RG: Semifinal presser transcript

REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

There’s a transcript of Rafa’s presser after his 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7(3), 9-7 defeat of Djokovic up on ubitennis.com.

Q. Of all your wins here at Roland Garros, where would you put this one?

RAFAEL NADAL: Well, when you have a win and you win the trophy, it’s more than when you win and you keep half. You are finalist only, no?

But, well, was a real emotional match, that’s the real thing. But both of us, we played for a lot of moments at very high level.

8 Jun 2013 | by miri | 24 Comments

RafaLint: June 7th

REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

Well, RafaFans, we survived today. More importantly, so did Rafa.

As usual, Brian Phillips of Grantland is brilliant in his match write-up: Nadal vs. Djokovic: Metal Gods on Fire. I was going to do some pull quotes of my favorite stuff, but I wanted to pull to much. So, here’s a random one from my long list:

Nadal is looking extremely calm — he’s sneering only a little, which is like the tenderest expression from him. Djokovic is looking both bug-eyed and vengeful, like an Imperial admiral

7 Jun 2013 | by miri | 20 Comments

RG: Semifinal videos

Videos from the Roland Garros site:

A short pre-match interview
Match highlights
Presser exerpt

From NBC:

The final set.

Breaking sports news video. MLB,

7 Jun 2013 | by miri | 11 Comments

RG: Semifinal photos

Before I head into work (where I should have been, oh, 4 hours ago), here are some photos from Rafa’s win over Djokovic.

Photos by REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer, REUTERS/Stephane Mahe, Clive Brunskill/Getty Images, Julian Finney/Getty Images, Matthew Stockman/Getty Image, AP Photo/Michel Euler, AP Photo/Michel Spingler, and AP Photo/Christophe Ena

7 Jun 2013 | by miri | 6 Comments

RG: That wasn’t tense at all, no?

AP/Petr David Josek

Rafa played #1 Novak Djokovic in the first men’s semifinal at Roland Garros today. It was the 35th meeting between the two men – their last slam meeting was in last year’s final. As expected, they came out swinging. Rafa struggled mightily on his first service game. Things got better after that as he broke Nole in the 7th game to go up 4-3. He rode that break to take the first set 6-4.

Unlike the first set, the second set started with players

7 Jun 2013 | by miri | 84 Comments

RafaLint: May 18th

Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Articles:

Eight From Eight For Rafa – via atpworldtour.com
Rafael Nadal outclasses Tomas Berdych to reach Rome Masters final – by Kevin Mitchell (guardian.co.uk)
ATP semi-finals – as it happened – via internazionalibnlditalia.com
Return of Serve Analysis: Rafael Nadal Dominates at the Right Time – by Juan José (changeovertennis.com)
Rafael Nadal & Roger Federer set up Italian Open final meeting – via bbc.co.uk
The Classico Returns to the Foro – Steve Tignor (tennis.com)
Italian Open final features two of the

18 May 2013 | by miri | One Comment

Rome: Post semifinal interviews

The in studio interview in English:

Posted by ATPWorldTour.

Rafa’s post match interview for Spanish TV. Also, available on YouTube:

Posted by molvi1501.

Genny translated parts of the Spanish interview for us:

Rafa in the Spanish TV: He’s said that he’s started the match really strong, w/a lot of energy. He thinks that 1st set has been 1 of best…— Genny SS (@genny_ss) May 18, 2013

Rafa in Spanish TV: sets he’s played this year. In the 2nd set he’s started to feel a bit

18 May 2013 | by miri | 6 Comments

Rome: Semifinal presser transcript

Photo by AP Photo/ Andrew Medichini

A transcript (such as it is) of Rafa’s post semifinal presser is up on the tournament’s site.

Q: You feel you played your best match of the week

R. Nadal: I am sure about the first set – I need to see in the TV as your thoughts are not 100% exact but the first set was fantastic and I played a high level and everything well and no mistakes and changing direction and playing inside the court

18 May 2013 | by miri | 4 Comments

Rome: Semifinal photos

Photos from today’s semifinal against Berdych.

Photos by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images, Clive Mason/Getty Images, and REUTERS/Tony Gentile

18 May 2013 | by miri | One Comment

Rome: Semifinal match video (Updated)

Here’s the full match video from today’s victory over Berdych:

Posted by TennisOnlineHD. They have also uploaded an English version.

Highlights: Part 1; Part 2.

18 May 2013 | by miri | 2 Comments