Photo by PAUL CROCK/ AFP/ Getty Images

Google translates the title of this article to “Nadal intimate: his doubts, pressures, life” – which is clearly an overstatement on the depth of the article. The interview took place during the Australian Open, so I’m assuming it was pre-injury. (But have had a lot of sugar this afternoon, so my mental faculties aren’t what they should be.) Thanks to CC for sending in the link.

(Sorry I’m so late getting this posted for aRafaelite – I kept forgetting.)

Posted by TheOnlinemovies2010.

Posted by australianopentv – thanks Atch2.

Photo by REUTERS/Tim Wimborne

Rafa sent in one last blog entry to the heraldsun site.

Hello everyone,

I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye and thanks. I had a great time during my stay in Melbourne.

It is obvious I would have loved to be there today, writing this blog from my Melbourne hotel room waiting for the final.

*sniff*

But this year it was not meant to be. I really felt great during my stay in Australia.

The people there are simply amazing, it’s one of the nicest countries in the world.

Good on ya, mates! (Is that close to the correct usage?)

Starting with the tournament organisers, the player services people who never get mentioned at speeches on court, the tournament director, the crowds and also Ian, the driver assigned to me during tournament, a really nice person who was always there trying to help.

Well, I hope you can play Miami and get assigned a certain volunteer driver I happen to know. I promise she’ll do a great job and not molest you too much.

I am happy and sad at the same time. Happy because I felt I was playing really well. Against Andy Murray I probably played at highest level I’ve managed in the past 12 months.

He was better and deserved to win, but I felt I could have won either of the first two sets.

It was close – a few more balls in the court and it could have happened.

There was a couple of matches at Indian Wells last March where I also played at that high level, but not much more last year.

But I was sad in Melbourne because, unfortunately, I had to retire and everyone knows I hate to do that.

Haven’t done it much in my career, but I thought I could not go any further and the injury could get worse. On top of that, Andy was too good that day for me.

First retirement in a major. :(

So, I have written this post on the plane back to Spain. It’s a long trip and I had time to think and time to analyze everything. I am going to go and get checked by my doctor in Spain.

I imagine a lot of people are speculating about me, and my knee, creating doubts… it is normal, we know that. Sometimes there is simply too much speculation.

So, there! Let’s all try to be with colm.

Anyway, I am looking forward to coming back to Melbourne next year. Many thanks to all. Rafa.

And now, some questions:

Q: Rafa, Do you know anything about Australian rules football. Have you ever seen it played, and what do you think of it? Mark, Melbourne

Rafa: I do, actually I watched some the other day on TV. Lot of fun.

Another sport for Rafa to get worked up over!

Q: Rafa, I used to play tennis but I quit when I was 13 to follow dance instead. Can you dance or even move your body to beat of the music? Tisca Rajiv, Melbourne

Rafa: I am a good latin music dancer, but not much more.

That’s a very specific dance specialty.

Q: When the ball hits the net cord and bounces over the net for a winner, players always wave in apology. Do you really feel sorry or is it just a polite tradition? Genevieve

Rafa: Both things.

Heh.

Q: Rafa, When you have French comments on your facebook page, do you zap them or does someone translate them to you? Denise, Quebec, Canada

Rafa: Sometimes I do, because I don’t really understand French. I already struggle with English most of the times.

We really need those universal translators they had on Star Trek. [/geek mode]

Q: Hi Rafa, I’m a huge fan of Richard Gasquet and yourself, and I thought the way you stuck up for him last year was great. I know you two used to play as juniors, so I was wondering who usually won those matches?
Rachel Low, Melbourne

Rafa: He beat me some times and he was definitely my biggest rival at that age. Great player and a nice guy too.

Always sticks by his friends.

Some nice ones to browse through…

• shelly9141′s photos of a practice session – the racket and string people can look at the original sized photos for details; the rest of us can use those to drool over
• delsblog’s photos of the Rafa/Murray match
• Assorted photos from Richard and Michael
• sashinmania’s Nadal in action set
• La Rusa Loca’s photos

Wednesday 26 January – Raw

A part of me felt like the tournament was all over after Rafa’s devastating withdrawal last night. I felt a little raw this morning. I had said previously to xta, if I feel like this following Rafa, what must his Mum feel like watching his matches?! I’ve avoided the news, the internet, everything except Nadal News since the loss because I can’t bear to hear all the speculation about career-ending injuries. I should have remembered some ear plugs though, because guess what everyone was talking about on the way to Melbourne Park? By the end of the day I was close to dumping a hot cup of tea over the people in the queue behind me who were going on about it.

Anyway, I still had tickets for the Quarter Finals, and although I couldn’t face another Serena match, I wanted to see Venus v Li Na and was also hoping to catch Laura Robson’s singles match before the Federer v Davydenko QF and of course, the match of the day: Tsonga v Djokovic. The only two of my favourite players still left in the draw on either the Men’s or Women’s sides. Of course, they’d have to playing each other wouldn’t they?!

12pm Venus Williams v Li Na

I was a bit late arriving and missed the first set, but thoroughly enjoyed the second. I came in not knowing which way my loyalties were going to lie. I quite like Venus, but had never really seen Li Na play before. It didn’t take long before I was really getting into the match. She has spirit that girl, and doesn’t back down, I like her. It was a tight set, and went to tiebreak and Li Na managed to take the second set. The third set was a battle of wills – neither player able to hold their serves and trading something like 6 or 8 breaks in a row. Li Na plays some great angles and was able to keep wrong-footing Venus and eventually got the break to take the third set 7-5 and win the match. It was a great contest, and I really liked Li Na’s fighting spirit. I’ll make an effort to watch her matches in future, and she’s just won herself a place in my Top Ladies list. Good stuff.

I was hoping to catch Laura Robson’s girls singles match (scheduled 2nd on one of the outside courts) but unfortunately it had already concluded. Fortunately she’s through the Quarter Finals – you go girl! Britain may very well get another number 1 player eventually… may be on the women’s side rather than the men’s?!

