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

44 Comments on Rafael Nadal

    • RITB: That’s also my favorite Rafa trophy picture. I think of it as “Rafa and his vase.” I think Cincinnati was important to him, not just because he had never won it, but also because he won it in his comeback year.

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    • That picture of Rafa holding his Cincy trophy was overwhelmingly voted best picture of the week on vb. I have it saved because it’s such a beautiful picture. Rafa’s expression as he cradled it, really says it all. No words needed.

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  6. TennisTV (the official streaming website of the ATP) has picked out the best five ATP matches of 2013. Among them are 2 matches played by Rafa.
    1. Rafa def. Novak Djokovic – the Canada Masters (Montreal), semifinal
    2. Novak Djokovic def. Juan Martin del Potro – the Shanghai Masters, final
    3. Rafa def. Ernests Gulbis – the Indian Wells Masters, R4
    4. Andy Murray def. David Ferrer – the Miami Masters, final
    5. Grigori Dmirov def. Novak Djokovic – the Madrid Masters, R2
    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152059085113958

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  7. Came across this interview of James Blake (JB) by Jeff Pearlman (JP), dunno who JP is but never mind, and was “surprised” to hear Blake say he plays poker and also, his take on poker in general:

    “J.P.: You appeared on Bravo’s second season of Celebrity Poker Showdown, but lost to Maura Tierney in the finals. What is it about poker that does it for you? And call it fill the void of no tennis?

    J.B.: Poker appeals to me for the thought process involved. There are a few parallels with tennis and I actually think it helped me to control my emotions a little bit on the court. In poker, you have to deal with a lot of highs and lows that can sometimes be out of your control. I enjoy learning the game and the ability to always learn and improve. That’s the way I felt about tennis, too.”

    http://www.jeffpearlman.com/the-quaz-qa-james-blake/

    I know some desperate Federazzi have tried to smear Rafa as someone who is a bad role model because he plays/promotes poker. Well, I guess Blake is similarly a bad seed!

    Seriously though, interesting analogy to tennis he makes. I think we should credit PokerStars with helping Rafa control his emotions on court in 2013 and regain #1.

    #RafaIsSmart

    Vamos!!

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  8. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/roger-federer-rafael-nadal-thorny-subject-competitive-eras-170300220–ten.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory

    ” While tennis players certainly can’t control the level of competition facing them on the other side of the net, that reality doesn’t change the fact that judgements can be formulated around the sum of its relative difficulty.

    Although there’s no perfect way to compare players that weren’t born on the same day of the same year, there are effective ways of examining the competitive environments they played in.

    Discounting emotional and subjective biases, it seems hard to dispute the fact that Nadal has, on average, faced more decorated opposition in Grand Slam finals than Federer. A fact that appears closely related to Nadal’s unfortunate luck of building a career that bridged the competitive primes of Federer and Djokovic.

    What all this ultimately means in terms of historical significance won’t be fully known until both players have retired from the game. A day that hopefully won’t be arriving anytime soon. ”

    #RafaIsGOAT

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    • Ed, I suspect that she had the shirt customized. There are several pictures of Rafa and her on one of the Facebook pages and the front of the shirt is one of the standard Rafa shirts. I’ve got a shop close to me that will put any picture you want on a shirt. This lady also brought Rafa a Xmas gift that was in a red bag, which he apparently happily accepted because one of the last pics shows him carrying the bag.

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  17. One of the poker players said that Rafa knew when to make adjustments and play more aggressively. This sounds like a description of Rafa’s tennis match! 🙂
    ¤¤ Pokerstars.blog.
    EPT10 Prague: The double life of Rafael Nadal (Excerpts)
    “My life is still with tennis, but I am playing poker to have some fun,” Nadal said. “It’s a question of improving, of being with friends. Like today. I want to learn as quickly as possible. And the people who don’t understand about this game only think that it’s about luck. I thought that a few years ago, but now I know it’s more about knowing how to play. At the end, the best players are the winners almost every time.”
    Negreanu is here in Prague for his final festival of a blockbuster 2013. He had been impressed by what he had seen. “He (Nadal) came in really solid and he didn’t make any mistakes,” Negreanu said. “And then he knew when to make the adjustment, to play more aggressively, and he did. I’ve played a lot of charity things, with like Hollywood celebs and different things, but I notice with these guys, the athletes, they got coaching. They were prepared. They have much more of a killer instinct.”
    Rafa Nadal proved to any doubters that he has a rare winner’s temperament. ¤¤
    http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/ept/2013/ept10-prague-the-double-life-of-rafael-n-144279.html

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