RafaLint: May 6th

Rafa’s pre-tournament interview:

Articles:

Official Roland Garros 2013 magazines – download to your tablet today!

Videos/Audio:

Madrid 2013 Monday Feature Big Four – poor Daveed
Big Four Pays Tribute To Brad Drewett In Madrid
Los talentos de KIA y una cuestión de pelotas – what the heck is Rafa doing just after the start of the 3rd minute?

Photos:

Today’s Facebook photo album from the Madrid Open. Must have been sunny if Rafa’s wearing shades while playing!
The very nice rafandready’s photos from Monte-Carlo.

Rafa does social media:

Rafa posted a photo of a practice chat session.
Later, he

6 May 2013 | by miri | 6 Comments

RafaLint: April 28th

Photo by AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

Articles:

Nadal Wins Eighth Barcelona Crown – via atpworldtour.com
Nadal beats Almagro to claim 8th Barcelona Open title – via usatoday.com (This is the same AP story that most sites seem to have based their stories on
ATP Barcelona Open: Rafael Nadal claims his eighth crown in Catalunya – via SkySports
Nadal Clinches Record Eighth Barcelona Crown – via barcelonaopenbancsabadell.com

Videos/Audio:

Last game of the final
On-court post-match interview (in Spanish)
And one in English
Trophy presentation
Hot Shot of the

28 Apr 2013 | by miri | 7 Comments

Monte-Carlo: Presser videos

Since they wouldn’t only allow pictures during the first question in MC pressers, I decided to try shooting some video. The lady wasn’t sure they were allowed, so at first, I hand-held my heavy camera/lens discretely to take the video (thus, very shaky). For the final, I used my monopod, so it’s a bit better. Still nowhere near the quality one could get with a tripod.

Post Quarterfinal:

Post Semifinal:

Post Final:

And, I’ve uploaded day one of my photos – here.

28 Apr 2013 | by miri | 6 Comments

Barcelona: Semifinal video

Here’s the full semifinal match:

Posted by TennisOnlineHD.

27 Apr 2013 | by miri | No Comment

RafaLint: April 26th

Photo by AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

Sadly, it looks like I’ll be missing Rafa’s match tomorrow because I’ll be doing a fundraising walk for Arthritis research and awareness. I’ll check scores while walking, but please say a few Vamoses for me.

Articles:

ATP World Tour – Nadal, Raonic Pull Double Duty; Almagro To Face Kohlschreiber – via atpworldtour.com
Rafael Nadal advances to semis – AP via espn.com
Rafael Nadal wins two matches in a day to reach Barcelona semis – via bbc.co.uk
Nadal breezes through in

26 Apr 2013 | by miri | 4 Comments

RafaLint: April 24th

Photo by Beth Wilson

(This was going to be more organized and less of a time-shifting mish-mash, but I’m tired and lost momentum. This also means this post is missing so, so much.)

Today’s recommended reading:
Back to the Present – by Steve Tignor (tennis.com)

Rafa was all smiles on the trophy stand afterward. It seemed to me that losing provided a moment of relief, and it may even have confirmed something in Nadal’s worldview.

I too sensed a bit of relief in the loss. No more wondering when

24 Apr 2013 | by miri | 32 Comments

RafaLint: April 2nd – special FlashBack edition

Inés has been digging around her archives and sent me this magazine that came out before the 2010 Roland Garros tournament. I knew I’d seen it before, so went to check to see if I’d already linked to it. This led to me revisiting: Tae Kwondo Rafa and stuck in the locker room on rainy day Rafa. I sent both of these back to Inés. The video had her digging around in her archive. She seemed to remember this day on TV – that they had time to fill so they showed some archival footage from

2 Apr 2013 | by miri | 12 Comments

PokerStars: Rafa takes a bath

Photo via PokerStars

Dear PokerStars,

You are creating very nice Rafa campaigns. We appreciate that he wasn’t made to awkwardly read lines. Oh, and the shirt optional approach doesn’t hurt. (Although, we suspect you might be the reason for his recent lack of tummy and chest hair, which makes some of us sad.) Please, however, our boy is prone to freak accidents. We are hoping that was a dummy tablet in the tub and that there was no real danger of electrocution.

We look forward to

27 Mar 2013 | by miri | 10 Comments

RafaLint: March 25th

Photo by Beth Wilson

First, why can’t I buy these on the US Nike site:
Shirt (with photo by Ella Ling) and a just plain awesome shirt I must have.

For those who believe in such silly superstitions, these are the colors you need to do your nails for the clay Masters 1000 series: shirt and shorts. (Again, neither of these are on the US Nike site.)

Articles:

Las células madre que le han devuelto la rodilla a Nadal – interview with the clinic where

25 Mar 2013 | by miri | 8 Comments

CNN Open Court: Rafael Nadal returns to the court

Video of the Open Court interview is up on the CNN site:

Enjoy!

21 Mar 2013 | by miri | 15 Comments