RafaLint: March 26th
Photo by Winston Cho of 10sworld.com
Articles:
- Racquet Reaction: Nadal d. Stepanek – by Hannah Wilks (tennis.com)
- Nadal Dismisses Stepanek, Dropping Just Four Games – by Matt Fitzgerald (tournament site)
- Rafael Nadal resigns as ATP players’ body vice-president after lack of movement on changes to ranking system – by Simon Briggs (The Telegraph)
Video/Audio:
- Audio of an interview in Spanish after Rafa’s 2nd round match against Giraldo.
- Rafael Nadal vs Radek Stepanek ATP Miami Masters 2012 Highlights
- 3rd round match point and shirt change
- TVE report on the 3rd round match
- Who has the perfect forehand? Fish and Fed vote for Rafa…Andy Murray really, really votes for Rafa.
Photos:
- Rafa’s wax figure in Madame Tussaud’s in Amsterdamn (thanks, @kirpilik)
- Sunday photo gallery from 10sworld.com
- Nice photos in tennissavesme’s twitter stream.
- Shirtless Rafa via gossip rag JustJared.com
- No longer in Miami, but nidssserz is still rockin’ the photos.
Rafa does social media:
- Rafa congratulated Alonso in Spanish and English.
- And he let us know he’s appreciating the Miami skyline.
Tweets about Rafa:
Looks like Bob Bryan is raising a smart baby:
This guy wanted to take a picture with me…anyone know who he is? He’s a cutie but maybe a little old for me. twitter.com/MicaelaBryan/s…
— Micaela Bryan (@MicaelaBryan) March 26, 2012
Christopher Clarey confirms:
Confirmation from Nadal’s camp that he resigned last week from ATP Player Council: felt lack of support from some of the board#tennis
— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) March 26, 2012
Random:
- Rafa’s purple sweater has its own twitter account.
- This is getting out of control.
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Somehow I quite like the move that Rafa made – quitting the players council. I feel now is really the time for him to truly just focus on his tennis. He’s aging in tennis years and now would be the best time to really be ‘Game On!’
For me, both Rafa and Fed have the best forehands. But its Rafa’s forehand that makes me go Vamos all the time ;P
When I go to Amsterdam someday, I hope Rafa’s wax figure will still be there. It looks really good!
and that’s one photo of Rafa with a baby whereby he’s not wholly uncomfortable with a baby…
I think that wax figure looks pretty good. Probably the least creepy wax figure I’ve ever seen. Also, the best thing about that last twitter account is that I get the option to, “keep in touch…”
Yes I was expecting a much creepier wax figure ;P
I’m with Andy Murray. I really, really vote for Rafa’s forehand too!
Very classy of Federer to vote for Rafa’s FH – which I am certain he would not do if he thought his own was superior!
Rafa’s FH is the best, most definately. His FH is the only one that ever makes me say WOW!
Re Rafa quitting the council, this is Eurosport’s completely truthful and unbiased account of things (yeah, right!):
“Swiss superstar Federer’s career has been astonishing in both length and freedom from injury while Nadal’s one-time dominance of the men’s game was halted by an injury two years ago, since when he has never quite regained that level of performance.
Therefore a two-year system would be the perfect boost for the Spanish world number two; but while Federer remains in the presidential hotseat, change will not be on the horizon.”
Either they are just making things up or suffering from wildly selective memory! The injury they mention must be his tendonitis in 2009, and if anything, his dominance of the game came after that: regained no. 1 spot, three consecutive slams on three different surfaces, career slam, aka 2010 season!
Furthermore, Rafa always made a point of the fact, that he wasn’t fighting for his own benefit, but for future generations, since he was well aware that these changes would take a long time to implement. I think his frustration is mainly due to the fact that, according to him, a vast majority of the players supports his idea, but their (other) representatives won’t consider any change. Finally, the effort was just taking too much of a toll on him.
That’s fine by me… go play tennis, Rafa!