaacson wasn’t suggesting that he went but was asking if anyone would be brought in …(i think..)
        he also told the spanish media after the brown loss that he couldn’t see him and rafa carrying on like this for the next 2 years..2 YEARS!!!

        Reply

  11. Hey guys, I’m fluent in Spanish, send me the link and I’ll be glad to help, but not today cause I’m damn busy at work

    Reply

    • Shireling (at 1:50 pm),

      You’ll find Toni’s interview in Spanish here:
      http://www.mallorcaesports.es/cosas-del-fora-de-joc

      Here Toni speaks about Rafa:
      1) Toni Nadal: “Me sorprende ver cómo han ido las cosas, viendo entrenar a Rafa”
      Martes, 14 Julio 2015 00:18
      2) Toni Nadal: “Si Rafa creyera que con un cambio de entrenador le iría mejor, lo haría”
      Martes, 14 Julio 2015 00:32
      3) Toni Nadal: “Aspiramos a volver a ser competitivos en los grandes torneos”
      Martes, 14 Julio 2015 00:37
      ***********
      4) Here Toni speaks about the situation in the Spanish tennis federation:
      Toni Nadal: “No puede ser que se diga que los jugadores son unos maleducados y que sólo miran por el dinero”
      Martes, 14 Julio 2015 00:44

      Reply

    • amy,

      I briefly checked out VB earlier today but couldn’t find anything more there. I didn’t spend too much time looking, though.

      As far as those comments, you said that they might be a joke and that was probably correct. I don’t even care if they would just do something without telling the media. There is so much help out there. Rafa needs a lot of positive reinforcement and needs to know that it’s not on him as though it’s his fault. This can happen to anyone. Human beings are not perfect. Problems come up and sometimes we can’t deal with them on our own. It’s not a tragedy, provided one does try to get some outside help in whatever form.

      I do not want to see Rafa looking the way he did after the loss to Brown at Wimbledon. The hurt and pain in his eyes was terrible to see.

      The one thing that I noticed, is that Toni repeated what Rafa said previously about his goals for the rest of this year. He wants to make the WTF. Toni said that they want to be in the top eight and also to play in London. Those are not very ambitious goals. Notice no mention of the USO. 🙁

      Reply

  13. vmk1

    I didn’t want your question to go unanswered. I tried to get some specific confirmation on VB, but wasn’t sure where to look. There are people on that site who live in Spain and even Mallorca and know the Spanish media very well. They get a lot of inside info.

    As far as I know, Rafa would be planning to play it. I am assuming he will unless we hear otherwise.

    Reply

  14. i’ve been mulling over the ‘Nadal issue’ for weeks now and following all the discussions.
    Rafa has a hideous conflict and I fear it goes against his nature to change course. To do so must seem for him like a betrayal of all his family values and more than likely cause irreparable damage. Remember how destabilised he was in 2009 post his AO win when his parents were contemplating divorce.

    Ever since I can remember there have been calls for him to move on from having U.Toni as his sole coach. Even if he were to be contemplating such a move, one has to question who would be prepared to take up the challenge of the Nadal family en masse. The only person who might step into the role is possibly Moya who has mentored Rafa since he was a teenager and knows the family well.

    There is a famous Rafa quote when he said ‘losing is not my enemy: fear of losing is my enemy.’ Right now he is clearly crippled by that fear. What, if anything, his camp are doing about it we have no way of knowing. Quite possibly they have already sought professional treatment but don’t want to make it public knowledge.

    My own feeling is that Rafa is the victim of burnout. In an interview early in 2009 he gave an interview which underlines that he has experienced this before:

    “Q : If you were… a person you hope to meet?

    A : Roger Federer. When I was young, I always had this dream : I was at the bottom of a huge mountain and I was looking at the top. When I beat Roger Federer in January, in Melbourne, in the final of the Australian Open, I felt an animal excitement. But afterwards, I felt an emptiness and a loneliness indescribable. As if I had no more aim/no more purpose.

    Recommended reading
    http://smscsqlx.sasktelwebhosting.com/services/firstaid/burnout.pdf

    Reply

    • Yeah, I remember reading that fear was a big motivator and I was surprised because it’s not a great motivator IMO for elite sports. I was especially surprised at how well he has done with that fear factor. It concerned me. Here is a good article on fear and burn-out…

      “Fear is a terrible motivator, at least in the long term. Fear takes a lot out of a person. Fear amps your body’s systems to the maximum. While fear is in control you can accomplish incredible feats at great physical cost, true. However, you can only run so far, and you can only fight so hard before your reserves are depleted. When that happens, you’re done. With any luck, whatever your body stored up in preparation for your fear event was enough to get you through it. If not, you’ll end up worse than when you started, drained and pained, and in deep trouble.

