MC: Historic 8th
Photo by VALERY HACHE/ AFP/ Getty Images
It’s a final of an important tournament, so it’s got to be Rafole, right? Rafa came out playing aggressively and Nole, well, didn’t. Nole seemed off and was hitting many more errors than usual. I’m not smart enough to say whether Rafa’s play had a part in this or it was all Nole. I suspect a bit of the former and a big dose of the latter. Rafa broke early in each set and used the confidence he gained from the breaks to make Nole more uncomfortable. A horrid 5th game in the 2nd gave Nole a break back. That didn’t last long, however, as Rafa broke right back. And you know what? He served that puppy out in style. Rafa wins his 8th Monte-Carlo title in a row: 6-3, 6-1.
Stats:
| Nadal | Djokovic | |
|---|---|---|
| Statistics on Serve | ||
| Aces | 3 | 0 |
| Double Faults | 1 | 0 |
| 1st Serve % | 68% | 63% |
| 1st Serve Points Won | 22/26 (85%) | 12/30 (40%) |
| 2nd Serve Points Won | 6/12 (50%) | 10/18 (56%) |
| Break Points Saved | 0/1 (0%) | 3/8 (38%) |
| Service Games Played | 8 | 8 |
| Statistics on Return | ||
| 1st Return Points Won | 18/30 (60%) | 4/26 (15%) |
| Second Return Points Won | 8/18 (44%) | 6/12 (50%) |
| Break Points Won | 5/8 (63%) | 1/1 (100%) |
| Return Games Played | 8 | 8 |
| Statistics on Points | ||
| Total Service Points Won | 28/38 (74%) | 22/48 (46%) |
| Total Return Points Won | 26/48 (54%) | 10/38 (26%) |
| Total Points Won | 54/86 (63%) | 32/86 (37%) |
| Other Stats | ||
| Winners | 16 | 11 |
| Unforced errors | 10 | 25 |
| Net Approaches | 5/5 (100%) | 6/6 (100%) |
As it happened blatherings:
Okay, I’m awake. Oh, they are already on court for the national anthem? I appear to be running on RafaTime.
Rafa wins the toss and elects to receive.
Okay, boys. It took me 10 minutes to put on the uncomfortable compression stocking so I could sit up & watch this…entertain me.
And….it begins. Deep breaths. Be with colm.
Deep shot from Nole and a bad bounce and Rafa nets a ball: 15-0. The net cord grabs Rafa’s ball and pops it out: 30-0. Rafa nets a forehand service return: 40-0. Nole holds at love to start the match.
Excellent fierce forehand from Rafa gives him control of the point (would have been a winner against most players) and he follows through a few shots later: 15-0. Nole into Rafa’s forehand and the net: 15-15. Rafa serves out wide and follows through to the other side, only the forehand is out: 15-30. Ace! 30-30. Service winner: 40-30. Another service winner and Rafa holds for 1-1.
Nole’s forehand is out: 0-15. Second serve. Rafa digs a ball off the baseline, but sends it long: 15-15. Nole hits behind Rafa and gets a loopy reply that he follows into the net to hit for a winner: 30-15. Wonderful defense and then Rafa smacks a backhand down the line winner: 30-30. Bad forehand from Nole: 30-40. Nole sends a backhand well wide and Rafa has broken for a 2-1 lead.
Rafa pushes Nole until he gets an error: 15-0. Nole’s serve return is long: 30-0. Second serve. Nole nets a forehand: 40-0. Double fault: 40-15. Nole nets another serve return and Rafa holds consolidate the break. He’s up 3-1.
Nole sends a backhand long: 0-15. Rafa into the net, Nole’s attempt to push him back with a lob goes long: 15-30. Good second serve from Nole and Rafa’s reply is long: 30-30. Nole steps into a backhand and Rafa can’t quite get to it in time: 40-30. Rafa pulls Nole in with a drop shot, but nets the passing attempt. Nole holds for 2-3.
