Tokyo: The draw

The draw for the 2011 Japan Open is up. Rafa will play wildcard Go Soeda in the first round – it will be their first meeting. Seeds in his half are Fish, Tipsarevic, and Troicki. Seeds in the other half are Stepanek, Ferrer, Monaco, and Murray.

30 Sep 2011 | by miri | 12 Comments

Taiwan arrival – photos and videos [Updated]

Rafa’s in Taiwan, smiling, biting things and doing a clinic. (Thanks to Atch2, Nana, Inés and others for tweeting updates!)

Video of arrival: one, two, three (heh, “Hello Taiwan, everybody”).

Waiving hello (mangle)

Relaxed Nadal and Ferrer school local tennis players
Presser video
Presser pictures
Rafa posted a photo from the clinic he did with Daveeeed

And some presser photos:

Photos by AP Photo/Wally Santana and Reuters

(In my attempt to be just 15 minutes late for work instead of 30, I missed a the presser video – updated.)

30 Sep 2011 | by miri | 30 Comments

RafaLint: September 29th

Video from Rafa’s practice:

I put the caption text from the video through a mangle:

Era passing bo!!

El que passa es que jo no encertat a res aposta…

Mos fas s’ emboscada…no podem guanyar mai amb aquests handicaps…

L’ any passat hauriem d’ haver guanyat do tota sa vida… l’ any passat va ser increible.

En Xabi Alonso va fer un pase molt bo, llarg i n’ Arbeloa va tocar de primeres be i s’ altre li va pegar be tambe…

Que a sa tercera bolla hagis de

29 Sep 2011 | by miri | 11 Comments

RafaLint: September 28th

Articles:

Rafa and Boris playing golf together. The mind boggles. (Mangle)
Rafa isn’t happy about how the Mallorcan Footie coach has been treated.
Nadal jugará en México – by Juan Ignacio Ceballos (

28 Sep 2011 | by miri | 17 Comments

RafaLint: September 27th

Articles:

A blogger’s review of Rafa’s book. (Part 1)

Video:

Seriously? Another exo? Is this for real? I might have to kick the boy. Hard. In a sensitive spot. Oh, look, there’s a website too. *bangs head on keyboard*

Photos:

Rafa’s on the cover of the October issue of Fitness for Men in Indonesia. They say the photo wasn’t re-touched.
Some Rafa photos in this 2011 AO set.

Rafa does social media:

Rafa posted another practice photo and let us know Carlos

27 Sep 2011 | by miri | 87 Comments

RafaLint: September 25th

Just a few things…but you must watch this moment of silliness:

Posted by lalud79 who also has a video of match point against Tsonga up. (Thanks for tweeting, diannada.)

Seems like raficionada uploaded a few more videos.

The decision for the location of the Davis Cup final is due tomorrow (Monday the 26th)…maybe (mangle).

And finally, it’s hard not to giggle at this photo of Rafa and a tiny dog – I think Rafa’s doubting the dog’s intention to not pee on his leg. (Found via a tweet by TheSliceTweets).

25 Sep 2011 | by miri | 38 Comments

RafaLint: September 24th

Articles:

mrsboricua sends in this article about the Armani stuff. (mangle)
diannada wanted to share the most humorous or disturbing mangle headline of all time.

Amigos vs. amigos: una final de la Copa Davis muy especial by Sebastián Fest (elpais.cr). Here’s the mangle.
A lengthy review of Rafa’s book by Steve Flink (tennischannel.com)
The gospel according to Rafa’s Uncle Toni – book

24 Sep 2011 | by miri | 24 Comments

RafaLint: September 21st

Peace is a Human Right:

For more information, visit www.pazsinfronteras.org/. (Can Rafa get some line reading help from his friend Pau?)

Video:

Check out sergiocord16′s YouTube channel for some DC videos.

Photos:

A newly posted photo from the Champions Drink Responsibly promo Rafa shot a while back.

Let’s talk scheduling:

Martina Navratilova backs Andy Murray strike talk via BBC
STRIKE-POCALYPSE – James LaRosa’s humorous take on what a strike might mean.
The next sports work stoppage: Tennis? by Roy S. Johnson (espn.com)

Random:

From Jon Wertheim’s mailbag:

“Whistleblower” of Ann Arbor, Mich.: “I had the strangest tennis-related experience

21 Sep 2011 | by miri | 38 Comments

Back home…for just a bit

Rafa was kind enough let us know that he, his white jeans, wings and boating magazine were finally heading home after a long time away. And, of course, the iB3 was there when he landed to give us some footage.

(mangle of text on video page – I’m thinking that, as if often does, it left a “not” out when talking about training during his week off. In other words, I think it’s “not without training.”)

Also, David J Nadal (who works

21 Sep 2011 | by miri | 18 Comments

RafaLint: September 20th

Who’s Rafa fake snogging?

Is that a Costa daughter? Or a cousin? (Posted by cymro16668)

Anyone got a higher quality one of this? I don’t see it here (and the Nadal Minutes are usually region-blocked for me anyway.)

Articles:

The Sherwood Taipei to Welcome World-Renowned Tennis Players – Rafa’s getting the star treatment at an upcoming exhibtion with Daveeed.
The Implacable by Pete Bodo (tennis.com)
“He jugado en muchos sitios, pero la afición de aquí es inmejorable” by Rafael C. Mendoza. Warning: old man shorts! (mangle)
La última noche en Córdoba by

20 Sep 2011 | by miri | 56 Comments