RG: And so it begins
Photo by AP Photo/ Christophe Ena
To start his quest for another Roland Garros title, Rafa played #111 Simone Bolelli. Bolelli started out pretty strong with some nice holds, but we all kind of knew where this was going, right? I mean, as long as Rafa wasn’t totally off his game. So, it went there – with Rafa breaking frequently. Well, until Rafa double faulted in the 6th game of the second set to give Bolelli a break back and a healthy dose of hope. But hope only took him so far and Rafa’s through: 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.
| Nadal | Bolelli | |
|---|---|---|
| Stats | ||
| Aces | 0 | 3 |
| Double Faults | 3 | 1 |
| 1st Serve % | 54% | 54% |
| 1st Serve Points Won | 29/38 (76%) | 21/37 (57%) |
| 2nd Serve Points Won | 22/32 (69%) | 11/31 (35%) |
| Break Points Won | 7/9 (78%) | 1/5 (20%) |
| Points | ||
| Total Service Points Won | 51/70 (73%) | 32/68 (47%) |
| Total Return Points Won | 36/68 (53%) | 19/70 (27%) |
| Total Points Won | 87/138 (63%) | 51/138 (37%) |
| Other | ||
| Winners | 20 | 14 |
| Unforced errors | 18 | 38 |
| Net Approaches | 2/4 (50%) | 5/9 (56%) |
| Serve Speed | ||
| Fastest Serve Speed | 201 KMH | 203 KMH |
| Average 1st Serve Speed | 185 KMH | 188 KMH |
| Average 2nd Serve Speed | 151 KMH | 153 KMH |
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A nice start, some great shots and some lovely swagger.
A good beginning for RG. Straight sets win; played well most of time; ended strong. Good feelings to take forward.
Saw a good bit of match until they swapped to Murray’s match. Rafa was playing pretty well with some classic, vintage Rafa shots mixed in with some fairly poor serving which I can only hope he sorts out before he meets a tricky player. Thought he looked great though on the RED Clay. The t-shirt colour is rather nice against his tanned arms I must admit. Looking forward to the photos. Vamos Rafa!!
Loved the Raspberry shirt…really suited him :)
I got really scared when I first saw the shirt… thought it was THE pink one!! Then I really saw that it was more raspberry, and he played well so I figured the color is okay. Happy color :-) Vamos going after Istomin.
Great win for Rafa!!! Unfortunately ESPN live streaming ended at 10 a.m. (US est) so I listened to Roland Garros radio. Does anyone know of another option for online viewing of early rounds?
Tennis Channel is picking up coverage at 10 AM est if that’s an option for you.
I use livescorehunter.com , click on tennis and find the live streaming option and select a link. Good luck!
There are always live streams online. Lots of links out there, but not sure I’m allowed to post them here?
Good job Rafa! Keep it going! Go Rafa! We are with you all the way! Rafa Goooooo!!!
I didn’t have a good display for Rafa’s game but the ball seemed to be flying in the match between Tipsarevic and Querrey. I am wondering if it was just the conditions today or are the clay courts at RG actually playing faster?
The court conditions are noticably faster on Court SL than Court PCh, but in general they do seem quite quick. The commentators were duscussing the balls…apparently they are using Babolat again this year, but they have been modified slightly from last year as it was felt that they were a little too lively. Apart from all that the hot weather conditions are probably having some impact. Hopefully, things will slow down a little as the tournament progresses. I also hope that Rafa’s serving percentage improves…seemed a little low. Not sure why that might be.
I see – thanks. I hope the balls will not act like they are being played on a hard court.
Me too…don’t know why they have to keep shifting the goal posts. Hope things slow down, particularly if Rafa has to play Raonic!
There was also a comment that the courts are not be watered as often as in the past. That will make them play faster.
when someone keeps winning like Rafa… there will be people out there who will try to change things a little to keep things ‘interesting’… I guess that’s why the keep ‘changing the goal posts’ and that’s why the crowd doesnt applaud unless he does something truly spectacular.
Look what happened when Michael Schumacher ruled Formula 1! They threw the goal post out! and instead of fueling more interest, they lost some pretty loyal followers… me included.
The crowd did seem to be applauding Rafa for every point, not particularly enthusiastically if it was a “regular” point, but still.
As usual, Rafa was a little nervious in his first match. That, combined with some pretty lousy serving, especially in the second set, got him in something resembling trouble. But there was never any real doubt about the outcome, and he looked splendid in Scarlet :)
He said he was’nt **
Well done Rafa. For the first match it was OK. Day by day remember? BTW, I love Rafa’s shirt…hmmmm…scarlet fire? I like it.
I loved his shirt too, goes nicely with his skin tone.
I like the shirt but it is NOT scarlet! Raspberry, maybe. Berry scarlet?
Watermelon perhaps?
Funny…someone asked Rafa during the presser what color his shirt was. He said he’d ask Nike and let everyone know.
It was a good match, Rafa needs to improve that first serve. I was mad when ITV in the UK where not showing the match because they were showing another British players match. Then they turned over to the Murray match half way through.
It seems like British TV are always going to give priority to Murray or any other British player, it’s understandable. I watched it on the internet and I’m looking forward to the next match.
Can you get British Eurosport…they covered Rafa’s match without interruption.
@Wendya, I am watching the matches on an internet site which shows the Eurosport broadcasts, it’s great because I can choose which match i want to watch. I would have to pay quite a bit to add Eurosport on my sky cable TV.
Don’t think it costs much to subscribe to Eurosport, it’s separate from the other Sports channels and included in some of the cheaper packages…I get mine with Entertainment. :-)
I like the raspberry shirt, although I’m a fan of blue/green on Rafa. He looked gorgeous and totally edible in it.
