RafaLint: November 16th
It’s the video we’ve all been waiting for…the iB3 talks to Rafa at the airport:
Articles:
- Roger, Rafa to break new ground in round-robin match by Ed McGrogan (tennis.com)
- A.T.P. Finals: Will There Be Any Room for a New Face? by Ben Rothenberg (nytimes.com)
- Does Fed prefer to lose to Rafa over Nole? – Wertheim takes on that question in his most recent mailbag entry.
- Draw analysis, predictions for Tour Finals by Courtney Nguyen (si.com)
- ATP World Tour Finale 2011: Draw preview and analysis by Nima Naderi (tennisconnected.com)
- Silly Rafa mention in this silly article.
Videos:
- Here’s a kind of creepy, stalkery video from David J Nadal. He also tweeted a photo.
- Here’s a blast from the past for you. (Thanks, Beebs!) What the hell is going on with Rafa’s headband at the end of that mini-match with Federer?
Tweets about Rafa:
- Per David J Nadal, Rafa’s shoulder is well.
- Seems like Rafa’s plane to London was delayed a bit.
Stuff:
- Per this post from Djokovic, he and Rafa will be practicing together on Thursday.
- Coming soon, your chance to bid on cool things for charity.
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That blast from the past video was so much fun! Those closeups of Rafa’s face when he’s wearing the sleeveless green top are beautiful—boy’s got some striking bone structure. And his 2005 US Open outfit was…um…very tight. Rafa, can you please wear super tight tops like that again?
P.S. The Palma airport! What a sight for sore eyes. :)
Wow. That video from 2006 was great. I wasn’t following Rafa back then and he looks very different from today and speaks no English! Really fun to see this. Thanks.
uh, and Paige, that blue top…thud. I’d seen pics from that USO but never a video. And then with the piratas he really looked, well, different from any other player that’s for sure.
Both predictions and previews are tipping Federer as the eventual champion which I definetely don’t agree. Even one of them has picked Tsonga as one of the two semi-finalists along with Federer instead of Rafa. I hope it will not happen that way..
Heh. It’s nice knowing that I’m one of *only* 15,000 people who got to see Rafa aand Roger play doubles… and lose to the girls!
Fabulous that 2006 video and especially when he says the looks! – what a boy he is. He forgot to mention volley but put in looks hahaha.
I am not too happy to hear that Djok will be practicing with Rafa tomorrow. I would have thought Rafa wants to keep a few things up his sleeve and by practising he may “let the cat out of the bag”, especially on the in door tournament where Rafa has got to come up with a game plan strategy. I would have thought Djok would be the last person he would want to practise with.
I think you’re thinking too far ahead. Djokovic is not in Rafa’s group at WTF. We should only be worried about Rafa’s round-robin matches. If Rafa does play Djokovic at WTF this year, that’s probably good news, because that means Rafa made it through his tough round-robin group.
Plus, Rafa probably won’t be revealing any secret tennis tricks (if he has secret tricks) when he practices with Djokovic.
What do you think?
rafafan,
I was browsing trying to find information on whether Rafa had left for London and came across this surprise info on him practicing with Novak. I have nothing against Novak and his winning streaks because I know anything can happen in sports, but I totally detest the way he gloats after beating Rafa and to think that Rafa is so naive as to practice with him is beyond me.
I agree with you on Rafa putting in all this work and giving away his strategies before the tournament begins. It doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t matter if Novak is in another group. You can rest assure, he wants to beat Rafa again and who knows they just might meet. I’m curious to know who set this practice up or who wanted to practice with whom. With all due respect, Novak is thinking only of himself and if Rafa doesn’t know that by now, then, I’m sorry for him. I wish him well as always, but I completely disagree with this decision and I’m surprised at him after what he’s been through. You don’t give away your secrets before you get to execute them in a real match. I know I’m just a fan and my opinion doesn’t mean nothing, but I feel this is a bad move.
It cracks me up when people seem to assume Rafa’s the most naive player on the tour who agrees to practices that might hurt him. He’s been doing this a long time. He knows what he’s doing. Perhaps he’s the one with a motive here? He’s been hitting with juniors and lesser players and hasn’t played a competitive match for awhile. Maybe he wants a strong hitting partner to help him warm up for the tournament.
Top players (except for Fed) practice with each other all the time – this is nothing new. And, they have even fewer choices here as the pool of top players is so small.
Just saw your post after posting mine and couldn’t agree more:)
miri,
Of course, it’s nothing new for top players to practice together, but that’ not the point. The point is, circumstances are different. Novak has beaten Rafa six consecutive times and would love to beat him a seventh time should they meet. That might sound crazy to you and some others or in your words it might “cracked you up”, but it happens. The way i see it, if Rafa wants to turn the tables, he needs to be wise in every aspect of the game. Like I said, Novak is looking out for himself and you can bank on that. This is “dog-eat-dog” at the top and don’t think for minute Novak is not going to capitalize on every little thing possible to keep Rafa from ever beating him again. Perhaps, you’re right and Rafa is the one with the motive. I do not know and I’m not trying find out. All I know is, I don’t think it’s a wise move, but then, it’s not my call. I’m just a fan voicing an opinion.
By the way, how many times have you seen Roger practicing with top players? He almost always get a junior player or a lesser rank pro player. In fact, if I recall correctly he even said once that he didn’t want to give away things he practice on, which I think is very smart and wise.
Again, everyone is entitled to their opinions and I respect that, but it doesn’t mine.
