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

40 Comments on Rafael Nadal

  3. RT @annekeothavong: ““@judmoo: Today I wished a very special young man a happy 28th birthday. And got a very special hug. Jealous anyone? 🙂 #Rafa” Cougar ;)”

    Reply

    • Nice ones. Even the ones we are well familiar with.

      The one I have a minor problem with is the count of slams ‘not on your best surface’ by those who won at least 8 slams. Roger is shown with 10. Sounds like USO and AO were counted as two separate surfaces. Otherwise his count away from (hardcourt) is closer to the 5 that the others have. …
      #NitpickingSlams

      Reply

  11. L’Equipe, 4 June 2014
    ¤¤ “The tourists take clay in a bottle”
    Antoni Pastor, the mayor who has managed Manacor for 10 years now: “I often say that we are the envy of every little town in the world, thanks to Rafael Nadal. Because other than the fact that one of us is one of the best tennis players in history, he also represents a revolution in the sport with the way he plays the sport and the way he behaves. Every father who has a sports-minded child hopes that he’d be like Rafael. Thanks to him, Manacor has become an obligatory visit for the tourists who come to Mallorca. They want to see the town and the club where Rafael grew up, but they also want to see the courts where he trains. They take away a bit of the clay in a bottle as a souvenir. “¤¤

    https://twitter.com/genny_ss/statuses/474608707679313922

    Reply

  13. Pete Bodo

    PARIS—”Immediately after Rafael Nadal roughed up Andy Murray in back end of the French Open semifinals, the crowd spontaneously began to chant and clap in unison: “Ra-Fa,” clap-clap-clap. . . “Ra-Fa,” clap-clap-clap. And moments later, when Fabrice Santoro asked Rafa the first of his questions on an open mike for the entire stadium to hear, he chose to answer the question in French.”

    Reply

  14. Nadline – I’ve only just watched the clip you put up of Rafa being interviewed by the multi-lingual Nelson. Rafa is clearly working hard at mastering enough French to be able to respond in interviews as opposed to learning a few phrases parrot fashion to please the crowd.

    It helps he already speaks Catalan which shares more common features with French than with Spanish. But given Nole lives in Monaco you might expect his French to be a lot more fluent than it is. Rafa is catching up with him fast.

    Reply

    • Rafa understands full well that a lot of Fed’s popularity at RG stemmed from his fluency in French which allowed them to regard him as an honorary Frenchman. If tomorrow they get behind Rafa (I’m certain they will) it will rattle Djokovic big time. They will be baying for a five-setter but they’ll be pulling for Rafa.

      Allez Rafa…..

      Reply

      • There is a collective mindset that the French ‘hate’ Rafa. You and I have always agreed that is an unfair accusation.

        The crowd behaviour at Slams is different from that of other tournaments. We always refer to the advantage of the ‘home crowd’ factor which mirrors the partisan mood of a Davis Cup match when a home boy is playing. In the absence of a countryman to cheer on the crowd invariably get behind the underdog as long as he doesn’t go about alienating them.

        Reply

      • I addition to my previous comment (at 9:33 am).
        And TV-announcers make efforts to spread that myth. I remember well that some years ago (in 2011) the crowd sang to Rafa ‘happy birthday’ after his match, but TV-commentators (who talked with a British accent) didn’t pay any attention to that, they kept talking and talking and talking about…something else.

        Reply

      • Quote 1:

        “There is only one set of supporters that is worse than the French and that is the Parisians.”

        “They say it themselves and it’s true, the Parisian crowd is pretty stupid. I think the French don’t like it when a Spaniard wins,” he added. “Wanting someone to lose is a slightly conceited way of amusing yourself. They show the stupidity of people who think themselves superior.”

        Quote 2:

        “This tournament is so important, such a beautiful tournament for me. Well, that’s the way it is, But I wish when I’m back they can support me a bit more in key moments.”

        Federazzi or TV-announcers?

        #TrickQuestion

        Reply

      • @hawkeye63 at 4:40pm

        Quote 1: Uncle Toni after the booing Rafa received after his ouster by Soderling.

        Quote 2: Rafa

        #Easypeasy

        Reply

      • So much for the federazzi being the only ones creating that “myth” then.

        Or are they now part of that club.

        Ruh roh, next there will be a file watch on them also.

        #DivisionByZero

        Reply

      • hawkeye63@June 13, 2014 at 4:40 pm
        hawkeye63@:June 13, 2014 at 5:09 pm

        The legionaries of the Federazzi booed at Roland Garros 5 (!) years ago! How long are you going to promote their booing ?!

        Uncle Toni didn’t realize that the Federazzi booed! It became clear on the Internet sites later.

        Reply

      • Well, I just hope that you not comparing “promote” with “criticize”, don’t you? Or do you. No you did. OK good.

        Besides, how long am I allowed to?

        Aside: As I said earlier, the RG crowd was very respectful to Rafa this year in the final. Quite the departure. I’d never heard them chant Ra-Fa the way they did. Warmed my black federazzi heart.

        Reply

  15. The French appear to be such sensitive creatures. In the UK we do support our own and want them to do well but are more broad minded about appreciating others and pulling for them. I bet when Murray plays Federer or Nadal at Wimbledon, some are torn between patriotism and fanaticism.

    Reply

    • I will also say this for the RG crowd (who patently are not all French people) they appreciate high quality play and will applaud a stunning shot regardless of who they’re rooting for. Where they fall down is in their rudeness and lack of good sportsmanship.
      However they’re capable of admiring what they refer to as ‘fair play’ in others.
      There is no translation for this possibly because it is an almost alien concept to them lol.

      They were enraged at what they perceived were unfair umpire decisions resulting in Murray backing off and conceding points in consecutive matches. In the Monfils match were all in favour of him continuing the argument and demanding the referee be called.

      Reply

    • ^^^^ ‘I bet when Murray plays Federer or Nadal at Wimbledon, some are torn between patriotism and fanaticism’

      Not in the case of my sister! She defiantly supported Federer in the Wimbledon final. And smirked for the rest of the evening when he won.

      Reply

  16. Against their toughest career opponents we have, currently:
    Rafa > Nole 23 – 19
    Rafa > Roger 23 – 10
    Roger > Nole 18 – 16

    After the AO 2012 which ended Nole’s 7 match win streak over Rafa, their H2H is:
    Rafa > Nole 7 – 5

    Reply

  17. Aw, sweet…………Rafa thanking those who sent in messages of congratulations:

    RT @RafaelNadal : “GRACIAS @gerardeulofeu @TheRealPatCash @MarcBartra91 @26_DaniPedrosa”

    RT @RafaelNadal: “GRACIAS @feliciano_lopez @Benzema @llorentefer19 @alizecornet @Clijsterskim @swish41 @R9Soldado @AlexCorretja74 @_AlvaroNegredo_”

    RT @RafaelNadal : “GRACIAS @delpotrojuan @tomasberdych @albertocontador @alexmarquez23 @AleixEspargaro @josemcalderon8 @AndujarPablo”

    RT @RafaelNadal : “GRACIAS @TigerWoods @paugasol @marcmarquez93 @Charlymoya @23Llull @FerVerdasco @DavidFerrer87 @aarbeloa17 @M_Granollers”

    @Sanju, how come your name is not included? You did not send Rafa a congratulatory tweet?

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.




Copyright © 2024 | MH Magazine WordPress Theme by MH Themes