Nice serve out wide and Nole’s response goes wide in the other direction: 15-0. Good length from Rafa and Nole sends a forehand long: 30-0. Nole nets a forehand: 40-0. Nice first serve and Rafa holds for 4-2.
Second serve. Nole runs Rafa back and forth and finishes the point off at the net: 15-0. Second serve. Nole nets a backhand: 30-0. 30-15. Nole pushes and runs Rafa until he gets an error. Nole sends a ball long: 40-30. Rafa into the net and Nole’s pass is wide: deuce. An error from Nole and Rafa has a break point. Short return of serve gives Nole the opportunity to play an aggressive and it pays dividends: deuce. Outrageous dipping forehand from Nole: game point. Second serve. With an excellent angle that pulls Rafa off court and a lovely drop shot, Nole holds for 3-4.
Nice return gives Nole control of the point, but he sends a forehand wide: 15-0. Nicely angled forehand winner from Rafa: 30-0. And he follows that up with another one: 40-0. Second serve. Beauty of a backhand from Nole: 40-15. With an ace, Rafa holds for 5-3. (The ball was called out, Nole looked at the mark and said it was in.)
Second serve, deep return from Rafa, Nole’s shot is long: 0-15. Nole nets and overhead from the baseline: 0-30. Pushed wide and deep, Rafa sends a forehand long: 15-30. Nole sends a backhand long and Rafa has 2 set points. Nice serve out wide and Nole follows it in to knock off a winner: 30-40. Nole sends a backhand wide and Rafa breaks to take the first set 6-3.
43 minutes; 2 aces; 1 DF; 86% 1st serves in; 88% won on 1st; 50% 2nd; 8 winners; 7 UFEs; 2/2 at net; 2/4 BPs won.
14 UFEs from Nole. Let’s keep in mind: Nole’s made a habit this week of playing sloppy first sets and then coming back. Stay concentrate!
Beauty of a forehand serve return from Rafa: 0-15. Second serve. Nole sends a ball long: 15-15. Nice serve handcuffs Nole: 30-15. Nice serve, weak return, Rafa into the net to knock off a winner: 30-15. Again, Nole having trouble getting out of the way of the serve and Rafa holds to start set 2.
Longish rally with Nole pushing Rafa deep and Rafa frames a ball: 15-0. Oh Rafa. That was a lovely, lovely angled volley: 15-15. Nole hits a drop volley, Rafa started running before the ball was struck and he knocks off a winner at the net: 15-30. Rafa moonballs a return and Nole sends the backhand reply out: 15-40. Second serve. Nicely constructed and executed point from Nole – pulling Rafa wide, hitting into the open court: 30-40. Second serve. Nole sends a backhand long and Rafa breaks for a 2-0 lead in the 2nd set.
Nice serve and Nole’s reply is long: 15-0. Another error: 30-0. Second serve. Nole nets a backhand serve return: 40-0. Second serve. Nole nets again and Rafa holds at love for 3-0.
Loose forehand from Nole: 0-15. Nole backhand cross-court takes Rafa out wide and he can’t curl the forehand back in: 15-15. Rally with a lot of running and sliding ends on a miss-hit from Rafa: 30-15. Fierce forehand from Rafa and another netted shot from Nole: 30-30. Nole back and Rafa fires a forehand winner: 30-40. Second serve. Nice! It looked like Nole had gained control of the point, but Rafa saves it with a lob and finishes it with a forehand winner. He breaks for 4-0.
Forehand return of serve winner from Nole: 0-15. Rafa mishits a backhand: 0-30. Rafa sends a ball long and Nole has triple break point. Let. Second serve. Rafa nets a backhand and Nole breaks for 1-4. Rafa still up a break.
Nole guides a backhand wide: 0-15. Another bad shot: 0-30. Return of serve winner from Rafa and he has triple break point. Nole nets and Rafa breaks for a 5-1 lead. First big fist pump of the match from Rafa.
Rafa sends ball out: 0-15. Overhead winner at the net: 15-15. Nole’s shot is out: 30-15. With and ace, Rafa wins!!!
