Photo by REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

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.

Stats:

As it happened blatherings:

Chair going on about how everyone’s in white and blue.

Did someone put these blue shirts through the dryer a few extra times? They seem to be much more snug than the yellow ones.

rafannie: @nadalnews ;) that was me. ;))) you’re not too upset, are you?

kefuoe: @nadalnews I was thinking the exact same thing.

kefuoe: @nadalnews In the meantime on the other court, Ferrer’s shirt is about to swallow him whole!

kefuoe: @nadalnews If he needs a shirt change in this match, it’s going to be an epic battle getting that thing off when it’s wet with sweat.

tennishead: Not-quite fact of the day: Rafael Nadal throws like a girl.

Rafa to start us of serving since Berrer won the toss and elected to receive. Berrer hits a change-up drop shot early in the rally and it’s a winner: 0-15. Rafa moves Berrer well with some angles and finishes off with a forehand winner: 15-15. Rafa sends a ball long: 15-30. Berrer nets a ball. Rafa takes control of the point with a fierce forehand and follows that up with a forehand winner. Rafa holds: 1-0.

I didn’t realize Berrer was a lefty. D’oh!

Rafa frames a return: 15-0. A longish rally ends with Berrer sending a shot way wide: 15-15. Rafa backs Berrer up wide and deep with a fierce forehand and then follows that up with a deft drop volley winner: 15-30. Pulled wide, Rafa flicks a backhand that lands at Berrer’s feet. Rafa breaks for a 2-0 lead.

risha_: I think I need to start counting all the reasons why I love tennis. But near the top: watching Rafa play on clay. Seriously.

Left, right, left…forehand winner: 15-0. Ditto: 30-0. Berrer sends a service return wide: 40-0. With an angled forehand winner, Rafa holds at love: 3-0.

raindelaysplay: If you can’t return his second serve into the court Berrer, you’re in trouble.

Another drop-shot winner from Berrer: 15-0. Rafa moving well and fires off a winner mid-rally: 15-30. Berrer nets a ball: 15-40. Berrer sends a ball out to the sea and Rafa breaks: 4-0.

Berrer sends a ball long: 15-0. Lovely backhand winner: 30-0. 10 winners; 1 UFE: 40-15. Easy hold for 5-0. Will my breakfast be a bagel or a breadstick?

Yay! Ferrer won.

kefuoe: @nadalnews Marc! was watching the Ferrer match. I imagine he’s scurrying over to catch Nadal’s now.

sapphireswell: I love clay season. I’m less stressed out, and watching matches doesn’t involve cursing :)

RD_Tennistalk: generous Nadal is taking Berrer to the same local bakery to which he took De Bakker yesterday and bought the Dutchman some items

Rafa breaks at love with some wonderful play. First set is his: 6-0.

14 winners; 2 UFEs; 60% first serves; 22 minutes.

Rafa double faults to donate a point to Berrer: 15-15. Berrer nets a ball: 30-15. Another easy hold for Rafa: 1-0.

Berrer sends a shot long: 0-15. Forehand down the line winner from Rafa: 0-30. Rafa hits a shot that Berrer thinks is out. The chair asks Rafa if he should check it and Rafa says no, gives the point to Berrer: 15-30. At 15-40, Berrer plays a nice point where he manages to move Rafa along and then hit a winner: 30-40. Berrer follows one of his best points of the match with a miss hit and Rafa breaks: 2-0.

Rafa nets an overhead – that doesn’t happen often: 15-15. Forehand winner: 40-15. Berrer has yet to win 2 points in a row. Rafa holds: 3-0.

Storming the net, Rafa sends the ball right into it: 15-15. Amazing angled cross-court forehand winner: 15-30. Takes control of a point with a forehand and finishes it off: 15-40. Rafa breaks for a 4-0 lead.

Forehand winner: 15-0. Berrer pulls Rafa into the net with an angled dropper and Rafa nets the reply: 15-15. Ace for 40-15. Rafa holds: 5-0.

Total points won so far: 44 for Rafa; 11 for Berrer.