So instead I went to see the last few games of the Legends Doubles 45 and Over match between Henri Le Conte (FRA) and Mats Wilander (SWE) v Peter McNamara (AUS) and Paul McNamee (AUS) on Margaret Court Arena. The place was barely a quarter full, and although the grounds were certainly a lot quieter in general, legends matches like these are more than worth the cost of a grounds pass. If you’re ever in a position to go and see these types of matches, I highly recommend it, because they’re lots of fun, and that’s exactly what I needed to cheer me up. Unfortunately I only saw the last two thirds of the final set, but cheered hard for Henri & Mat before they lost (there’s a shocker, I support people, they lose, Li Na being the only exception in the last few days)! But with Henri hamming it up at every opportunity, it was very entertaining and I got to wave my French flag a bit, which hasn’t had much use.

After that, I did something I hadn’t yet managed to do and had a stroll around the grounds. I know where to buy maps now – you have to buy an official program (which costs $16) and there’s a maps of the grounds inside. Or, go to one of the information desks and they have maps on the wall, which if you have a digital camera you can photograph and use to find your way around. Wish I’d discovered that on my first day, not my last! There was some wheelchair tennis matches going go, which I watched for a while with interest – extraordinary what they manage to do! And then I stopped for a while at one of the back courts and watched Jie Zheng working with a coach to put more spin on her backhands. Fascinating to watch. I don’t know if that was her regular coach – there was also a rather attractive young shirtless Chinese man (coach? partner?) watching – but he was really motivating her and it was interesting to listen. I stopped and watched for a while hoping to pick up a few tips, before heading off in search of some lunch and a browse through the Australian Open shop.

One of the advantages of buying a program and getting a map is that you can actually find where all the food concessions are, and I was finally able to find some curry as a change from fish/pies/burgers and chips (etc). It wasn’t too bad either, though a bit expensive. I sat for a while outside at some tables until people talking about Rafa’s injury drove me nuts and I had to get up and move. Still feeling a bit raw…

4:30pm Rod Laver Arena – Roger Federer v Nikolay Davydenko

Okay, here’s a tip… if you don’t support Roger Federer don’t go to watch his matches live. It’s safe if it’s against an Australian in Australia, or perhaps against Murray at Wimbledon, or Novak in Serbia (etc), but otherwise, you’ll be lucky to get out alive! Not being a Federer fan, I found myself in the rather uncomfortable position of being the only person supporting Davydenko probably in my entire section of the arena. The absolute insistence of Federer fans that their man is the greatest tennis player of all time, ever, end of story, no discussion, gets on my nerves. I love Rafa, he’s my favourite player ever, but I am happy to discuss his faults and what he can do to improve, and I’m sick of being told repeatedly that Roger is superior to everyone else in every way. Really? So why does he have a 7-13 losing record to Rafa? And a 4-6 losing record to Murray?! Aaaargh!!! Sorry, had to get that off my chest, now I am with colm again now.

So, surrounded by Federer fans I kept my mouth shut for a while, not wanting to rub it in / risk a lynching by vocally supporting Kolya when he trounced Federer in the first set. But eventually, when he was fading, I couldn’t help but start adding my voice to the handful of Kolya supporters scattered around the arena and got some very filthy looks from the people around me. Kolya supporters were not allowed to have the last shout on any point! Federer fans always had to have the last yell, despite vastly outnumbering the few of us. The two guys behind me obviously favoured The Fed, but were giving some credit to Davydenko too, and the three of us were getting seriously pissed off by a guy a few rows back from us, who, before every single Federer serve (and I mean every single serve, the entire match) yelled “C’mon Roger! Let’s Go! Serve an ace!” and at some point in the third set I couldn’t hack it any more and turned around and said “What the hell do you think he’s trying to do?” and the guys behind me started saying, “Yup, great idea, you go, Roger stays!” on a regular basis.

I know that not all Federer fans are like this, but so help me, I can’t face all the “Rafa’s career is over, Federer is the greatest thing to have ever walked the earth”, that we’re all going to have to put up with now. Please Davy, please save me from all that?! Please divert the talk and press attention away from Rafa and his knees…. maybe he heard me, because Davy started to put up a fight in the fourth set, and it looked like it might go to five, but in the end Roger took it 7-5 and that was that. Federer is through to his 26th (?) consecutive Grand Slam semi-final. Bugger. The match went on well into what should have been the night session and I dashed out before Federer’s interview to try and catch up with Mary who’d arrived earlier in the day, but I’d rather selfishly decided to continue watching the match (Davy needed all the support he could get ;) rather than duck out and meet her. We had a bit of a mix up but eventually managed to catch up for a few minutes before the night match started. Good to meet you Mary! Sorry your tournament started after the agonknees.

8:30pm Rod Laver Arena – Novak Djokovic v Jo Wilfried Tsonga

My final match at Melbourne Park was a rematch of the 2008 Final. Since then, when I was firmly supporting Tsonga, I’ve got to know Novak a little better, and he’s worked his way up in my affections, not only for his sparkling tennis, but also because I’ve grown to like him much more as a person with his growing maturity. So, basically, this was my No. 4 (Novak) against my No. 5 (Tsonga) and I wasn’t quite sure where my loyalties lay, as I like them both a lot, so I brought my French flag and my Serbian flag, which being the bigger, I wrote “Nole, Tsonga, could one of you please win?!” on.

The previous day, xta helped me figure out what it is I like so much about Tsonga, apart from his awesome smash – it’s his joy, his incredible capacity for and expressions of joy – he’s like a great big ray of sunshine – especially in that lovely bright yellow. Talking of tennis fashion, I couldn’t help but notice how smooth and sophisticated Nole looked in his slinky black outfit. Well done Adidas, coolest, sexiest outfit on a male tennis player since the fresh young days of Rafa’s pirate gear. Like it.