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This is what Rafa said in the semis press conference about his 7 losses to Novak:
“Probably against Novak I didn’t play my best, yes. But that’s for any reason. And probably the reason was him, you know. Because against others, I was able to play well and don’t lose a match against the rest of the players. So the reason to play bad against Novak probably was because he make me play bad.”
Compare that to what Novak said today after losing to Rafa; big difference in class I would say. Yes, Novak didn’t play his best today, but he should have acknowledged the fact that it was -at least partially!- due to the fact Rafa made him play bad by not allowing him to get into his comfort zone and play his game.
At any rate, we’ll see how the rest of the season plays out, but I’m much more optimistic now after I’e seen how Rafa played today.
We aren’t going down the road of who is classier or says the classier things. First, it’s totally subjective. Second, it’s not that classy. ;)
Miri, I got a news flash for you; opinions are usually subjective! More importantly, calling Novak out for his lack of class on a fan website is not unclassy (where the heck did you get that from??), but your (over)reaction to it certainly is.
As you said, opinions are subjective. My opinion is that picking comments from a presser to use them to pass judgement on someone who’s going through some intense personal shit is, in my opinion, un-classy. Nothing Djokovic said was untrue – he wasn’t playing well. He didn’t say, “I would have won normally.” The presser started with:
In other words, he’s saying he can’t beat Rafa unless he’s in top gear. That’s a compliment to Rafa and the respect he has for Rafa’s game.
And here:
He’s not saying there’s a stupid asterisk here:
So, looking at the presser as whole, I don’t feel Nole was dissing Rafa or saying that the only reason he lost was because of what he was dealing with – aka, I don’t think he was making an “excuse” for not winning, but was giving reasons he wasn’t playing 100%. To me, that’s a very important difference. One can say they aren’t 100% and yet acknowledge that it was still the other guy’s job to take advantage of that and congratulate him for doing so – that’s what Djokovic did.
I disagree (in my subjective opinion of course). This is not about what the truth is; it was TRUE that Rafa lost to Soderling in the 2009 FO mainly because of his knee trouble/parents divorce as everyone knows, yet he didn’t say a word about it in that match’s press conference. Now THAT was class!
Also, you should know that saying “I don’t want to take away from bla bla” almost invariably means the exact opposite. This is basic psychology.
Bottom line; you chose to give Novak the benefit of the doubt after reading his comments. I chose not to (and I’m right, btw :)). There’s nothing unclassy about that, end of story.
Here here Sammy! Even when Rafa wins he gives better credit to his opponents than the tripe Djokovic just said. The press conference after very first French Open that they played showed me the REAL Djokovic. Rehearsing “humility” crap now wont change my first impression of him.
Shamababes, are you sure you’re addressing your comment to me?? We seem to be on the same boat :)
Rafa lost because Soderling was the better player that day. That’s the bottom line. There are no asterisks. The press didn’t know about Rafa’s knee issues so he wasn’t asked about them. Djokovic was asked about his “tricky situation” right off the bat. What’s he supposed to say, “Nah, I don’t care my grandpa died.” Then people will say he’s an insensitive cad (actually, some people say that because he continued to play). Plus, it was clear to everyone watching the match that his mental game was effected. He gave an honest answer: I was not at my best mentally; Rafa was the better player.
Look, I’m a fan of Rafa – I’ve made that clear and obvious. There’s probably reasons why I am. One of those reasons might be because I like the way he comports himself in public more than other players. It doesn’t mean I feel the need to harp on why I don’t care for other players as much.
Bottom line – I’ve clearly stated over and over again that this is not a site to bash or criticize players. Why waste our time on worrying about Djokovic’s comments when we should be celebrating Rafa’s win?
Miri, you’re not getting my point. I’m not putting an asterisk on anything. YES, Soderling was better than Rafa that day. By the same token, Rafa was better than Novak yesterday. FULL STOP.
