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

50 Comments on Rafael Nadal

  1. Why does Rafa suffer from stomach upsets so often? Someone needs to get a grip with his food. I am sorry that he is ill, and selfishly sad that I have to wait for another 2 weeks to see him in action again.

    This happens quite a lot, Rafa pulling out of tournaments, I hope he doesn’t build up a reputation for not turning up.

    Reply

    • i wouldn’t get too nervous. stomach virus has always been a strategic way for players to withdraw from tournaments without sending red flags about some other kind of injury that is the real reason.

      in Nadal’s case, the real reason is disinterest, not an injury.

      Reply

      • I agree with Ricky here, I think it would have been way too early to get back on the horse after his back injury. Whenever my back acts up and I get treatment, it always takes me a little bit of time to emotionally and psychologically trust it to behave, so I think Rafa needed that extra time to regain that trust with his. Copa Claro is only a 250 after all.

        To be honest, when I first saw the withdrawal statement I thought, “too much information”! I do not think he needed to tell the whole world about his tummy virus, everybody knew he was recovering from a back ailment. Recovering from that is enough of an excuse surely? Like @JCKNY says, it is a good idea to not push his back so soon.

        Benito needs to do a better job with the PR statements.

        Reply

  2. On another note, Tenngranders, Tenngrand has arrived! It got an honourable (read: unflattering) mention on Roger-x blog as the blog Ricky has created for all the TT, Rafa-centric refugees…….

    So nice to be loved.

    Vamos!

    Reply

    • @ritb,

      This makes me a little nervous. I remember what some of the nutcases from that site did on TT. I really don’t want to see them start the same craziness here.

      But I guess we are definitely on the radar now! 🙂

      Reply

      • @nny, don’t worry about them. They will never be allowed to troll here.

        Clearly they are regular visitors to Tenngrand and I am sure they are welcome to contribute and participate as long as they behave. Trouble is, they know they are not capable of civil discussion that is why they do not post because there is a firewall called Ricky! They are allowed to troll elsewhere, not here.

        #InRickyWeTrust

        Reply

      • Funny thing is “they” are always asking why you’re not posting there anymore, and yet they banned you!

        #MakeUpYourMinds

        Reply

      • I would consider it a huge compliment to be banned from that site! Why not post under another name there. After all, it was madmax herself who managed to stay on TT by reinventing herself with new user names! 🙂

        Reply

      • @ritb,

        Yes, of course you are right. Ricky won’t let them come here and spew out the filth that they did on TT. As you said, they are incapable of having a discussion in a reasonable and respectful manner. They just want to hide behind anonymous user names and viciously character assassinate and attack. It’s who they are.

        #RickyRocks

        Reply

  3. @JCKNY,

    That was my sense of it, too. It’s what I hoped he would do. As I said previously, backs can be tricky. I may live with chronic back pain, but I don’t have to worry about playing competitive tennis. I can make adjustments in my life as necessary.

    Rafa needs to know that his back will be okay when he pushes himself to the max in a competitive match. It can be hard psychologically to come back. I think it was just too soon. Rafa needs practice where he can test out his body and just get the feel of playing a bit again. I don’t think he was willing to push himself for this 250 tournament. It’s not necessary.

    As Rafa practices and his back holds up, then he will feel more confident about actually playing in competition again. I didn’t think he needed to tell everyone about the stomach virus. He had an injury and it wasn’t unreasonable that he would not feel ready for Buenos Aires.

    There is a lot more tennis to be played this year and we want Rafa healthy and playing his best. It’s good to know that he’s not going to rush himself and play at a tournament where there isn’t much at stake.

    Reply

    • yup, i am very glad he made this decision. The back needs rest ! the season ahead is LONG and ARDUOUS. Recharge the batteries, rafa. I would want him to play at Rio though !

      Reply

      • Rafa has to be ruthless with his schedule, no matter who he disappoints. He knows what his priorities are, he should just focus on them.

        Reply

  4. I agree that Rafa has to do what’s best for him. He can’t please everyone. There’s a great deal of tennis to be played and a ton of points to defend this year.

    Reply

  5. There is also a the little matter of the blister on his hand which also needs time to heal properly. The tournaments are all too close together which doesn’t give the players time to rest or recover. Whilst I am disappointed that I have to wait another week or so to see Rafa in action again, he’s made the right decision in the long run.