I was in the same seat as I was the night before. The people next to me were Tsonga supporters, the quiet Chinese guy on my left was apparently Mr. Neutral Mk. 2 (but as the match progressed seemed more interested in Novak) and the arena was split pretty much 50/50 with a big block of Novak supporters between me and the players box, and several large groups of Tsonga supporters spread around as well. Definitely the most electric (and balanced) atmosphere of any match I’ve been to, right from the start. Yells of “Allez Jo!” and “Let’s Go Nole”! rang through the crowd and the people behind me though it was hilarious as I waved first the French flag, then the Serbian, etc and yelled “Allez Jo, C’mon Nole”.

Unfortunately, there’s always a few people that have to spoil things, and a Tsonga supporter not far from me, who thought it was funny to whistle loudly just after Nole tossed and began his serve (he subsequently lost the point) was escorted out to the approval of most of us. Shortly after that, mid-point, someone in the crowd yelled out “Stop using the flash on your cameras” (or something about flashes anyway) and Nole subsequently lost that point as well. The umpire rather nicely suggested that he didn’t know why anyone would want to call out mid-point, but if they were thinking of doing it again, please don’t. Well put. The people next to me were as thoroughly sick of the “Let’s Go, So-and-So, Let’s Go!” chant as I was after six days of hearing the same thing, with which ever player’s name they were supporting substituted in the middle. Time for a bit of creativity people. The Serbians and French both stepped up to the mark with their own chants and songs and cries of “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaallez!” but I’m afraid the Aussies are a bit stuck in their ways sometimes. I might have to listen the semi-finals and finals on TV with the sound turned down, because I’ve heard it about as much as I can take.

Anyway, the first two sets of the match were absolutely fantastic, down to the wire, tiebreak sets, one a piece, with scintillating tennis, superb shot-making, ridiculous Rafa-like recoveries, instant classic, right up there with the AO semi-final 2009, possibly even the Wimbledon Final 2008 (don’t shoot me!, but not because Rafa wasn’t playing) but it really was ridiculous tennis. I can’t tell you how much it cheered me up that my last match was one like this, what a privilege to watch tennis played like this. I ducked out for some food and a cup of tea, because it was now around 11pm and I hadn’t eaten since 2pm, and by the time I came back with a cup of tea and a burger in hand, Novak was up 4-1 and took the third set with surprising ease, and I was waving the Serbian flag again. Then something seemed to go wrong with Novak and he started to struggle. I can’t remember exactly what point in the match he walked off the court, but the fact that he simply left the court followed by a trainer, rather than sitting at his bench for an assessment first had me worried. Not a repeat of last night, please, I thought. I really can’t handle two of my favourite players retiring on consecutive nights. When he came back he looked like he wasn’t going to make it, and Tsonga took the fourth set with relative ease.

At this point I retired my French flag, much as I love Jo, and began to really get behind Nole. In the end, I was really quite disappointed that he lost, particularly with a question mark hanging over the stomach problems. Indigestion? Injury? I hope not the latter. The agonknees are quite enough to cope with.

So, at the end of my Australian Open experience, Novak withstood the test of loyalty, and remains at No. 4 on my Top Men’s list while Tsonga stays at No. 5. After due consideration, at least until he gets his shit together ;-) the inconsistent FeVer, despite the hotness, incredible shot-making, and awesome running forehands, has been nudged out of my No. 2 spot by my former No. 3, the crowd-pleasing Feña Gonzalez of the fearsome forehands, fiery tantrums and charming smiles. What this means is that I will now be more likely to get up at 4am to watch a Gonzalez match than a Verdasco match. I don’t need to tell you who remains my No. 1 do I? It goes without saying, no?

There’ll be some hard-to-swallow changes in the ATP rankings next week (particularly for me, because if Rafa can’t be No. 1 I’d like to see Federer replaced by Nole, and that won’t happen now). But que sera, sera. I hope and pray that Rafa’s knees are okay, pleased that he has learned not to keep playing through the pain no matter what, and hope that the next time I watch one his matches (and because I had so much fun this year, I’m sure there’ll be a next time!) I’ll get to see him win again. Until then, fuerte Rafa, and fuerte Rafa fans.

Thursday 28 January – It’s a Wrap

6pm, Cairns, on my sofa

I landed back in Cairns this afternoon, and turning my phone on as I entered the airport, there was a message from the coach of the ladies tennis group I started going to, to say that sessions resume after the school holidays on Monday. Excellent! Can’t wait to try out those tips on backhand spin, although it’s help with getting my serve in that I really need! One day I will win a set, but not until I stop double faulting worse than Hot Sauce. I still have a roof on my house, although we are still early in the cyclone season and the region is suffering from heavy flooding after all that rain. And I’m delighted to see that Maria, my little sunbird, is still sitting on her egg(s), and the nest, while slightly disheveled, is still hanging exactly where it was when I left. Fingers crossed there’ll be a tiny little baby sunbird to look forward to in a week or so.

Some final thoughts on my Australian Open experience.

I’m physically exhausted after several late nights of tennis and emotionally exhausted after the last few evening matches, but I had a blast, and despite still hating crowds, I would absolutely go again. And I would highly recommend to anyone who hasn’t been to a tournament before and watched live tennis of that calibre, to give it a go. But don’t just go for Rafa. He was definitely the main reason I decided to go this year, but not the only reason. Go because you love tennis. Watch some Legends Doubles or exhibition matches if you get the chance, they’re good fun. Do not pass up an opportunity to watch Henri Le Conte – or Fernando Gonzalez! Get behind your favourite players, cheer them on, make them feel appreciated, buoy them up through difficult moments but remember where the lines are. Don’t cross them. Shut up before play starts. Take a cushion – those seats are hard when you’re sitting on them all day (as I discovered on the last day after losing mine the day before).