My point is a player giving excuses for his defeat is tacky and, yes, unclassy regardless of the circumstances. Novak shouldn’t have said I don’t care about my grandpa, lol on that one, but he should’ve focused in his answer on how he and Rafa played, not why he played the way he did. I.E. saying Rafa was better than me today because I wasn’t my best is right. Saying that Rafa was better than me today because I was just pushing the ball back and all he had to do is play at a normal level to beat me since I was emotionally drained (which is basically what Novak said) is wrong!
Finally, I didn’t know that my comment qualified as bashing Novak (it was a very mild critique, imo of course). Sorry of you thought of it as bashing and you’re perfectly entitled to set up rules of what gets posted on your website. What you’re not entitled to, however, is call my posting “not that classy”.
I totally agree about your statement about celebrating Rafa’s win though; I wouldn’t have worried this much about what Novak had to say if I hadn’t been ticked off by your reaction to it :)
I wasn’t saying you were putting the asterisk on it, but you seemed to be saying Djokovic was. I don’t feel he was.
I admit my use of that word was most probably too strong, but I do find it to be less than classy to pick on someone when they are down. He lost a family member and an important match, I’m willing to cut anyone in that situation a shitload of slack. Then again, I feel the pressers for losers amount to cruel and unusual punishment and should just be done away with.
But Rafa does losing press conferences so well that I always feel better after reading them!
I am indeed saying that Novak was trying to put a big honking asterisk on Rafa’s win by what he said. Novak may well be within the boundaries of what many players would say in a similar situation, but that doesn’t make it ok, even for someone grieving a loved one’s passing (he’s an adult and a professional; he should be able to control what comes out of his mouth under any circumstances, especially when dealing with the media).
Rafa brought an unprecedented, imo, level of courtesy/class to press conferences -win or lose- that other players will always be measured against (at least by Rafa’s fans) whether they like it or not.
ANYWAY, this debate has now entered the beating a dead horse territory so we’ll have to agree to disagree.
i would just let rafa’s results speak for themselves and plenty of opportunities for him to assert himself with novak in rome, madrid etc
so happy for the win!!
Sorry Miri, but I totally agree with Sammy. You have it or you don’t.
VAMOS RAFA!!!! I’m still grinning like a fool :D
What an awesome champion! Classy & brutal in equal parts. Love love love :)
We knew this day would come & it’s so fab that it happened today. Hope Rafa allows himself a bit of a celebration tonight. I’ll definitely be having a glass of fizz on his behalf (responsibly of course!)
This is the first time I’m writing on this site. Have followed it for almost a year now. Actually I started watching tennis just last year and almost immediately found this site. It’s an awesome site. Thanks, Miri. Anyways, I agree with Jenny..Knew this day would come. RAFA BEATS NOLE. For me, that’s it and I don’t care whether it was a 100% Nole or not. Rafa was simply awesome today..that final ace says it all. Am so proud of this humble guy from Mallorca and so happy for him (..and myself too). Haven’t been able to stop smiling and grinning since yesterday. sort of makes up for the AO tears. Vamos Rafa!!
We are now at the point when Nadal was , just before he and Federer let Nole rise, Nole is still world number three despite current rankings. Vamos Rafa until the end – Olimpic games , take it all
I’m smiling now :) REAL RAFA FAN!!
This is my very first comment though I’ve been following this site for some time. I love coming on here cos it seems to be full of people who are as crazy about Rafa as I am and I can totally relate. I live his victories and losses as if they were mine (still remember the heartbroken tears after AO final). Right now I’m bursting with joy and feel like throwing up my hands in the air and dancing a jig. Real Madrid won and RAFA WON!!! (I love both). Congrats Rafa!! U deserved it! Eres un gran campeon! Vamos!! I love you to bits. Hey Miri, well done. I love your site.
Enhorabuena Rafa, you were great today. Good to see him play with confidence and no fear. Whilst, Nole was flat, Rafa was hungry for the win and played with intent. So happy for Rafa. And may this kick off the clay season in style for him. Onwards to Barcelone.
Vamos Rafa
May, God continue to bless you.