RD_Tennistalk: you know there’s a problem when NADAL of all people finishes a match in less than an hour

Rafa just misses a shot: 15-0. Berrer gets a horrid bounce and nets the ball: 15-15. Rafa sends a shot wide: 30-15. Berrer pulls Rafa in with a drop shot and finishes the point off: 40-15. Wonderful half-volley passing shot by Rafa: 40-30. Berrer wins a game! 5-1

Beauty of a forehand down the line winner from Rafa. The net cord shows Berrer some sympathy: 15-15. Rafa finishes off a point with an overhead smash: 30-15. Rafa sends a ball out: 30-30. Berrer sends a shot sailing: 40-30. Hey, deuce! How exciting. Rafa wins: 6-0, 6-1.

• 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:

The racket arm must be used in order to have the most visual (e.g. bulging muscle) impact.

Pull your racket arm back while stepping forward with your off leg. As your arm comes back, let a small sneer start to form on your face:

Continue taking the racket arm back as you lean back into the movement. Make sure your arm is fully extended as your racket leg reaches a 90 degree bend. Your face scrunch should be reaching full force as you are about to begin expelling air and letting out your “vamos”:

Quickly and with great force, bring your racket arm and leg up while letting out a primal roar of “VAMOS!”. Your knee should reach chest level while your first should get as high as your headband (because you are wearing a headband):

Begin to let your leg drop as your roar reaches it’s climax. For the greatest visual impact, it is vital that your racket arm fist/bicep and butt cheeks remain firmly (very firmly) clinched:

Stamp the racket leg firmly to the ground while keeping your racket arm high and clinched. Make sure your hips are thrust forward as you give your team a “fuck yeah, that was great, I need a smoke” look. Added points if you can pull of a proper sneer during this stage:

If this is a match-ending Vamos, keep the first high while strutting towards the net:

Be sure, however, to drop your first and remove your headband before making it to the net lest you look too arrogant or “in your face” when shaking your vanquished opponent’s hand. After all, you’re just a simple, humble person at heart, no?

 

• Day One
• Day Two
• Day Three
• Day Four

“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.

Photo by Beth Wilson

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 will wear/promote

Videos

• Rafa practicing at Indian Wells
• Another practice video – location unknown
• Same
• Warm up before the match with Ferrer in Miami
• Interview with Elizabeth Kaye

Photo by SapphireSwell

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 as the last match of the day session. We scrambled to purchase crap tickets, and I was surprised that the 400′s were just about sold out. Who goes to see tennis on a random Friday afternoon?! Oh, Rafans, obviously….

Day One:
Friday morning arrived quickly, and we were ready to rush to Key Biscayne. My friend and I each packed enough survival gear to make my mom question, “Are you planning to spend the night in Miami or something?” Oh, I wish.

With a beach towel (to wipe down wet seats and to sit on), a ginormous camera weighing 6 lbs, a windbreaker, a poncho to cover me and my camera that went unused, a pair of Crocs for puddles, water, lunch, fruit, suncscreen, my RRRRAAAFFA shirt, one floppy straw hat, three Rafa Fundacion hats, and about 10 gigs of memory for my camera in tow, we set off.

I planned to leave late at around 10:15 in hopes of escaping the morning gridlock on 95, but Miami traffic did not cooperate. By the time we were parked and shuttled to Crandon Park, most of Daveeed’s match was over – sad. I think we caught four games of the last set, in a match that he won easily. I <3 Daveed, and his endless effort and towel munching. He's like a favorite golden retriever to me, in that I love to watch him chase down each point. He's such a fighter.

After the match, I met up with miri and her friend Kate, and we decided to go for a little tour of the practice courts. It was noon time, and I had a feeling that Rafa would around to practice before his match later in the day... lo and behold, as we turn the corner to approach P10, I zone in on some crazy waffle shorts and hear the Rafa squeeesss!! (Apparently miri had seen Marc! and Roig before this, but I didn't notice. I only have Rafa-dar.)

We wound up standing at the far end of the court behind some average height fans. I was partially blocked as I tried to take pictures, and I think I clunked some lady in the head with my lens. Sadly she didn't budge, and I was still obstructed. After about ten minutes of fighting with people to get to the front, Mother Nature intervened with a downpour. No more Rafa practice, as everyone scrambled to hide from a thunderstorm.