I’ve heard that the Australian Open is the easiest Grand Slam to get tickets for, and also the cheapest. I bought my tickets as soon as they came on sale, but xta was able to upgrade her ground passes to most of the sessions she wanted, once the schedules were released for the next day. She even managed to get a ticket to the Rafa match I missed (because it was sold out) simply by waiting at the ticket office for someone to return a ticket (tickets can only be returned / refunded if a session is sold out, so sometimes returns happen at the last minute and if you’re patient you might luck out). However Middle Saturday / Sunday day tickets for Rod Laver Arena can be hard to come by, and night sessions on Rod Laver from Middle Weekend through to the Finals are usually sold out. There is a fantastic atmosphere on HiSense and some great matches there before the QFs (but probably not Rafa or Roger’s). If you come to the Australian Open, remember that it is illegal to buy up tickets and then sell them on. This is called touting (or scalping, if sold at a higher price), and although it is apparently common in the US there are very stiff penalties for it in Australia. Don’t risk it.

Take plenty to drink and some snacks to eat because lines can be long at the food concessions and it’s possible to miss half a set while waiting for your snack / coffee. A phone with internet access is also very handy so you can keep an eye on live scores for other matches and what’s going on around the grounds. I’m very glad I upgraded mine the week before the tournament. Make sure you charge your batteries and don’t leave the charger at home ;-)! Try and schedule some time off from the tennis, if it’s your first/only visit to Melbourne (or where ever)! Your bag will probably be checked on entry so make sure you’ve read the regulations on what you can / can’t take into the tournament. In Australia, fans like to dress up and do stuff to get themselves photographed or on TV (I ended up on TV a couple of times and wasn’t even trying!) so why not have fun and join in? The players (or those that like to interact with the crowd anyway) appreciate it, and national flags are a great way to show support if you don’t want to do anything too crazy.

But above all – enjoy! In between the moments when you’re chewing your fingernails and can’t bear to watch the next point, it’s a lot of fun being a tennis fan surrounded by thousands of other tennis fans instead of watching at home on your sofa!

Highlights of my AO experience: meeting other fans (esp. Atch, Mary and most of all xta), the joy I got out of seeing Rafa play live for the first time, and then him blogging about how much he appreciated the support of his fans at that match (with me knowing that he’d actually seen me, and that I was the first person to start yelling for him!), Henri Le Conte’s hilarious antics in doubles – not to be missed – and getting to see some of the Legends in action, like Pat Rafter, Mats Wilander and Todd Martin, FeVer’s shirt change (even if I could only see it on the big screen), watching Carla Suarez Navarro run Serena all over the court and reduce her to screams of frustration, adding Li Na to my list of favourite players, Venus’s apparent lack of knickers(!), and of course, the crazy Chilean fans and the smiles from Feña Gonzalez. I won’t be forgetting those in a while!

Lowlights: retirements and injuries and question marks (Nalbandian, Novak, and of course, Rafa), the inappropriate behaviour of some fans (talking and calling out during play), and not getting to see Ferru, Tommy, Juanqui, Moya, Nalby, Monaco, Monfils, Gasquet, Chardy, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Kim Clijsters, Laura Robson, Melanie Oudin, and Elena Dementieva. Next time I won’t take any chances and will try and be there for the earlier rounds and hope they’re not all scheduled to play at the same times!

Summary: worth every penny of the month’s salary it cost me, can’t wait to go again, and I’m really looking forward to the new international-standard tennis centre they’re building here in Cairns capable of hosting Davis and Fed Cup ties… I’ll be there!

Thanks for reading, and for all your comments… that’s all folks! Over and out!

Tuesday 25 January – Out for the Count

Today was Australia Day. A national holiday. A day when Australians celebrate being Australian. Which means parades, fireworks, Triple JJJ (trendy radio station)’s Top 100 songs of the previous year, cricket, BBQs and beer. Well, any kind of alcohol really. This affects the tennis in a number of ways:

1. It makes it bloody hard to get there due to the parade that goes though the centre of Melbourne. Annoying, because they don’t warn you about it.

2. Despite the fact that the last remaining Australians in the singles draws (Stosur and Hewitt) both got knocked out yesterday, every other person at Melbourne Park is covered head to toe in Australian colours / flags / facepaint, etc. Fair go, good on yer mate.

3. There’s a 21 gun salute that’s so loud it sounds like 21 bombs going off, and makes Thomas Muster drop his racket and put his hands up in the air, ready to surrender. Funny guy.

4. There are fighter jets zooming over head performing complicated manoevures. Exciting, but distracting.

5. The men’s singles quarter final (yes, that one) get’s delayed for ten minutes for a firework display. A bonus for spectators, but neither Rafa or Andy looked up, as they sat first patiently, then impatiently, then Rafa gave up, jumped off his bench and started bouncing up and down, to be followed very shortly by Murray. Then they both got tired of that and sprinted off for a bathroom break together. To their credit, the authorities in Melbourne co-ordinate this with the organisers of the Australian Open so that they wait until they end of a game before letting off the fireworks. I expect none of you want to read Murray’s interviews at the moment(!) but he did comment afterwards that “It was a bit strange. It was probably one of the only times that will ever happen during my career, I guess.”

Today was also the second day in a row that I saw every player I was supporting (in the matches I watched) knocked out of the tournnament.

Two by retirement, including Rafa. I can’t even begin to tell you how much it sucked to actually be there for that match. It was the match that I’d been waiting for with both excitement and trepidation all week. I fully expected it to go to five sets. Of all the ways I was prepared for it to end, retirement was the one thing I hadn’t even considered.

But I’m jumping ahead of myself.