I am very happy for Rafa,he is doing all the right things since he lost djoko in Wimbledon final.he was already playing better against Nole in Us open final,he was so close in AO.Now the victory.
Yes Nole is more difficult opponent for him compare to Fed but if he plays well he has every chance to beat Nole on clay and grass which ı totally believe he is more natural player than Nole on that surfaces.
I haven’t seen the match yet so I will comment when I do.. I was sadly away this weekend and often am in April, but when I saw the result to be honest I was in total shock as Nole had looked really good a few days back when I had watched him compared to Rafa.. I was so thrilled for Rafa, losing to Novak in Monte-carlo where he has reigned supreme for 7 years would have been a real blow to him.. and us of course. He did win his first Masters title there and this tournament has always been a kick start for his success in most seasons!
Vamosssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Joy of frickin joys
Biggest grinssssssssssss
Love Rafa
Always and forever
There was only ever going to be one winner today. The swagger the confidence the belief but most of all the fight.
Vamosssssssssssssssssssssssssss
After stating on here that I was not gonna watch the final as I couldn’t bare to see Nole win again, I was following the nadal news tweets and saw Rafa up 3 1, I couldn’t resist putting on the tv, and so glad I did. Rafa was brilliant today , got everything working that hasn’t been working in the previous matches. Rafa had it spot on, serve ,bh,fh and ros which didn’t allow nole to play his game.
So pleased for Rafa, this will give him so much confidence. It has been a long time coming but he finally did it, convincingly too. Love it!
I know that now lots of people will say that Rafa won because Djokovic wasnt at his best, because of his grandfathers death. But thats definetly not true… Yes, if he was playing better- not being troubled by things outside the court the score would be a little tighter like 6-4 7-5, but Djokovic is a profesional and that could not have afected his game that much…This was Rafas good game, and Im very proud of him for achiving 8 MC title, ending title drought, beating Djokovic finaly, and breaking another record with 20 masters titles, and proving that no mather what he is still KING of clay :)
I agree with you Viki Viki! Djokovic is a professional and I saw how he played against the previous match and he was in fine form and able to concentrate. I sympathize with Nole’s loss but this was Raffa’s outright win. Watch the next matches and you will see what I mean.
I read an article on Friday (after)Novak said that sport learned him to focus and block out ‘outside’ stuff when he’s on a tennis court. He said his grandfathers death is’nt something he can do much about and that he is still alive and life’s go on and that’s the reason he will keep on playing in the tournament because his loss won’t affect him. Why is it an excuse now?
Final pressers are up at http://www.monte-carlorolexmasters.com/News/Tennis/2012/Interview-Transcripts/Interview-Transcripts.aspx
Even if Nole wasnt at his best this win by Rafa was so important for his confidence and even if Nole had played like he has been for past 1 year, Rafa was spot on with his serve and return of Nole’s first serve, which was so so impressive. Vamos Rafa..So so relaxed and happy now.
After the match, Nadal was asked whether he felt he had been playing the real Djokovic, or a pale imitation. “In other finals that I played against him, I wasn’t my real best,” Nadal replied, with a shrug. “But the real Rafa is not only when I play well. If I take that for myself, the same for the others.”
Just read this in the Telegraph and think our Rafa sums it up perfectly. Rafa has always been below par when playing Nole.
Love his mindset and philosophy…… And everything else about him toooooo
Djokovic was outplayed and outclasssed by our boy and that was it. Nole annoyed me when he said in his presser “i was just putting the ball in court” which he didn’t with 63 61, this is why i do not like the guy. He wanted to win cos he didnt withdraw and missed his grandfather’s funeral so he was in it to win it.
I loved the decorum Rafa showed after he had won, no shirt ripping,chest pumping and hollering to his team.
Now on to Barca and hopefuuly another win. loving it.
Can’t put it better myself. Novak did’nt withdrew for as reason, he wants to win MC fullstop. He surely did not need the ranking points for one.
Yes, more class you will not get easily – so respectful with his celebration after his awesome ace to win eightinarow.
