RafaLint: November 1st
Welcome to November!
Info:
The Paris draw will take place Friday at 6:30pm local time. According to the tournament site, we’ll be able to follow the draw live online.
Voting for the ATP Fan favorite singles player and doubles team is now open. You have to be on Facebook to vote, however.
Very interesting video about the coaching session from the guy who’s suing Rafa to get recognition for his contribution to the 2010 USO serve:
(Posted by xstf.)
I know I’m only seeing one side of the situation here (and thus, my conclusion is not fair), but if I’d taken the time to help someone re-work something from the ground up and then they passed off the change as a “change of grip” with a tiny shrug almost like it was made on a whim…I might be upset too. Would I sue? No. I personally think the only reason to do that would be to get attention. But I think I would definitely grind my teeth and curse at the TV screen every time I heard that story repeated. I do think that it’s interesting that there’s video of Borras perhaps helping start the process that would lead to the improved serve. It was, however, up to Rafa to implement that change and move forward with it. Now, if he could just re-teach his muscles what they learned last year… (and it makes me want to look at serves in slow-mo from this year to see Rafa’s arm position…or maybe I just want to look at Rafa in slow-mo).
Articles:
- Thanks to some sleuthing from Inés, we have a pdf of the FHM article.
- Send the Armada your love and they may end up in their dressing room (well, that is, if I’m understanding the mangle).
Videos:
- Video of Rafa leaving Shanghai – do the stuffed bananas count as a carry-on or will he have to check those? (Thanks, diannada).
Photos:
- A new promotional poster from Champions Drink Responsibly
Rafa does social media:
- Rafa shared about his team’s victory in a charity golf round (tournament? match? WTH do I call that?) in English and Spanish. I love the little baby trophy photo in the Spanish post. Rafa looks so proud and smiley. It must be an instinctive reaction to raising a trophy for him.
- Feeling a little guilty for not sharing a video with us for awhile, Rafa did so in English and Spanish. Oh, and he also gave us a hug. Gotta love a guy who gives free hugs to millions of strangers.
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I just read a report on another blog that says Borras showed up unannounced to Rafa’s training court and he and Toni politely allowed him to give Rafa one of his serving lessons – which Borras videotaped and is now using as “proof” that he changed Rafa’s serve. Now it makes more sense to me why Rafa wasn’t crediting Borras.