11am Margaret Court Arena – Men’s Legends & Men’s Doubles Quarter Finals

I had tickets for Rod Laver Arena, day and night sessions today, and had fully intended to watch all the women’s Quarter Final matches, but when I looked at the schedule for the day, realised that Margaret Court Arena promised some sparkling doubles action. xta agreed, so we decided to head there instead. Of course I didn’t know about the Australia Day parade so got there about 20 minutes late. Purely by fluke, she was in the first section I looked in, and had secured us front row seats. Fantastic. You can’t actually get any closer to the players unless you’re actually on court with them.

First up: Legends Doubles. Cedric Pioline (FRA) and Guy Forget (FRA) v Todd Martin (USA) and Thomas Muster (AUT). Todd Martin was one of my favourite players in the mid-late 1990s and I’ll never forget a couple of outstanding matches with Tim Henman at Wimbledon. Great player. Lovely bloke. Very funny. What with flybys and gun salutes it was an entertaining match, and a treat to see these legends in action. I scrambled over a few rows of seats at the end and managed to get myself my first (and probably only) autograph of the tournament from Todd, probably because none of the more agile kids around had ever heard of him! He’s coaching Novak, folks. I think with their personalities that’s probably a fun combination.

Next up: Men’s Doubles Quarter Finals. Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) and Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) v Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) and Kuhlmann ????? no guesses as to why I wanted to watch this match. Sadly, no crazy Chilean fans in the audience today. Not a single chant of “Chi Chi Chi, Le Le Le, VIVA Chile” (I stand corrected by a Chilean friend). So, when the Finnish fans got going with their chant, and then the Aussies got going with “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi! Oi! Oi!” (for no other reason than it was Australia Day) I followed with “Chi Chi Chi, Le Le Le…” and got a beam of approval from Feña. Be still my heart… if Verdasco doesn’t get his shit together pretty soon, I’m leaving him for Feña. xta and I got behind out boys and cheered them on loudly, managing to attract another (my third!) smile from Feña… seriously Fer, are you listening? Unfortunately things started to go wrong in the second set, first with Feña and then with Ljubicic (I like Ljubi by the way, he’s gutsy, and the way they touched hands after virtually every point was too cute for words) and they lost the second set. Then, in the third, Ljubicic suffered a groin strain or something and called for a trainer. And that was the end of that. Farewell Feña. You’ve been an absolute JOY to watch, and I’m not going to forget those smiles in a hurry :D I didn’t manage to get an autograph – just not quick enough to get past all the kids – but no matter. Smiles are better than ink.

After the first retirement of the day, xta and I retired for lunch. I’ve been eating junk all week, for want of any alternative, but finally located the one decent café/restaurant, Café Arena which turned out to be not half bad and a pleasant change. Good food, good company. Feeling pretty good.

3:30ish Rod Laver Arena – Andy Roddick v Marin Cilic

Sadly, after the events of this evening, I can’t remember a whole lot about this match now. Almost the entire arena, including me, started out firmly behind Roddick, but I wasn’t totally convinced he was going to get past Cilic (after watching him dispose of Del Potro). Neither of them played consistently superb tennis, and at times there were errors firing all over the place, but Cilic was playing smart, if high-risk tennis, and it made for entertaining viewing. It was a messy, yet somehow tight, affair, and ended in another difficult loss for Roddick. There was some great shot-making and in the last set, the crowd really began to get behind Cilic (Aussies love to back the underdog) and everyone began applauding great shots from both players. It was a truly fantastic atmosphere. Sorry Andy, but Iike dear Feña, I sense you’re destined never to win that elusive Grand Slam. Not because you’re not capable of it, but because I sense the luck is never quite going to go your way. I hope it does. You’re not one of my favourite players, but you deserve it after that loss at Wimbledon.

7:30 Rod Laver Arena – Rafa v Murray

xta and I had seats in adjacent sections for this one, so we met between our doors before the match, hoping to meet up with Atch as well, who timed a holiday in Oz to coincide with the Quarter Finals. Tip to future tournament goers – it’s not a good idea to meet at the door because it’s way too crowded. Much better to agree a place outside. Anyway, eventually we all found even other and managed a brief hello. Atch – lovely to meet you, even if very very briefly!

And then it was on. I’ll be honest, I was shaking again for this one. I felt pretty confident and optimistic going in about the way Rafa’s been playing, the changes he’s been making, and was confident he could pull it out against Andy. I fully expected it to go five sets though, because an in-form Murray is a tough challenge, and he’s been playing very well lately, apart from the loss to Tommy in the Hopman Cup (I haven’t managed to watch that match yet, still on the DVR at home though but will be a nice way to cheer myself up – still pissed I didn’t get to see Robredo play). I was hoping the umpire for the match might be Mohammed Lahyani, but haven’t seen him at all this tourney.

And so it was on. I know you all watched the match. So I guess I don’t need to tell you what happen, but here’s my experience of it.

Rafa was playing great tennis, perhaps not his 100% best, but at least 95%, but Andy was one step ahead. Soooo tight that first set. Some great tennis from both of them. Crowd electric from the start – loads of ex-pat Murray supporters – but plenty of support from Rafa too. Loved the people sitting behind me. Swiss / German (?) guy next to me claimed to be neutral, but was muttering under his breath about Rafa and clapping him more than Andy. I lent some card and markers to the people behind me so they could make Love Rafa signs, and because I was only one row back from the front of the upper tier, and the people in front were also Rafa supporters, was able to tie my big Spanish flag underneath the Australian Open signage. Having got past my initial “Oh my God I’m watching Rafa for the first time fog” I was able to pay a lot more attention to the match and the way he was playing. I was pleased to see him come in several times, but he wasn’t doing enough with his drop volleys. This is Murray you’re playing Rafa, I muttered under my breath, if you let him come in he’s going to kill you. If you’re going to play it short against him, you have to make sure it’s a winner. Mr. Neutral was nodding in agreement. After several such mistakes, I’m happy to say he did start to figure it out. His down the line shots seemed to be troubling him a bit, just not quite making the lines and the corners, shots going wide, etc not bad errors, but errors none the less he couldn’t affford against Murray. I saw him studying his racket, looking at the strings. You can look at the strings all you like Rafa, but you decided to change them ;-)