VAMOS Rafa, you will always be my inspiration.
I agree with both of you. djoko fans and some of the media are down playing this amazing win because djoko wasnt fully present grieving for his granddad.
Since ive been a fan of Rafa ive never seen the media make excuses for him but djoko now has a good reason why he lost.
djoko could have packed up and gone home to be with his family, he doesnt need the points, money or title right now.
I hope djoko goes home before barcelona and has the time he needs with his family.
Rafa is such an amazing player and person, his celebration was quite lowkey.
Keep breaking records Rafa.
SOOO thrilled for Rafa, what an achievement, to win the 8th MC and at the same time get a win over Djoker. This will really help build his confidence going forward to Roland Garros. He played with such confidence and colm! his serve was working well and as someone else has said – without fear. Vamos Rafa, you are an inspiration as always!
I’m feel like I’m walking on clouds today… I like spontaneously breaking into song…
At last, our love has come back strong
Our lonely days are over
And life is like a song
Oh, yeah, at last
The skies above are blue
Our hearts are wrapped in towel fluff
The night we looked at you
Smile reflected in a trophy,
At last!
(With sincere apologies to Etta James).
Oops, something got a little muddled there “I feel like… x 2″!
At last! Miri wrote:
‘MOST RECENT RESULT’
Defeated Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-1
What a fabulous win. I enjoyed every second of that match. I knew there was something different in our boy. The serve! It was back to the 2010 style and was confirmed by Toni Nadal. That’s the way to do it to beat Djok – whether Djok was playing his A game or not. Now let’s hope he keeps this serve and it doesn’t bring on the arm tenititis that I understand what happened last time and dislodged his whole arm rotation.
Perhaps he can practice it at Barcelona.
Vamos up and beyond xx
rafafan – can you give the article or interview where Toni confirmed the serve change? Thanks – i must have missed it.
Every time Rafa wins a trophy nowadays I’m stuck at an airport! Missed the whole shebang. Very happy for Rafa, though. Hoping Rafa’s teeth will bite many more trophies this year. (Ouch!)
I started watching the replay – partly because I enjoy watching rafa play anyhow, but also to see what went right for rafa in this match. Clearly his serve was generally much better – US open style really. WHich is great. On several points I just watched him move – not the ball at all – but rafa moving. And he moved very well, anticipating djokovic well, covering the court well, generally very very quick to the ball. But he also did a couple of things differently, to make his play less predictable for djokovic. He mixed up his crosscourt defensive forehands with more down the line shots – instead of banging away at djoko’s backhand 5,6,7 times he, not djoko today, was the one moving the ball well around the court – but especially not giving djoko the advantage of setting up for his (admittedly) devastating backhands. And many of his looping forehand returns had great depth – just making djokvic actually move backwards – i mean djok likes to set up on the base line to dictate points – rafa was able to push him back. Of course there are the inevitable short balls…but the mis was fantastic. So add the depth to more unpredictable variations on what rafa was actually going to do with his forehand and backhand shots…..very good strategy. Finally, i think rafa’s backhand shone today – it was crisp accurate, controlled, lots of power when he needed it – topspin, flattening it out, nice deep slices. I like it!
Yes djoko was not at his best – so? The real point to me watching djoko was he didn’t have the ability in this final to turn it around emotionally and build on a few good points to turn the game in his favor. i don’t want to psycho analze him there – i thought his self description was right on – he was just there getting balls back really and dint’ push rafa the way he has in the past – but then rafa didn’t let him usb that way either with a great strategic game and good implementation, quite clearly adapted to change his own game to defeat djoo. well done rafa and team
A great match for rafa. Glad his second encounter with djoko this year was on clay, and successful . Hope for more to come, and there probably will be.
I agree – Nole was just getting the ball back and not really executing a plan. Rafa’s changed strategy screwed him – Nole couldn’t play in “automatic” mode and win that match. He needed to adapt to Rafa’s strategy changes and didn’t have the mental ability to do it that day. As always, it’s a combination of factors on both sides of the net that gave us our outcome.