In the 5th game of the second set, Rafa started to play bad, got broken and ended the set with a 43% “1st serves in” percentage.
All in all, it seemed a first round at RG much more comfortable for Rafa than the ones in recent memory.
Didn’t see anything off it jet…. Hadn’t even time to follow live scores today, glad he won. Vamos Campeon! And eh, someone who has a clue why i suddenly have an enorm lust for raspberry’s? ;)
Mm, didn’t watch any of it either, but Mats just said on telly that Rafa looked relaxed out there. I believe in Mats. Vamos!
I’m having raspberries on my shreddies tomorrow for brekkie. :)
How can his average serve speed be higher than both 1st and 2nd serve averages?
Should have said Fastest. Oops! Sorry – and fixed.
Saw only the 2nd and 3rd set. Rafa’s serve is really troubling. I hope it gets better as the tournament progresses.
Nice to see Rafa friendly and smiley to the ballboys; made me think that he’s enjoying the game again. I guess this is the reason why I’m confident about him. He’s a different player from last year. He wants to win more! Saw that aura in Monte Carlo; That’s why I never bought the idea that Rafa won coz Djok was grieving. Rafa’s attitude was great in that match!
I love the raspberry shirt! And the “6″ written on his left shoe. Here’s hoping that we see “7″ next year. It is always a good number.
Hear,hear!!!
:))
What ever the exact colour of his shirt is ,who knows I don’t think Rafa even knows but one thing i know he looked gorgeous in it especially with his tanned olive skin. Loved the number 6 on his shoes, a great idea.
Watched the match. Thought it took a few games for Rafa to find his rhythm , the serve wasnt great today and that I’ll have to improve and hopefully it will . The serve problem is strange one, it’s a bit erratic lately. Served great in the final at MC, against Berdyc in Rome but not so good in the Rome final. Anyway, it’s the first match, he did just what he had to do so happy for the win. Looking forward to the next match.
didn’t get to see to match but just looking at the stats, serve wasn’t that great??? Rafa needs to step this up, this % won’t do him well when he meets the big guns later in the week…
Good luck Rafa for your next round! Win!!!
Miri, i see there are 2 paragraphs in this post. am i right?
but the 1st n the 2nd are the same paragraph…
is there something happen on display setting of my laptop?
or i don’t know what goes wrong :(
but it doesn’t happen for other posts, fortunately :)
thanks
It’s not your display -it’s just yet another miri muck-up.
Fixed.
And the 1st Round is in the books! Looked straight forward, though some hiccups here & there I guess. I only got to see a few points in a few games in the 3rd set and this was on my phone no less. Onwards and upwards! VAMOS RAFA
From http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/05/29/rafael-nadal-looks-confident-relaxed-to-start-french-open/:
The defending champion was wearing a bright pink shirt — Nike calls it “Scarlet Fire,” which is noteworthy because the last time Nadal sported that hue at Roland Garros was in 2009.
That was Nadal’s nadir, his annus horribilis, the year he wondered if his knees would end his career, he was distraught over his parents’ separation, and he lost to Robin Soderling of Sweden — still his only career loss here.
Hmm..I bought that PINK FO 2009 Tshirt and was gutted when Rafa lost..This year I GOT that Scarlet Red Fo2012 Tshirt as a bday gift..so *unjinx*
Definitely unjinx :-)
I guess we can consider this proof that Rafa isn’t superstitious, as his on-court behaviour might make you think, lol.
Raspberry seemed awesome on Rafa..And about the match, it wasn’t a true match at all. Bring the second doomed man. Vamos…
pink color just scared me to death at first..that sordling disaster started going through my mind…bt thats a solid start by rafa..nice shots..bt poor serving…..hope he ll get that right..hez luking very very cute though..
I was at RG yesterday when Rafa entered the court wearing his red shirt. It is absolutely not pink. And he was looking very good. His tennis was not that good, but he stepped up when he needed to. And in the last set he played well. It was exciting to see him play at RG. Good luck Rafa for your next round.
Lucky lucky you! Enjoy!!!
Wonderful that you were there to see Rafa in person- jealous!!! To me even a not at his best Rafa is spectacular!!
Still don’t understand why the crowd is not more appreciative but glad you were there to cheer him on! Vamos!
His tennis was good enough. In the first set, his serve was fine.
I watched all the matches I could, and both Novak and Roger had *much* more trouble than did Rafa. Novak was muttering and grumbling and shaking his head, Roger looked to me troubled and sometimes flatfooted, and his serve was even off some of the match.
It must be hard, trying to gauge exactly how much effort to put out to beat the first-rounders, knowing that you’ve got to keep all the gas in the tank that you can. This morning, Novak and Roger looked much better (darn it!), although Roger had some difficulty ending it. I want him to hoard that strength for meeting Novak!
David F. did better than any of the Top Three guys in the first round, but we have come to expect that of him.
Rafa, Best wishes for tomorrow’s game! Stay focus and Win!!!
Not liking Rafa’s serve at all. It seems to be so up and down and as if Rafa doesn’t know from one day to the next. With the faster courts and the aggresive play now by the likes of Berdy et al, Rafa is gonna have to step it up big time. The fact Rafa played and served so well against Berdy was that a fluke? He better sort out soon like the US 2010 (let’s be honest that is why he won – coz of the serve!). OK doesn’t matter so much on clay but heah if he gets Raonic after this??? – sod’s law he didn’t and was meant to do in the Rome tourney but now Paris, which would we have rathered?
I havw to add something. Rafa is about to start his second match. This time I have to watch it on TV. And let me tell you that the shirt is not so pink in real life as it is on the TV.