      “Fear is a motivator, but it’s a terrible motivator, because it doesn’t keep things going for very long.”

      http://www.sanspoint.com/archives/2012/06/13/on-fear-and-bad-motivators/

      That Rafa has kept it going for such a long time is a statement to his character but I agree with Ed. This looks like burn-out.

      Reply

    • I agree that Rafa’s problem is fear and also some burnout. I have felt this for some time, but was hesitant to post my thoughts on the site.

      I wanted it not to be so and I kept my thoughts to myself. But I have been concerned that this was the case.

      Reply

      • native says, ” agree that Rafa’s problem is fear and also some burnout. I have felt this for some time, but was hesitant to post my thoughts on the site.”
        native trying to take credit for ed’s thoughts (again) !!!
        native, I am your official conscience, you can call me Jiminy Cricket Mary. But unlike Pinocchio who tries hard to be good so he can be real, you seem hell bent on establishing a never to be surpassed Guinness Record for the longest nose!!! Sigh! Anyway no one said it was going to be easy being native’s JC Mary!!!

        Reply

  16. In that group shot above Rafa looks tense: nor does he look much happier or
    relaxed in the pic with the little girl – not good harbingers at all 🙁

    The late decision to play a 500 clay tournament suggests he is hoping to pick up points to protect the no.8 spot for the WFT but has given up on the USO for this year. Why else would he not be practising on hard courts.

    Reply

    • Yes, this is a late decision to play this 500 clay tournament. I remember reading somewhere that a tournament made Rafa an offer to play and he turned it down, saying he needed rest.

      We are not hearing anything from either Rafa or Uncle Toni regarding the USO. They are only talking about the WTF and being able to stay at least at #8 to quality. Those are pretty mediocre goals for the rest of the year.

      Reply

      • Ricky,

        Augusta posted something at 2:47 pm that I also saw on VB that indicates he is practicing on clay and will play at Hamburg.

        It seems to be from a fan who met Rafa and took pictures with him. But there is no official confirmation that I have seen.

        Reply

    • isn’t burn out characterised by the classic excess of fight or flight overdrive where you become lethargic, listless, unmotivated &tc ? because it doesn’t really look that way with rafa….he seems in fact highly motivated but suffers attacks of anxiety on court. toni has said the same thing ie he still wants to compete at the highest level….
      he wasn’t burnt out after the 2014 AO when all this started up….and that can’t be put down to the back problems because he ‘cured’ the anxiety after beating murray in rome which allowed him to go on and win RG. the change that happened in that very short period of time shows it can’t have been the physical problems which were so crippling (as was indeed obvious) and toni keeps talking about the need for this happening again…ie saying he has to be able to hit through it and start winning (as he did with murray). Only now the problem is more severe so he can’t do it….especially as the circumstances are so different having been out injured. But it does seem that all this is part of the same syndrome ie yes anxiety on court, nerves as per some of those awful losses last year (almagro, dolgo, ferrer, nearly losing to simon, youzhny ) but not burnout as he was so motivated and after winning RG he said that the nerves had gone and the passion was back.

      Reply

  18. A fan comments:
    augusta08 says: July 15, 2015 at 5:40 pm
    The troller, who posted a photo at 4:58 pm, can’t be trusted. The photo is taken in January 2011.

    Humb1e reply:

    http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/uploads/monthly_06_2014/post-8794-1403702267.gif

    http://media.indiatimes.in/media/content/2015/Jul/stanwawrinkaespn_1435760802.jpg

    Keep your fan questions and comments coming. I like to do the discussions withMy fans. I will keep them here as a sort of FAQ so My fans do not have to pose the same question twice (or 100 times as is usually the case with My. No. 1 bot fan).

    #HowManyTimes????

    Reply

  19. hawkeye is putting me off posting on Tenngrand at the moment with her constant sabotaging of this thread with irrelevant pictures of other players in the middle of discussions about the subject of the thread which is Rafa. At a time when Rafa is in the doldrums, it’s annoying that his fans cannot have a discussion about him without hawkeye stamping all over the thread with crude pictures.

    She seems to have a pathological dislike of Rafa at the moment.

    Reply

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