Miri, I love your site but I have one or two issues from the press conference and I am not taking this out of context.
Firstly, I want to let you know this is not a Noel bashing from me but I do take offence when he plays with the media, reporters etc (as we all know he is very theatrical and he loves to have the media attention on his side and as much press, adulation etc as possible)
Sammy’s quote
“…. but he should’ve focused in his answer on how he and Rafa played, not why he played the way he did. I.E. saying Rafa was better than me today because I wasn’t my best is right. Saying that Rafa was better than me today because I was just pushing the ball back and all he had to do is play at a normal level to beat me since I was emotionally drained (which is basically what Novak said) is wrong!”
Miri’s quote
“Nole was just getting the ball back and not really executing a plan. Rafa’s changed strategy screwed him – Nole couldn’t play in “automatic” mode and win that match. He needed to adapt to Rafa’s strategy changes and didn’t have the mental ability to do it that day”
Miri – If Noel had said something like what you said then we would all accept but the fact what he said in the presser, suggested that Rafa only had to play a normal level because Noel pushed the ball back is the ultimate insult to Rafa. I have seen the presser 10 times and still can’t believe what he said and I am definitely not taking his quotes out of context. He will look back and be ashamed with himself what he said.
I had admired how he hugged and was a generally looking “good loser” up to the press conference. Shame on him. But kudos to Rafa. It does just show you how much real class he has.
I don’t totally agree, but am tired of this debate. (Basically, I think the same thing that Rafa said after a loss once – something like he didn’t play well, but he wasn’t saying he would win if he were playing better. He wouldn’t, however, have lost by the score he did if he was playing well. If Nole was playing at his top level, Rafa still could have won, but, most probably, not by the score he did unless he’d stepped up to something beyond his amazingly wonderful standard level on clay. At the level Nole was playing, all Rafa had to do was wait for errors. That could have won him the match. I would not have, however, allowed him to hand out a breadstick.)
Again, the bottom line: this isn’t the place to complain about what other players have to say in a presser and make pronouncements on their perceived level of class or their need for attention. It’s not the place to complain about other players AT ALL. Hell, pressers are actually off the topic of this post! (I probably should have mentioned that earlier, no?)
I admit I tend to over-react on the negativity front, but that’s because it’s such an easy path to start down and you soon find yourself having to deal with people spewing total venom (aka, read the comments on oooooodles of other sites).
BTW, I love the typo of Nole as Noel. Nadal is the Christmas guy, not Djokovic. :D
I want to add my two cents on all the posts people are putting about what Rafa says after losing versus what Nole said after the press conference.
Nole was within limits and did not say something offensive. 9 out of 10 tennis players would have said the same thing the 10th one being Rafa who would have not said it.
Even after Rafa lost against Soderling, he praised Soderling, but repeatly reminded the media that his level of play was poor and that he played very short etc. which some people could interpret as he is saying he lost because he played badly and not because Soderling played lights out.
Nole was not offensive but neither was he graceful. He obviously should have said Rafa was better and ended there. The fact that he stuck around in MC to play at the cost of forfeiting his family obligations means he was there to win at any cost.
I have never been a fan of Nole, I mean he is alright but he does not come across genuine to me. But I don’t know him personally and can be totally wrong.
I agree that Nole could have simply said, as Rafa often has, “He was better than me today. That’s it.” End of story…
At the risk of continuing a discussion that Miri prefers end, I wanted to say that I like Nole. I think he’s a smart, charming, funny guy. He’s usually handles himself well in pressers, and gives eloquent acceptance and concession speeches. This time, he may have been no more than merely honest, but there is nothing wrong with honesty. He said several times during his presser that he didn’t want to take anything away from Rafa and commented on what a great champion he is. Before we engage in excruciating scrutiny of the nuances of comments made in a presser, we should all try speaking extemporaneously when we’re physically and emotionally exhausted, disappointed and, in this case, profoundly saddened by a recent loss of a loved one.