    Vamos Rafa

    Reply

    • Sorry you gave this story “legs” @vamosrafa. I saw Rochus’s comments on the day of the final itself and rolled my eyes.Something must have happened between Rafa (or his team) and Rochus for Rochus to have this hatred (that is what it is) of Rafa. Rochus is literally stalking Rafa and one can sense the animus in his statements.

      Having said this, I doubt Rafa has ever done anything to this man.It is Rochus who has an unhealthy obsession with Rafa.

      Reply

    • —Rochus: “…It is a sport that has become more and more physical, so there are inevitably more temptations to take performance enhancing drugs. Now, with the Armstrong issue, we have to admit that just because someone has never tested positive, it doesn’t mean that person has never doped.
      “When one can afford good doctors to do personal research, it is possible to take undetectable drugs. So in my opinion, anti-doping controls are useless and they really don’t prove anything…”—

      Rochus seems to know well ‘the Armstrong issue’, but he has forgotten to mention WHERE Armstrong bought services from!
      ¤¤ “Armstrong paid Swiss firm for doping services, report charges”
      The explosive report by the US Anti-Doping Agency, released this week, outlines documented hefty payments made by the seven-time Tour de France winner to Dr. Michele Ferrari over a 10-year period from 1996 to 2006. Ferrari provided advice on how to evade detection by anti-doping testers.¤¤
      http://malcolm-curtis.com/2012/10/12/armstrong-paid-swiss-firm-for-doping-services-report-charges/
      ***
      I keep wondering what has made it possible that the person who has had a long-standing back problem (at least since 2003 when he was deemed unfit to fulfill the military service obligations), has won 17 GS titles…

      Reply

  12. Rafael Nadal or Bjorn Borg? Ranking the ‘coolest’ tennis players of all time

    Rafael Nadal (The Associated Press)
    Print
    By Douglas Perry | dperry@oregonian.com

    on February 11, 2014 at 6:05 AM, updated February 11, 2014 at 7:57 AM

    0

    The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., wants everyone to know that the good ol’ U.S. of A. is the birthplace of “cool.” For inclusion in the museum’s new”American Cool” exhibition, historical subjects (ranging from Frederick Douglass to Marlon Brando) had to have a number of key “It” factors, such as an original artistic style, a rebellious spirit that helped define their age and a meaningful cultural legacy.
    OK, but seeing as The Spin of the Ball is a tennis column, we’re concerned with whichtennis players would rate, granting up front that we must push beyond America’s shores. So here’s our list of the 10 “coolest” players in tennis history.
    Honorable mention: John Newcombe
    The ebullient Aussie had a big game on court and a big appetite off of it — for beer, women and fun. The three-time Wimbledon champion was riding shotgun when a 30-year-old George W. Bush was nabbed for drunk driving.
    10. Helen Wills
    With her consistently flat demeanor, good looks and thumping forehand, Little Miss Poker Face baffled and intimidated both opponents and journalists throughout the Jazz Age.
    9. Jean Borotra
    The beret-wearing, cigarette-smoking Borotra, known as the “Bounding Basque,” learned the game during his downtime as a soldier in the Great War. Proving to be a natural, he brought an innovative aggressiveness to the court. As one journalist put it, he “taught the whole world a new gospel” — the volley.
    8. Frank Shields
    The dashing grandfather of Brooke Shields never quite reached the top of the tennis heap, but he always looked good while trying. He later became an occasional actor, drank like James Bond and married well.
    7. Bobby Riggs
    Sure, you know him as the dumpy, bespectacled clown who was the fall guy in the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes.” But 35 years before his tennis Waterloo, he was the Napoleon of the courts: small, brazen, unforgettable. He was also, unlike Napoleon, the life of every party.
    View full sizeChris Evert
    6. Fred Perry
    The tough little Manchester native made it cool to be a working-class tennis hero, bringing the Wimbledon crown and Davis Cup trophy home to Great Britain in the 1930s. He then turned pro, married a starlet and became a naturalized American citizen.
    5. Arthur Ashe
    The 1968 U.S. Open and 1975 Wimbledon champion could be erratic on court, his easy power and athleticism sometimes flying out of his control. But off the court he was always the ultimate thinking man’s tennis star, calm and incisive no matter the subject or provocation.
    4. Lili Alvarez
    The beautiful, sophisticated Spaniard won the 1930 Italian tennis championships (and before that reached three Wimbledon finals) with a daring, high-flying game that was then considered unnatural for a woman. She was also an accomplished alpine skier, auto racer and journalist, avocations all pursued with unladylike gusto.
    3. Rafael Nadal
    The 13-time major champion and current ATP World No. 1 is an international celebrity and multimillionaire, yet he somehow remains just a humble servant of tennis. Confident, driven and deferential, Spain’s greatest tennis player is a post-postmodern superstar.
    2. Chris Evert
    “Chrissie America” loved to tell dirty jokes and bust curfew, but this rebellious streak remained hidden when she took the court. She dominated women’s tennis in the 1970s (and into the ’80s) with unmatchable focus and control.
    1. Bjorn Borg
    He defined cool in his 1970s heyday — and still does more than 30 years later. Sleek, beautiful and unflappable, he went about his business according to his own rules and didn’t seem to give a flip what anybody thought.
    — Douglas Perry