The rain didn’t let up for another two hours. Tennis finally started again with Nole v Rochus in the Stadium, so we went over to witness what ended up to be a nasty upset. Basically, Nole played like he didn't really care, while Rochus played hard. He chased down difficult returns, and ultimately won in the three setter. I felt like the match was a bit like a slow moving train wreck with Nole just standing around waiting for it all to end. It was surprising to see Nole loose so early, but he was a good sport about it and signed autographs for the kids near the exit (a gesture that some other players do not make the effort in doing, ahem, A. Murray.)

The stadium got pretty crowded as the sun set and Rafa v. Taylor Dent took the court. We all got to see Rafa debut his bumble bee yellow kit, which was a great relief from the waffle shorts earlier in the day. It was an easy win for Rafa, which made the match end all too quickly. However, there were more matches to watch, namely Nalbandian v Troicki. This played out over on the Grandstand, so miri and I got to sit together for half a set. Nalby won after initially struggling a little, and this set up for Rafa’s next match.

My friend and I went to my night session after the Nalby match and saw the end of Henin v. Dementiava. We then watched the very beginning of the Roddick match, but we got really bored of aces *yawn* and left for home during the first change over.

Day Two:
It was a bright and promising morning, and we set out early to try and catch all of the exciting matches this day. I wanted to see Nando, the Rafatwins, Andy M., Pico, and my friend wanted to see her beloved: the elusive Federer.

We were able to catch the middle of the Nando match, but we left early in order to claim seats for the Rafatwins v Bryan Bros match. It was a good thing we arrived a match early because we managed to see the entire Baghdatis match, during which the Grandstand filled to max capacity. Teejustice and I were both at the stadium, seated very close to each other, but it was so crowded that I couldn’t meet up with her at any point in the stadium to give her the Fundacion hat…

When Rafa and Tomeu walked on court, the crowd went wild. It must have been a little intimidating for the Bryan brothers to hear a reception like that… yeah, that’s what Rafatime’s like.

The match itself went very poorly for team Rafa and especially for Tomeu. He foot faulted a lot, and the Bryan brothers made him the easy target. However, as awful as the match went, Rafa was cheery and smiling the whole way through. He was genuinely enjoying himself, talking and laughing with his friend. It’s a really nice side of him to see, and I’m really glad that he got some fun time on court. Sadly, this match ended all too quickly with the Rafatwins getting bageled at one point. However, I like miri’s take on this match, screw the score – Rafa was having a brilliant time and it was lovely to watch.

I met teejustice and her mom after the match and was able to deliver her hat! If anyone is thinking about ordering it, it’s very cute!! However, be aware that it is a textured white cottony fabric (not the dryfit stuff), so it will show any smudge or sweat, and it does not have an adjustable snap at the back… It’s good for collecting or if you’re into autographs… Anyhow, we all chatted for a bit and went off to catch separate matches.

I must have been some kind of bad luck charm because my next mid-afternoon match on the Stadium was the Murray v Fish. I watched Andy Murray standing around being grumpy and quickly loose this match. This is the second match I witnessed with a top five player looking like someone cast his feet in concrete. There wasn’t a lot of running on Andy’s part, he just looked really pissed off and mumbled to himself. Having practiced in Miami all winter long, I thought he would have been a little more motivated at this tournament, but he was disposed of and left the court in a hurry. And that was the end of Andy.

My friend and I tried to catch the Pico match, but didn’t get there in time. We did see Cilic and then Berdych in the first row of one of the smaller courts. Being that close was a great experience.

We ended up leaving the Berdych match early to catch the night session: Federer v Lapentti. This was a typical and easy match for Fed, and Lapentti didn’t put up too much of a fight. The crowd got really loud for Fed, but I did hear some cheers for Nico too, which made me happy. The match lasted a little more than an hour, and we left after my friend oogled enough of the Maestro. We still have no idea when he practices, if ever, but we heard that he did an autograph signing sometime that day… so elusive, that Fed.

Day Three:
We woke up exhausted from two days of sitting under the sun, but I was super pumped to get to see Rafa for a third time in three days. Tournaments do not get any better than this!!