Then there was Murray’s serve… when the hell did Muzza learn to serve like that?! Only weeks ago, you guys were jumping on me when I said he serves and volleys well (serves-and-volleys is what I meant, his serve is not usually one of his strengths) but in this match Murray was serving well by anyone’s standards, very well for him. And it made a difference. Had he fluffed his serve more often, Rafa would have a lot more chances. Towards the end of the first set I began to get a sinking feeling. Murray was 100% on, and Rafa just not quite at his best. But the second set was still pretty tight, until that fall. I didn’t see how it happened. The guy next to me thought he slipped on the line. Slipped on the line? What the….? xta, who was not too far from Rafa’s box, overhead him say something to Uncle Toni about his shoes. Maybe they weren’t gripping properly – he did seem to be slipping a bit during the match, and there was just one or two points (only a couple mind) where both Mr. Neutral and I were like “Why didn’t he run that down”? But still, it came as a complete shock when he walked off court, mid game, and called for a trainer. Mid game! This is Rafa we’re talking about. The old Rafa would play until he could no longer stand to give his opponent the opportunity to beat him, rather than walk away from the fight, so something serious had to be up, no?

I have my face in my hands at this point, wishing my flag wasn’t tied to the stand so I couldn’t hide behind it. Our little Rafa-corner is muttering amongst ourselves, shaking our heads, murmuring “This can’t be good, this can’t be good”. There is no pleasure from seeing the trainer rubbing his thigh, no exclamations from the girl behind me about wishing she could be doing that. We know this isn’t good.

But Rafa gets up and is back on court to great applause. He keeps fighting. But what you probably didn’t catch in the TV coverage a short while later, because the camera was on Murray, was Rafa turning to Toni and shaking his head as if to say I can’t do this, and Toni half nodding as if to say, okay. That was the moment I knew it was all over, it was only a matter of when. And shortly after that Rafa walks over to the umpire, apologises to Andy, and that’s the end of it. I couldn’t believe it. The whole arena was in a state of disbelief. I may have been too wrapped up in my own disappointment and concern to notice, but I’m fairly sure even the vocal Murray supporters kept quiet until a more appropriate moment for celebration. I grabbed my stuff, left my seat and met xta at the exit but stopped to hear what Murray had to say. I had a text message from a Spanish friend asking if I was at the match, and because he was in Queensland and therefore watching the match on a hour’s delay, didn’t know what had happened. I replied yes, but he’s injured, he’s just retired. And he immediately me phoned me to say, what the…?! So I left the arena to talk to him and missed the end of Murray’s interview.

xta and I decided we needed to go and drown our sorrows. I don’t normally drink, but felt the situation required some consolation. So we walked into the city and found a bar where we sat in shock and commiserated. Thank you xta – it was good to have someone to share the pain with, and lovely to meet you and hang out at the doubles matches too. It helped to take the edge off Rafa’s retirement. I managed to keep it together until I got back to my hostel, logged onto NN, saw the close-up photos from the match of Rafa and Andy’s interaction when he retired, and shed a few tears. I’m writing this a couple of days later because I really couldn’t hack trying to write about it then.

Fuerte.

Monday 24 January – Losing Streak

I’m really on a tear here people. The only two players I’ve got behind in Round 4 who’ve actually won, are Rafa and Tsonga. Everyone else I’ve got behind has crashed and burned. Which is frankly the only way to describe what happened in Verdasco’s match against Davydenko today. Actually other expressions do come to mind, but I’ll get to that shortly.

First up on my schedule today was recovering from Feña’s late-night loss last night. I wish I’d seen more of Gonzalez earlier in his career. There was a while (after Henman and before Rafa) where I really wasn’t inspired by anyone’s tennis. Marat was too temperamental, Hewitt likewise, and I just never got into Federer. He’s just too clinical. Pure technique, nothing else to latch on to. I never got to see any clay court tennis so Moya and Gonzalez went pretty much under my radar, although David Nalbandian impressed me at Wimbledon and if forced to chose a favourite player, he would have been it. Now with the internet and live coverage I’m able to watch so many more tournaments around the world, and I’ve rediscovered my passion for tennis. Anyway, my point is that I’m really disappointed I didn’t start following Feña years ago. But credit to Roddick, he played a great match and given that Cilic is on a tear of his own, it should make for an interesting QF. Expect a tight match.

After insufficient recovery, and checking that The Windy has been behaving itself (apparently, to quote a friend, Olga was the lamest cyclone ever, and Maria & Tommy are doing just fine :) it was time to head over to Rod Laver Arena for Verdasco v Davydenko.

1pm-ish, Rod Laver Arena, Verdasco v Davydenko

It was a bit on an anti-climax seeing Fernando walk on court, possibly because my seat was behind the players benches, so I didn’t really see much. But then they started warming up and the temperature soared. It was hot enough on court anyway, but ‘Hot Sauce’ just sends my temperature to boiling point. I don’t understand this, I really don’t. He’s a very pretty man, but that has never been enough to impress me, and he lacks many of the other qualities I normally find attractive. He doesn’t even have the kind of looks I’d normally go for (a sweet face like Rafa’s or maybe Jeremy Chardy would normally be more my type). I never lusted over Marat despite appreciating that he was a very (very) hot man, because I never really liked him, same with Feli Lopez – does absolutely nothing for me. But I guess there has to be an exception, and Fernando seems to be it. I look at him and I go all wobbly. Which unfortunately, I discovered, happens in real life too. I was actually shaking for at least half of the first set, and even more embarrassingly, I’m admitting to it! Only in the final set did I realize that I had barely looked at Davydenko all match. Stupid, because it would have been useful to have some insights into his form coming into the later stages of the tourney, but other than the fact that he was (for the most part) Mr. Consistent, to Verdasco’s complete disintegration at times during the match, there’s nothing I can usefully contribute, because I simply couldn’t take my eyes off Fer!

