RafaLint: April 23rd
Rafa’s pre-tournament presser (Barcelona):
Posted by BancSabadell.
Articles:
- An Unmatched Achievement – by Jesse Pentecost (thenextpoint.com)
- Who’s hot and who’s not – via The Tennis Space
- Nadal: “Mi reto no es ahora el número uno, sino jugar bien en Barcelona” – via rtve.es. Includes presser and practice footage. (mangle)
- Best of Three: Nadal pounds Djokovic at Monte Carlo Masters – by Jon Wertheim (si.com)
- Heroes and Zeros: Rafa’s Revenge, Holes in the Clay, and Serbia’s Triumph – by Chris Oddo (tennisnow.com)
- Nadal: “Djokovic no puede estar siempre impecable” – EFE via marca.com (mangle).
- Nadal más grande todavía: vence por octava vez consecutiva en Montecarlo – from the tournament site. Also available in English.
- Rafael Nadal: My goal is to play well in Barcelona, not to become No. 1 – and in Spanish.
Videos:
- Behind the scenes (I guess?) of Rafa’s Barcelona presser.
- A rose for Rafa (starts 3 minutes in if it doesn’t dump you there automatically). Thanks, @genny_ss.
- Post MC win interview for Italian TV. Thanks again, @genny_ss.
- Stade 2 interview after MC win.
- iB3 report on the MC final.
Audio:
- An interview with Onda Cero
Photos:
- Ella Ling’s photoset from the MC final.
- Photos from Barcelona – including Rafa’s presser.
- Rafa practice picture and another one.
- Rafa in his presser today.
Tweets about Rafa:
Feli sent us a sad little photo:
Una gran cena de #equipocopadavis rodeado de mejor compañia..sorry por la calidad de la foto,no ha sido culpa mia!! twitter.com/feliciano_lope…
— feliciano lopez (@feliciano_lopez) April 23, 2012
But bless him for trying! He even tweeted it in English too: “Great #daviscupteam dinner with better company.Sorry for the quality but was not my fault..”
King of Monte-Carlo @RafaelNadal arrived to Barcelona!
— Sergiy Stakhovsky (@Stako_tennis) April 22, 2012
- Atch2 has collected some tweets about Rafa on her Vamos Maymo Tumblr.
- Screen grabs from the rtve practice video: one; two.
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I guess the guy trying to give Rafa a rose was celebrating Sant Jordi! – (see link) http://www.donquijote.org/culture/spain/society/holidays/ladiada.asp
Love that link—-all about Spain and learning Spanish. Very interesting.
I don’t speak spanish but read on another site that Rafa was asked how his parent’s reconciliation has impacted his play. Apparently Rafa was not amused and it showed. (And he refused to answer the question). I can’t believe how tacky some of these journos are – nothing is over the line for them.
Thanks Miri
Especially loved the congratulatory tweets. Thanks Atch2. Would love to see more – surely players and tennis people generally want to acknowledge Rafa’s unprecedented accomplishment?
Could anyone translate the Fabio Fognini tweet please? “Dios creo antes @rafaelnadal y despues la tierra roja; ) Grande Rafa!!!” (google translation makes no sense to me)
Loved that Andy Murray has joined Bjorn Borg in saying Rafa is undoubtedly the best ever on clay! Takes the sting out of the numerous articles downplaying Rafa/s win – some saying his victory means absolutely nothing..grrrrrrrr.
On a positive note we all know different and I am certain Rafa does too!
“God created @rafaelnadal and then the red clay ;) Awesome Rafa!
Awesome :) Thank you, Ines …
Thanks Ines – Fabio gave the best quote!
Someone tell me, can Rafa understand both Italian (maybe speaks too) and French? One of those interviews was in Italian and he did not need any interpretation (I can understand that, latin languages being quite similar and U. Toni can speak Italian) but the Stade 2 interview in French, I did not hear anyone interpreting for him (no headset either) yet he replied to the questions in Spanish. Can he understand the two languages then and maybe speak Italian too (in the Italian interview I think he replied in Spanish or was it Italian)? Would like to know.
Read in several of Rafa’s interviews his explanation that he understands both French and Italian, when spoken slowly (due to similarities between these languages and his native Catalan/Mallorqui), but cannot speak either of them other than a few basic phrases.
Ok, thanks Robert. That clears up the puzzle for me. Wish I could understand too. I’d at least have known what was being said.
Here a write-up from the ATP site analyzing the strategies Rafa used in his win over Novak at MC: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2012/04/Features/Nadal-Serve-Forehand-Analysis.aspx
And on an unrelated note if you check the doubles rankings while over at the ATP site you’ll see Nadal/Lopez in 9th and Granollers/Lopez in 10th. LOL! Marc! really IS amazing. :-)
That would be fabulous if Marc can stay in the Top 10 because if I have the qualification rules right, that would give him automatic entry into the Olympics and he could then choose the partner he wants to play with. Don’t know how that would work out with Marcel but wouldn’t it be wonderful if Marc and Rafa could play together!!
We’re getting off topic but to clarify, Marc is ranked #19 so not in Top 10. :( The Olympic qualification is based on the individual’s doubles ranking not a team’s ranking. Also even if a player is in the Top 10, their country has to nominate them in order to qualify. Since each country can only nominate 6, it is quite possible that Marc may not get nominated since most of the 9 Spanish singles players within the Top 56 also play doubles. Qualification system details are provided here: http://www.itftennis.com/media/80030/80030.pdf
Complete regulations are found here: http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1vnqf/RulesampRegsLondon20/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=
Thanks. john f had also posted a link to this, but he ended up on a moderation queue. Sorry, john f!
Sharon, that’s great news about Marc! and the Olympics. I didn’t know it had anything to do with ranking. I thought the top 8 players from each country made up the team and that was that. I should familiarize myself with the rules. Rafa and Marc playing together at the Olympics would be so wonderful!