The drive to the stadium was much easier because we left early. I arrived at 10:45 and was satisfied that I didn’t feel rushed or late… until I saw miri’s message saying that Rafa was scheduled for practice at 10:30. My friend offered to sit and save a seat for me at the Felando dubs match while I joined the crowd at Rafapractice! I was stuck behind a bunch of early bird fans at the practice court, but made my way up slowly. I was able to get some adorable pictures of Marc! being trixy and also some mediocre shots of Rafa on the far side of the court. miri was able to get a much better view since she was the devoted fan that arrived early.

After Rafa exited the court, I made a dash for the much anticipated Felando match. I’ve always wanted to see Team Hotness play, and boy were they a sight to behold. Feli was in white shorts that he tucked into his tighty whities to make shorter (will post photos, but miri has these too), and Nando was just plain hot with his female supporter box which included Kim Kardashian. Felando did a great job looking good and winning, and I got some funny picture of Feli in compromising positions. He’s such a hoot. Unfortunately, we had to run out of this match early to make it to Rafa v Nalby.

The Rafa v Nalby match did not seem like it should have been a third round one. I’ve seen one of their matches prior to this, and it was really close and very tense. When the first set went into tie breaker, I questioned if Nalby actually had surgery recently. He was playing strategically and ran Rafa around the court at will. The second and third sets were sighs of relief as Rafa broke early while Nalby seemed to tire quickly. After about two and a half hours of fulfilling tennis, the clouds rolled in, and the matched ended in a huge fist pump and jump. And we just like that, we had to leave too. We stopped by to say goodbye to miri, and then went off to MIA so my friend could catch her flight back to New York.

Epilogue:
This year’s SEO was everything we had planned and more (Rafa)! I felt incredibly lucky to have been able to see three Rafa matches and to catch little glimpses of his practice too. After this year’s experience, I feel that the SEO atmosphere is definitely more fan friendly than the USO – no full height fences covered in fabric to block fans and a more relaxed bag check policy. The SEO is also large enough to hold entertaining matches almost all Opening Weekend long. Surely there somebody worth oogling over!

There are somethings to remember:

• Security does not check bags, so people were able to bring in monopods, drinks, food, and much, much more.
• With that said, bring the largest hat you can find so you can hide your face from the sun and from those that you stalk.
• Wear sunglasses because the sun is out of control, even under the hat.
• Bring a huge towel to wipe down seats and sit on because 12 hours on hard seats wrecks your back.
• Bring proper raingear and Crocs because it will most likely drizzle then pour for a few hours while you’re there and slippery puddles accumulate everywhere.
• Pack that oil free SPF 70 sports sunblock, and don’t forget sunblock chapstick!
• Wear dresses if you can. It was seriously so much cooler/comfortable with a dress on than shorts and a tee shirt.
• Make friends with tennis fans on Twitter. They will give you clues as to when matches start on other courts and where and when favorite players will be on practice courts – THANK YOU!
• Try to pack a lunch or some kind of emergency snack to avoid the long lines at the concession. (The crepes are good and worth the wait, though.) Alternatively, the Stadium has hot dogs, chips, and fruit with much shorter lines.
• Start working out your shoulders earlier in the year so you can carry your 15 lbs of supplies for the entire day. (My shoulders hurt for the entire week after. This was more difficult than hiking with a pack.)
• Also I noticed that that the 400 level seats in the Crandon Park Stadium equate to Loge seats in Arthur Ashe, so the SEO is a MUCH better deal :) The Grandstand is also smaller, so you can get a closer experience there too.

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:

While doing so, a Bryan Bro (I have no idea which is which) served to Tomeu who netted the return. Rafa looked a bit taken a back that the serve happened while he was still fiddling with the string:

That was the end of the game, so the boys went over to the bench to sit down, but the string was still bothering Rafa:

Since pulling it wasn’t quite getting the job done, he took things up a notch and started chomping on it:

He must have managed to bite a bit off because he sat there chatting with Tomeu with string hanging out of his mouth:

(You might need to click through to the large size of the photos to see the string.)

*This little weirdly stalky post is brought to you by the need to lighten up the mood.

Posted by vamosrafelnadal.

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

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.