I was lucky with the people sitting around me for this match. A couple of Swiss girls on one side, who were just waiting for Federer’s evening match, and completely ambivalent about the players until they watched Fernando warm up and then borrowed my smaller Spanish flag ;) There was a gay man and a female friend behind me (no guesses as to who they were supporting!) and an older couple who come to the tennis every year, and were present at the now legendary semi-final in 2009 and were hoping that Fer would go all the way to the final this year. They were lovely. They knew their tennis, and so did the gay guy, so we had a good chat about what the hell was wrong with Fernando in this match. There were a few Spanish flags around the place, and by the end of the match, Fernando had almost everyone behind him, despite it being increasingly obvious he needed a kick up the backside. Or perhaps one of those Chilean flares.

I don’t know what Gil Reyes and Darren Cahill have been up to with him lately, but perhaps a little less work on the body (I mean, seriously, can it get any better?! ;-) and a little bit more work on his head. The people behind me were at a loss to explain what was going on, but sadly, for those of us who’ve been following him closely for the last year, it was an all too familiar story. He choked, his mind went walkabout, his game went to pieces, and apart from a few brief games where he caught fire and his forehands were sizzling and the whole arena was in danger of catching fire, it was really quite painful to watch (19 double faults Fer? Seriously?). It would have been excruciating except that the sheer hotness of watching him made it worth while. I would have been very sorry to miss seeing him play, so I’m glad I got the ticket.

But explain this (someone, anyone, please?!) – how is it that someone who clearly has so much confidence in himself as a person (maybe a little too much at times!) can completely lose faith in his tennis at the drop of a hat? I was yelling my head off with the other Spanish fans, and telling him to believe in himself and Fuerte! but he seems to just implode and collapse in on himself. Fernando has great posture, something I always notice. Rafa kind of slouches at the best of times, but when Fer’s confident, his head’s up, his shoulders are back and he stands proud. When he starts to lose it, his head drops, his shoulders slump, he starts ghosting his shots (Nole is the same way). CUT IT OUT Fernando. In the words of another NN reader who was tweeting during the match, you need to get your shit together. In the few moments that he relaxed and had a laugh about something, it really improved his game. Perhaps he should learn to work the crowd like Feña and use that support to buoy him up, because more than anyone else (except Federer) Verdasco was the person I heard people talk about most and say they wanted to watch. He has a lot of fans in Australia after last year’s performance. Thinking about this match afterwards though, I realised that perhaps the fact that he falls apart so completely is partly why I like him. I don’t like that strutting peacock stuff, but I’m beginning to get the sense he hides behind it, because when it falls away, he’s left looking almost shockingly vulnerable. I suspect I might not like him quite so much if he actually started winning all the time. Maybe what I like is that raw, unfinished quality about him.

There’s not much I can really say about the tennis in this match, except that when Fernando hits that hard, flat, heavy, running forehand down the line it’s breathtaking. Perhaps not as beautiful as Feña’s, but whoa! the raw explosive power of that forehand is unbelievable. It doesn’t have the sweet sound off the racket that I got from Rafa and Nole it’s more of a thunderous “get the hell out of the way now!” whalloping thwack! Another observation, Fernando broke a shoelace and needed to get a new shoe. Okay, nope, it’s not in there, maybe here? Er, no. Ah yes, here it is. Valuable time wasted. That wouldn’t have happened if he was Rafa. Rafa would have known exactly where his shoe was, because it would be exactly where he put it, exactly where it’s been for the last however-many years. I don’t see Rafa’s tics as a sign of OCD or superstition. They’re good preparation. I’m like this when I’m camping. I have an exact place for everything with my camping gear, and an order that it all fits into the car, so that it’s as easy as possible to set up camp and find anything I happen to be looking for. It just makes life so much easier so you can focus on the important things instead. Hmmn, get your shit together Fernando!

Watching tennis live, as opposed to on TV, you don’t get to see the wonderful close up expressions and emotions, which I miss, but you’re also able to focus on one player, or one particular shot a player makes, and really study their movement, in a way you can’t when the cameraman is dictating what you see. When I finally managed to drag my eyes off Fernando for a while, albeit briefly, I noticed that although I’ve never thought of Davydenko as a particularly elegant player to watch, he does have a beautiful service action. I got some nice photos.

The frustrating thing about this match is that FeVer really SHOULD have won it. Going into the tiebreak (4th set) I thought he wouldn’t withstand the pressure, but somehow he found the reserves and stormed through it. The crowd went wild, and he was pumped with celebration. If only he could have maintained the same level of focus, intensity and self-belief he did at that moment throughout the match, he could whipped Davy’s butt. But he didn’t, so I don’t get to drool over him in the QFs. Damn. At least I got 5 whole sets of drooling in today. There was a nice moment at the net between Davy and Fernando. I know Kolya’s not the most popular player at the moment, particularly with Rafans, but with Fernando looking close to tears, Davy looked genuinely sympathetic. I might have offered to console Fer, but apparently Camilla was there… ;-)

xta tells me she thought she might have seen me on TV again today, cheering for Fernando, but I don’t remember the camera being on me at all. If it was, I hope I wasn’t yelling something embarrassing. In between shouting out motivational support I might possibly (ahem) have yelled a few other things, possibly (for example) during a shirt change… let’s hope that’s not the bit that got transmitted around Australia! Anyway, I’m very glad I had my Fernando moment. Even if he disintegrated badly, he’s still the hottest player on the tour as far as I’m concerned! Excuse me while I faint ;-)

5:30pm Rod Laver Arena – Samantha Stosur v Serena Williams

I really like Sammy. She’s one of my Top Five women. She plays great tennis, is a nice girl, and it’s good to be able to get behind an Aussie – GO SAMMY! Unfortunately she was up against Serena Williams. After a great year last year (her first singles titles after great success in doubles) Sam hasn’t been playing her best tennis the last few weeks. She didn’t play well in the Hopman Cup, fluffed a lot of easy shots during the Hit for Haiti exhibition, and wasn’t playing her best in this match either. She had the whole arena behind her, but she just never hit top gear and Serena made the most of it and won in straights.

