USO: One Three One

No, that’s not the score from tonight. That’s Rafa’s top serve speed. Where you been hiding that?

Rafa started his quest for his missing piece of slam hardware by playing #93 Teimuraz Gabashvili – a self-described slightly crazy Russian who can get streaky hot when given the chance and hits the ball hard and flat. He has the kind of game that’s written about in the tennis manual chapter on “how to beat Rafa on fast hard courts”, but could he do it consistently enough? Not quite. He played consistently well, but Rafa was just a notch better. Rafa’s through

31 Aug 2010 | by miri | 72 Comments

Falling Just Short of the Semifinal

It was a dream quarterfinal for me, my two darling boys, Rafa and Marcos Baghdatis. Rafa had moments of utter brilliance and you could see him adjusting to his opponent’s play (or trying to). Like much of this tournament, Rafa held on with claws and teeth, but finally encountered someone who could shake him off. He fought for it like the tenacious champion that he is but in the end was brought down by

20 Aug 2010 | by Kalliopeia | 94 Comments

Battling Into the Quarterfinals

Once again I missed most of today’s match. From what I did see, Rafa still seems a little bit sloppy. But thanks to his tireless determination and probably at least a little helped by some third set cramping issues from Benneteau, Rafa wins in three 5-7, 7-6(8-6), 6-2. He plays my darling Marcos Baghdatis in the quarterfinals tomorrow.

19 Aug 2010 | by Kalliopeia | 44 Comments

Starting Strong In Cincy

Unfortunately I didn’t see a single point of the match today, though it looks like Taylor Dent held his own for awhile at least in the second set. The important thing is that he won 6-2, 7-5 and will next face Julien Benneteau. So, I have to hear it from you guys…how did Rafa look today?

18 Aug 2010 | by Kalliopeia | 39 Comments

RC: So long, Toronto

It’s semi-final day in Toronto and the top four players are left. The day started with Rafa vs. Murray. These two have played some crackers in the past and the match-up was highly anticipated. The level of tennis lived up to expectations – the players were smacking the ball right from the start. Aggressive Andy came to play today and he was pushing Rafa around. Andy broke 8th game of the first set and then served it out. They traded tight breaks in the 2nd, but Andy broke again in the 9th game. He served it out in style and

14 Aug 2010 | by miri | 56 Comments

RC: Big server? Okay.

In his 3rd round match at the Rogers Cup, Rafa played #87 Kevin Anderson who knocked out fellow tall lanky server Sam Querrey in his prior match. We all know the big guys can be a problem on the hard court especially when you’ve never played them before and don’t know their serve. It took Rafa awhile to even get a point on Anderson’s serve, but once he did the first set was soon over. The second was a bit closer with the guys trading breaks until a tiebreak that, while a bit more dramatic than it needed to be,

12 Aug 2010 | by miri | 25 Comments

RC: Hello? Hard court season?

For his first singles match since the Wimbledon final, Rafa took on #24 Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round of the Rogers Cup this evening. Showing a rustiness that’s a wee bit familiar when starting on hard courts after a break, Rafa’s timing was well off in the first set. He somehow managed to scrape out the set during an extended tie break. The second set was more routine – Rafa was finding his range bit more consistantly and Wawrinka’s will to win was on the wane. Rafa’s through: 7-6(12), 6-3.

11 Aug 2010 | by miri | 38 Comments

Wimbly: Head-over-heels victorious

In his 4th straight Wimbledon final in 4 attempts, Rafa played #13 Tomas Berdych in the London sunshine today. We know what sunshine, tennis, and Rafa means, right? The match was low-key and nowhere near as exciting as his semi, but who cares, right? Rafa wins his second Wimbledon title and somersaults to celebrate his victory. Rafa wins: 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.

4 Jul 2010 | by miri | 91 Comments

Wimbly: In ur tourny; crushin’ ur hopes

Rafa took on the hope of Great Britain, Andy Murray, in the semifinals of Wimbledon today. From what I could hear on radio Wimbledon, it was a tight match that could have easily gone either way. There was only one break of serve in the first set and one in the second. During the 2nd set tie break, Rafa double faulted to give Murray a set point, but Murray just couldn’t take advantage of it thanks to aggressive play from Rafa. Rafa

2 Jul 2010 | by miri | 83 Comments

Wimbly: Sprinting into the semis

Rafa played Robing Soderling in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon today. And I do mean played. After a slow start (he was down 5-0 at one point in the 1st), Rafa woke up and started painting lines and firing off winners. He found a way to get Soderling’s serve back and dominate play. He’s through to the semis: 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-1.

30 Jun 2010 | by miri | 96 Comments