RafaLint: April 23rd

Rafa’s pre-tournament presser (Barcelona):

Posted by BancSabadell.

Articles:

An Unmatched Achievement – by Jesse Pentecost (thenextpoint.com)
Who’s hot and who’s not – via The Tennis Space
Nadal: “Mi reto no es ahora el número uno, sino jugar bien en Barcelona” – via rtve.es. Includes presser and practice footage. (mangle)
Best of Three: Nadal pounds Djokovic at Monte Carlo Masters – by Jon Wertheim (si.com)
Heroes and Zeros: Rafa’s Revenge, Holes in the Clay, and Serbia’s Triumph – by Chris Oddo (tennisnow.com)
Nadal: “Djokovic no puede estar siempre impecable” – EFE via marca.com (mangle).

23 Apr 2012 | by miri | 17 Comments

RafaLint: April 22nd

Behind the scenes after the victory, match articles and a flickr photoset.

22 Apr 2012 | by miri | 9 Comments

MC: Post final presser transcript

Rafa’s post-final presser transcript is up:

Q. Do you think you played the perfect game on serve and return today?

RAFAEL NADAL: I think never nothing is perfect. That’s the true. I played a very, very good first set, in my opinion, very solid after he start very good in the first game. He had 15 30. The second game, the serve was very important. The three serves saved my game in the second game.

After

22 Apr 2012 | by miri | 30 Comments

MC: Semifinal presser transcript

Rafa’s semifinal presser is up:

Q. Was the key today that you played better the big points, saving all the breakpoints?

RAFAEL NADAL: The difficult matches always decides, yes, a few balls. For sure I saved all the breakpoints. The most important one was the 3-All, 15-40. That was the most important on the match because I know after that I play with new balls. That is better for me because the bounces are higher and more favorable for me, and with

22 Apr 2012 | by miri | 9 Comments

MC: Post final interviews (video)

On court post-match interview in Spanish:

Posted by channty14.

In studio post-match interview in Spanish:

And English.

Posted by ATPWorldTour.

22 Apr 2012 | by miri | 3 Comments

MC: Final videos

The full match:

Posted by TennisVadim46.

Hot Shot:

Posted by ATPWorldTour.

Highlights:

Trophy ceremony:

Posted by RAFApedia.

More videos:

Match point
Trophy ceremony with Spanish commentary.

22 Apr 2012 | by miri | 6 Comments

MC: Trophy ceremony photos

Lots of photos from the trophy ceremony.

Photos by REUTERS/Eric Gaillard, VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images, Clive Brunskill/Getty Images, REUTERS/Olivier Anrigo, and SEBASTIEN NOGIER/AFP/Getty Images

22 Apr 2012 | by miri | 15 Comments

MC: Final photos

I can’t seem to find a lot of match photos. Hope these (mainly of Rafa celebrating post win) will do. Trophy photos to follow.

Photos by VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images, Clive Brunskill/Getty Images, REUTERS/Eric Gaillard, REUTERS/Olivier Anrigo, and SEBASTIEN NOGIER/AFP/Getty Images

22 Apr 2012 | by miri | 6 Comments

MC: Historic 8th

It’s a final of an important tournament, so it’s got to be Rafole, right? Rafa came out playing aggressively and Nole, well, didn’t. Nole seemed off and was hitting many more errors than usual. I’m not smart enough to say whether Rafa’s play had a part in this or it was all Nole. I suspect a bit of the former and a big dose of the latter. Rafa broke early in each set and used the confidence he gained from the

22 Apr 2012 | by miri | 137 Comments

MC: Quarterfinal presser

Rafa’s quarterfinal presser transcript is up:

Q. You’re in the semis without losing a set. Everything is under control or…

RAFAEL NADAL: Never is under control everything, no? But yesterday and today improved the level. Today was a difficult match. I had before the match big respect for this afternoon. He arrived to the match playing I think great. Fantastic victory yesterday, 6-3, 6-3, so…

I think I did well, no? I happy about the

22 Apr 2012 | by miri | One Comment