When the Williams sisters first exploded onto the courts I thought they were great. Something different. But over the years I’ve come to enjoy them less. Especially Serena. I still like Venus, possibly because I have some empathy with her as an older sister who’s clearly had to put up with a great deal of dramas and tantrums over the years, but the final of the US Open was for me (as I suspect for many others) the final straw. Her behaviour on court that day was truly shocking, but her complete denial about in her post-match interview was even worse. She refused to acknowledge she’d done anything wrong, let alone take responsibility for it, and I think the WTA should have imposed sanctions far beyond a fine she could well afford. That kind of behaviour should not be condoned, I don’t care who you are. So, I’m done with Serena. I hope she doesn’t win again, because frankly, I think she should have been banned from the tour for six months.

7:30pm Rod Laver Arena – Lleyton Hewitt v Roger Federer

Even though I’m not a fan of Roger Federer, it would have been churlish not to want to see him play. I’m not a fan of Lleyton Hewitt either, and because I’m still not quite an Aussie have never felt compelled to support him, so getting behind Hewitt to win a match was a first for me. I really thought that once I actually saw Roger play, I might feel a bit differently about him, but I don’t. I mean, his technique really is superb. If you were writing a text book on how to play tennis, you’d probably use Roger to illustrate most of the shots. I admit, I love his one-handed backhand slice. It’s superb. But I’m afraid he still underwhelms me. He says he loves tennis, but I don’t feel it in the way I do with Rafa. I still feel that Roger loves tennis because he’s good at it, because he believes he’s the best, rather than because his love for the game is so compelling that it drives him to play no matter what. For me, his tennis is technically brilliant but utterly clinical, and he gives me nothing I can grab on to, nothing to get passionate about. No doubt if you’re a Federer fan you’ll disagree, and that’s okay. We can agree to disagree. So, I found it surprisingly easy to get behind Lleyton in this game. Then again, surrounded by 15,000 people, at least 2/3 of which were Aussies totally getting behind their man, it’s not so hard! I have to say though that my patience with the “Let’s Go, So-and-so, Let’s Go!” chant is wearing thin.

Lleyton surprised me actually. I’m not sure I really appreciated before just how brilliantly he moves around the court. No wonder people compare Rafa’s agility to Lleyton’s. His speed and footwork is amazing, he made Roger look, well, almost slow! And he was giving it his all. But he was up against someone who had all the technique and self-belief at his disposal so it was a fight he was never going to win. Federer won in straights. I considered sticking around for the second night match but was exhausted so returned to the hostel and made a start on this.

Given that the Tsonga v Almagro match turned out to be such a cracker, and I still had my original ticket to HiSense for the day session (which is technically what it was even if went on way into the night!) I wish I’d ditched Hewitt & Federer and gone to the Tsonga match instead. I thought it would be a walkover for Tsonga, I had no idea it would turn out to be the drama it was, but that’s Almagro in a nutshell isn’t it? Completely unpredictable! I regret missing out!

Some photos from the day:

Photo by TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/ AFP/ Getty Images

At least, that’s what this article at marca.com suggests. (Thanks to Jamee for sending in the link.) Google translation:

An MRI ruled today the precise scope of the Injury
Nadal will be out for a month …

After solving their problems in the foot with the templates, the knees have now become the main Achilles heel of Spanish • He will miss at least the tournament in Rotterdam and the Davis Cup

JOAN SOLSONA. Melbourne 28/01/10 – 13:20

Rafael Nadal at noon yesterday morning in Melbourne. There was no hurry because his flight back to Spain, via Doha, leaving at 23.00. He left the hotel with his agent at Nike, Jordi Robert, and his face reflected the concern of the results reported yesterday BRAND. If confirmed as suffering a torn quadriceps tendon in his right leg, the tennis player will at least for a month, which will miss Rotterdam and the Davis Cup, while their share in Indian Wells will be a mystery. A total of 1,300 locations, without defense, relegating him to sixth in the ATP rankings. He would advance so hopelessly Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro in the world rankings.

To clarify the diagnosis and extent of the injury, Nadal will take place this afternoon an MRI in the clinic TOP of Barcelona, under the supervision of your doctor Angel Ruiz Cotorro. The ultrasound imaging was done in Melbourne at the conclusion of his quarterfinal match with Andy Murray, revealed a tear in the quadriceps tendon. Depending on the amount of broken fibers, the most damaged and the biomechanics of player-for a lefty is worst right leg injury, will establish the final time low. But the reality is that the 30 days of planned Nadal preseason to prepare the hardcourt U.S. tour will become a heavy and lengthy rehabilitation.

Rafa and knee fluff from around the web.

Nadal back in Spain for more tests

“We don’t know the scope of the injury but there is something going on in there, something that wasn’t there before,” uncle and coach Toni Nadal told Spanish media from Australia. “Something felt wrong and it was the right decision to retire.”

…

“You’re always worried about these things, it’s normal,” Toni Nadal said. “It appears not to be what he had before and something else, but we must be prudent and wait and see.”

Rafael Nadal keeps his dignity despite worrying exit from Australian Open

He welcomed us at the start of his press conference and thanked us at the end of it. Rafael Nadal may have surrendered on the court – something he simply will never get his head around having to do – but he did not surrender his dignity off it.

Ranking After Australian Open: Potential Scenarios

Rafael Nadal, who lost against Murray in the quarter-finals, will drop to No. 3 or No. 4 after the Australian Open with 7,670 points, dependent on the outcome of three potential scenarios.

Posted by MLArgentina.

Posted by ib3

Posted by samureta2.