    Reply

    • Thanks @nadline. Can’t argue with this tbh. However, if Rafa wins RG 2014 I expect him to replace Chrissie.

      There was/is something about Borg……………..

      Reply

    • ^^^^Hahaha! Just proves Douglas Perry’s contention about Rafa’s cool. Tursunov is on court fighting (at least I hope) to win and what’s on his mind……Rafa!

      Reply

      • Hahaha! It’s the slow news season in tennis………until Rafa starts playing. I couldn’t resist tickling my “friends” on Roger-x blog with that nice Perry article @nadline posted here. Don’t think my posting will be regular though…………..it’s truly boring there. Maybe that is why they quickly un-moderated my post, they are desperate for traffic! Or maybe Ben Pronin is asleep…………..

        #FightTheGoodFight
        #Indeed

        Reply

  14. @ritb,

    There was/is something about Borg indeed! He never talked. Even in press conferences, he said almost nothing. He was popular enough to get away with it. It even added to his air of mystery. He was so aloof on the court, yet he said himself in the great documentary “McEnroe/Borg: Fire and Ice”, that he was boiling inside. But he learned when he was young not to show it. He got in trouble in the Swedish tennis academy for cursing, throwing his racket and general bad behavior. So he was suspended for six months. He said that he loved tennis too much, so he made sure never to show his emotions or blow up or get angry on court.

    Rafa is in good company!

    As for tennis-x, I tried to read some of the comments on the blogs and just couldn’t stand it. I made sure after Rafa’s loss in the final of the AO not to go there. No way!

    It is fun to tweak them a little at times when things are slow. Just to get under their skin. 🙂

    Reply

    • You are missing nothing @nny. They truly are a humourless lot over there. Actually it had become livelier with @hawkeye and @holdserve etc posting there but they do not get humour you see for their rabid Fedfandom and have chased all fun Rafans away. Pity, it’s their loss.

      Vamos!

      Reply

  15. Unfortunately, in today’s media driven world, Borg wouldn’t be allowed his air of mystery. He’d be hounded to the far corners of the earth. No superstar will ever again have any semblance of privacy. Thus, Borg’s place at the top of the list is forever assured (not that he wouldn’t have it anyway).

    Reply

    • Jpacnw,

      Yes, you are absolutely correct. I should have added that caveat in my post. It’s so true. There is no way Borg could have just said nothing. In today’s world with the internet, cable news 24/7, facebook, twitter and cell phones and texting, it’s a different world.

      There’s really no privacy anymore. I think Borg was the Greta Garbo of tennis! 🙂

      Reply

  16. @ritb,

    I hear you! But it’s always been that way on that site. The only way that any Rafa fan could survive was to curry favor with the Fedfans who ran that site. Otherwise, they just verbally abused Rafa fans until they got rid of them.

    Even though they have implemented some moderation in recent years, the core of that site remains the same. Fedfans rule it with an iron hand. Oh and they are a completely humorless lot.

    I can’t read the comments from Rafa fans who try to curry favor with the Fedfans, especially skeezer. They are even willing to criticize Rafa just for the sake of staying in their good graces.

    Yet another reason not to even read the comments on that site.

    Reply

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