Abu Dhabi: Good-bye 2011
Photo by MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP/Getty Images
Rafa/Roger…Fedal…the history….yadda. It was an exhibition, not an epic match today between the two in Abu Dhabi. Fed started out off his game, looking as sleepy as I felt, and not measuring his shots well. It took just 27 minutes for Rafa to win the first set: 6-1. Serving better than yesterday and still working his backhand with good results, Rafa was rarely pressured on his serve until the 4th game of the 2nd set. After saving one break point, Rafa double faulted to put the set back on serve. It took 6 tries, but Rafa broke in the 11th game and he served it out with relative ease – defeating Federer 6-1, 7-5. Happy new year, everyone!
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Thank you Miri, you are the best!! Stream died over and over **damn**, but your tweets keep me up to date and informed through the match.
Happy 2012 for you and all RN’rs!
See you in Doha for more Rafa bliss.
Very encouraging match today – think the new racket is working out well. Good serving & better depth to shots. Also liked him going for the backhand more. Yeah Roger was definitely Fed-error today but it was a good practice session for Rafa.
Do wish he’d be a little less honest in interviews though – learn from Roger Rafa! Roger just said it had been a good weekend (even though it clearly hadn’t – not sure those two matches were all that helpful to him!) whereas Rafa has to inform people about the shoulder & not being ready for Australia etc. Just say “We gonna see, no? I try my best”. Do hope he’s right about not seeing the injury for the rest of the season though!
Now draw Gods please give us an easy one for Doha.
Thanks for the update Miri and happy new year!
Here is an article about a slightly heavier racquet head:
http://www.sport360.com/article/rafael-nadal-makes-racquet-adjustment-he-looks-challenge-novak-djokovic-2012 (can’t remember seeing it before).
Thanks for the link
What is with the media and their dire comments about Rafa? They just won’t give him the credit that I think he deserves for his long and illustrious career. How quickly they’ve forgotten what a marvelous year he had just last year in 2010 and that he won three grand slams himself. With how they’re going on about Djoker, you’d think it had never been done before.
Now this article says Rafa’s achievements have ‘paled into insignificance when compared to those of Novak Djokovic.’ Yes, Novak had a tremendous year. I’m not for a minute trying to downplay his accomplishments but I just wish the media would give Rafa his due. He had a marvelous year too, winning a slam and getting to two slam finals and all those Master’s finals. As Rafa said himself, his ten finals were ten of the most important tournaments in the year and nobody else on tour came even close to achieving as much in 2011 and especially in 2010 but the only thing they can say about Rafa is how he was pwned by Novak.
And this reporter says “World No.2 Rafael Nadal is taking some drastic measures”. No he’s not!!! He’s making a relatively small adjustment to his racquet which, if this reporter was knowledgeable about what Rafa and Toni have previously said, he’d know that it’s something they’ve discussed for a number of years and it’s not a knee jerk reaction to Rafa’s record against Novak last year. And of course you’d never get any journalist noting that even when Novak was a top player in the world, #3 most of the time, that Rafa beat him regularly and still has a positive head-to-head against him. Bah! Pffft!
There’s my rant for the day.
Completely agree with you Sharon. Rafa had a good year in 2011 and everyone except for Novak would have wanted his season. I guess journalists need to make a story whenever they can. Rafa does need to find that extra motivation again and a strategy to beat Novak, especially in finals, but he and Uncle Toni are working on it I’m sure. And whatever happens in the future Rafa has had an amazing career so far and has achieved a lot more than anyone (apart from his loyal fans) expected him too! Vamos Rafa for 2012!
I was happy to see Rafa smiling during this match. Fed was more serious, well… on his attitude and not on his tennis. Beautiful tweener from rafa as well ! :) I think he took these 2 matches as an intensive training. We could see he was trying things, he was trying to win the point quicker than usually.
Happy New Year Miri and everybody! Bonne année tout le monde ! :)
So happy our Rafa won this one. I know it’s only an Exo but to beat Fed when trying out a new racquet & also hoping the shoulder would be ok can’t have been that simple. The Boy did well.
Hopefully he’ll get enough court time in Doha to be ready for AO & all bugs, viruses etc will stay away from him this time.
Happy New Year to one and all!!
Thanks Miri for all of the twitter updates;)
Nice to see smiling Rafa finish the year with a win over Fed!! Hopefully the time on court will help @ AO.
Vamos Rafa & happy new year to everyone!!!
Hey, a win is a win, even if it’s more a high prized practice session ;-)
So, congrats Rafa and happy New Year to you, and to you, Miri, and all you wonderful fellow Rafa-freaks hanging around this great site.
See you in 2012! May it be a gloriuos Rafa year :-)
Thanks Miri for all the score updates as I was not able to watch the match. I wish you and everyone here a Happy and healthy New Year.
Just quickly wishing everyone on nadalnews a Happy New Year and congratulating Rafa on the last victory of the year … or the first of the new season. That is really a conundrum :)))).