They are ALL looking out for themselves. Rafa is too. I don’t assume Djokovic is better at doing so than Rafa.
I said accept for Fed, no? And Fed and Rafa practiced together last year at the WTF.
I was surprised when I saw Nole posted that he will practice with Rafa. I didn’t think Rafa would ever practice with him in O2 Arena because of what happened this season. But we have to understand something. This is a tournament only top 8 players attend and whether we like Nole or not, he is number 1 and had an amazing season. Actually I can’t imagine a better hitting partner than him especially if you have to play against an onfire Federer after a 5 weeks break.
Firstly, lets just step back and take a deep breath. This was one practice session and remember there are only 8 players so they don’t have that many options when it comes to finding practice partners. I was reading on Twitter that last year Rafa practised with Roger, which to me is even more strange when you consider how differently each man goes about their practice sessions.
Secondly, there’s no one that knows more about what Rafa’s been thru than Rafa and it’s pretty clear those 6 straight losses to Novak this year have been etched in Rafa’s mind and won’t be forgotten any time soon. I think it’s slightly offensive to refer to Rafa as naive, this is a 10-time major winner who’s being on the tour for almost 10 yrs. These guys are professionals and competitors of the highest degree and Rafa gets just as much out of the practice session as Novak. It might actually slightly favour Rafa since he’s the one who has a problem with Novak’s game at the moment.
Remember, sometimes things aren’t always as clear when looking from the outside in.
Who’s to say Rafa isn’t just trying to work out Novak’s secrets. Its been a while since they both played and with 5 weeks off, maybe Rafa wants to hit against the backhand to get readjusted to it so he can tweak stuff hes been working on in the break.
Also Novak has come in to this with a weak shoulder maybe Rafa is trying to suss out just how vulnerable it is, and to put just that little bit more pressure on it before the mathces star. Everyone is saying how novak is trying to find out rafa’s secrets but its equally if not more likely to be the other way around!
The logical choice for a winner at the WTFs is Roger, but it’s sport and why we watch it is because it’s not over till it’s over. So we can only hope for the best for our guy.
The blast from the past: awesome!!
But Rafa doesn’t get to donate any of his really personal staff, just some sponsor things. Rafa honey, how ’bout a kiss?
ooh, how I miss that long hair!!! And loved him at the airport–always SO animated when speaking Mallorquin! Sight for sore eyes. Vamos, Vamos. Vamos.
I laughed so hard at that blast from the past video! As Miri said, what the hell is going on with the bandana malfunction!! Too funny. He was such a young boy in that one. Still so sweet and innocent. Totally adorable. And that hair! Oh how I miss that beautiful lush hair. But I do love it now too. I have saved that vid for the library. Lovely reminder of the early days. Cutie pie. Boy has he matured so much since.
Oh I forgot to mention, that video interview of Rafa at the airport! I will say this yet again, THANK YOU IB3!!! I die from sexy overload everytime I hear Rafa speak Mallorquin. I love how his voice is like a low rumble when he speaks it. Mmmmmm.
Just an awesome blast from the past! Miss, Miss, Miss that long hair! omg!
Love that blast from the past. He’s definitely grown up A LOT.
That David J. Nadal video: what was up with the background noise? It’s weird to be watching Rafa pack his bags while being told that hundreds of children are starving to death…
Hi all,
Concerning Rafa and Djok in the practice. No I don’t think Rafa is naive at all – far from it and I wouldn’t insult him to say that. Am just surprised he is doing it. All I worry about is that Rafa being so intense and 100% in his practice sessions, he may reveal a thing or two, getting too carried away in the moment etc. Remember when he did a practice session a while ago and didn’t realise he broke his racket but thought it was his bad shots! OK it may be a one off practise session and yes might help Rafa to take his rust off after 6 weeks and no proper match ups to practice with, so on balance must be a good thing for him, as somebody else had commented, better for Rafa than Djok since Djok knows how to win against our boy.
Had another look at the blast from the past. We all know how much he has grown up but it still doesn’t mean he has to cut his hair short and as he has been practising sleeveless in Majorca, maybe he will get back to that image for the Olymics? and 2012, although I know some people know his outfit for AO and FO I guess. At least grow the hair back pleaaaaaaaaase xx
For me, it’s okay if any of them win it—except Djokovic.
I don’t care who he practises with … I just want to see Rafa play! It’s been too long.
And SOME of us don’t have the tennis channel and can’t watch last year’s amazing matches. Grrrr.
Nole and Rafa have played each other a gazillion times. I don’t think there are any “secrets” about their games that the other doesn’t know. Also, if Rafa still is ‘nervious’ at all about playing Nole, the more he can hit with him, the more relaxed he’ll be during the match (if it comes – anti-jinx).
Rafa knows what he is doing much more than we do. Can’t wait til Sunday – really been missing rafa tennis!
Great to see him at the airport, and loved the blast from the past, oh how carefree and driven he was back then! but he is far more handsome now! I hope he has a good swing in London, I am gutted I got the B group but hope to catch Rafa on the practice courts, also next year I think I’ll wait for tte draw to come out first prehaps.
Awesome “blast from the past.” Thanks again Miri; gal, you need an award for the most attentive and prolific website host. Honestly.
REally cute video from the past! Rafa’s english has really come a long way huh. He had trouble even with single words then and now, he might even be able to speak English at just a slower pace than he speaks Spanish.
I thought the bandana malfunction was super cute!! and that tight tight shirt at the USO! must have been a second skin.