MC: Carbo loading

For his third round match in Monte-Carlo, Rafa took on #51 Michael Berrer of Germany. They’d only met one previous time in their careers – last year at Indian Wells – and Rafa dominated that match. Sure Berrer beat Monaco in straights to get here, but given their ranking differences and Rafa’s record against lefties, I think many of us were anticipating a fairly stress-free win. I’m not sure I was expecting another carb heavy breakfast, though. Rafa’s through: 6-0, 6-1.

15 Apr 2010 | by miri | 58 Comments

How to Vamos: Master Class

A proper “Vamos” isn’t easy to pull off; it takes training. This class is for advance students only. You must have completed the following courses before registering:
Headband Folding and Tying 101
Bicep building 101-301
Kicking Ass 101, 201 and 301
Fist pumps 101 and 201
Stamping your foot with authority and not like a two year old 101
Butt clenching 101-301
Primal roar 101-201

First, you can only attempt a full-body Vamos after a kick-ass point or, as in the example we’ll use, winning a match. First, start with your racket in your offhand, racket hand/leg forward (left one in the visual example) with fist firmly clenched:

12 Apr 2010 | by miri | 42 Comments

Nando talks about Rafa’s tooth

According to this article, Fernando Verdaso is saying that Rafa was on antibiotics for his wisdom tooth in Miami. That doesn’t sound like the kind of wisdom tooth problem that’s just going to go away.

“For sure in Miami he was not fit, he was on antibiotics for his wisdom tooth and he was not right the whole week,” Verdasco said.

12 Apr 2010 | by miri | 11 Comments

Rafalint: April 11th

Been a while since I’ve done a lint post…I’ve let the internet get covered in RafaLint. I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. :) Here’s a few pieces of fluff for you:

Articles

Volver a la tierra batida es todo un reto (Google Translation)
Nadal admite ‘molestias’ en la rodilla, pero opta por callar (Google translation – in short? He doesn’t want to talk about the knee and you can’t make him, so there.)
The obscenely expensive watch Rafa

11 Apr 2010 | by miri | 55 Comments

SapphireSwell at the SEO

For the second year in a row, the Sony Ericsson Open did not fail to impress. Armed with the knowledge and experiences from last year, my friend and I bought Opening Weekend tickets early and secured seats directly across from umpire in order to exploit shirt changes.

We arrived Wednesday night and spent Thursday with my family. For Friday, I had planned to take my friend to sight-see in South Beach and possibly meet up with miri, but this plan was foiled when Rafa appeared

6 Apr 2010 | by SapphireSwell | 13 Comments

Miami: String theory

No, not racket strings, but shirt strings. Stray shirt strings. During his one and only doubles match in Miami, Rafa had a bit of trouble with a string on his shirt. The tale starts here:

Note the wayward string by his left arm? Shortly after this was taken, Rafa started tugging on it and it kept getting longer and longer. He eventually broke it off and went to tuck it in his pocket:

4 Apr 2010 | by miri | 39 Comments

Miami: Thigh slapping moment – translated?

According to the subtitles at 1:21 in this video (tweeted by Hollyjl), Rafa said:
No puc! El puta genoll! El puta genoll! Which Google translates as: I can not! The fucking knee! The fucking knee!

Posted by vamosrafelnadal.

3 Apr 2010 | by miri | 115 Comments

Miami: Excellent photo set

Here’s a wonderful set of photos from the tournament by Loren Kahle on flickr. There are quite a few great photos from Rafa’s practice sessions and he’s been adding photos every day, so keep checking back. This one does things to me…the hand, the muscles…the sneer. ;)

3 Apr 2010 | by miri | 10 Comments

Miami: Semifinal photos

Some photos from today’s match.

Photos by REUTERS/Andrew Innerarity, Al Bello/Getty Images, Clive Brunskill/Getty Images, and Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

2 Apr 2010 | by miri | 13 Comments

Miami: Semifinal match videos

Match highlights:

Posted by Tennis24Channel.

First set highlights:

2nd set highlights:

Posted by vamosrafelnadal – not sure if a 3rd set vid is on the way, but watch his channel just in case.

2 Apr 2010 | by miri | 16 Comments