Happy 2012, everybody.
Lovely to see Rafa win. Hope we’ll all get a fabulous 2012, Rafa included!
Happy New Year all!
if the shoulder is that bad, why did he play here and why play in Doha??
It’s not that bad. He had some problems with it, had treatment on it, wasn’t able to practice because of it, so he needed to play here and in Doha more than ever to get some top notch practice in before the AO. I don’t know why some people find this so difficult to understand. All tennis players have injuries at one time or another.
Novak’s bad back became a national crisis when he collapsed like a dying swan during his DC match and he retired from a couple of tournaments because of his shoulder problems. Roger had groin problems after the FO and pulled out of Halle and then skipped the Asia swing because of his injuries.
They ALL have injuries. Why is such a bloody big deal made out of Rafa’s and why is he derided for having them? It’s a very very tough physical sport they all play for eleven months out of the year.
THANK YOU!!! Well said !! I don’t understand all the fuss over this shoulder injury. He surely know his own body – when to stop/rest and when to carry on. He is not stupid. If it was that serious he won’t even bother to board a plane, but he did and he played a damn good match today .. period!
Have a good new year’s eve – responsibly – like champions do **haha**
Happy New Year everyone :-)
Happy for the win, even if it is just an exhibition; happy that Rafa is working on his backhand with the new racquet; and simply happy to see him back for a new season. Hope to see Rafa live in Miami this year. Happy 2012!
Thanks Miri, as always, for your site. Top notch info, pics, videos. Glad to see Rafa playing better today. Didn’t get to actually see most of match, but from Twitter TL learned it must have been a good match for Rafa. It is an exo, so a bit more relaxed for all involved, but nevertheless a good result heading towards AO.
Happy New Year to all.
Eh, Rafa seems to live to prove the naysayers wrong. It motivates him. Not so long ago, it was, yeah he’s great on clay but he’ll never win anything but RG. Then it was, well, grass, ok, but he’ll never win a hard court slam. Then ok, he won in Australia but he’ll never win the USO, it’s too fast and loud for him.
“He won’t have a long career.” Well, guess what, he’s HAD a long career, he’s one of the top five players EVER, and the undisputed King of Clay. If as much tennis was played on clay as is played on hc he’d be the best ever without question. Considering that his serve isn’t usually great he’s got to be the best point player ever. Most top players can rear back and fire aces when they get in trouble. Rafa can’t depend on that – he’s got to do it the hard way – and he usually does!
Sorry, just needed to rant a bit.
Ramara – He has had a long career, and still just 25. Here’s hoping he’s got a few good years left because I love Rafa tennis.
Happy New Year everyone!
Best wishes for the new year to all and I’m throwing in a wish for Rafa to be healthy and heppyforalotofwins this year! As always, thank you Miri!
Nice! When I saw your headline I thought he’d lost!
So can I hop on the rant wagon a bit? Well it’s not really a rant, just venting. And just so you guys don’t think I’m fretting, I’m not. I was thinking about the few comments that suggested Rafa skip AO. Seeing that it’s my absolute favorite tournament and Rafa’s 2009 run for the title remains my all time favorite “tennis moment” I would not want that at all. It’s funny how much tennis has changed. In the old days (Borg, Mac, Connors) – the players didn’t bother with the AO. Ok, so times have changed and the tour is more demanding than ever.
I’m just happy that Rafa has been in the top 1 or 2 for ten years. He’s proved himself to be “one of the best of the history.” What a career. If he’s fit and hungry to get back all those titles he lost to Nole last year, 2012 will be a great season!
Happy new year, everybodyguys! I’m going to be away for a couple of weeks and get home just as the AO is getting underway. See you guys then…
A good win and nice match practice/preparation for Rafa’s next tournaments, AO in particular. Hope he’ll get used to playing with this new racquet very soon.
Happy New Year, everyone. May 2012 be a brighter, happier and more successful year for Rafa and all his fans as well. ;)
I think the wording in a lot of the press is misleading. To me “heavier racket” implies a different racket. But, it’s the same racket with weight added to the top. More info.
Just can say ‘happy new year everybody’!xxx
I am getting vibes from tennis media that they are accusing Rafa of preparing his excuse ready for the AO. I find that so pathetic. But then, the same media doesn’t waste any time in deriding Federer as well if he as much as commits a slight misstep. Personally, I dont and I wish rafa fans also didn’t read too much into these so called analyses and articles on Rafa’s shoulder and the whats/whys and their speculations on what he would/should do.
To me, realistically, I dont see Rafa having a lot of chance at the AO. Novak still looks like the man to beat in the slowish courts at Melbourne. I want rafa to recover, get tuned to his new racquet and be in form for the March-July part of the season which is when he reaps most bounties. As always, all the best to him. Might be superstitious, but even numbered years have been good for him lately (2008.2010). So lets keep our fingers crossed. Happy new year to everyone