VamosRafa
Hall of Fame
I alluded to this below, but I just got more info about what happened in the Nadal vs. Calleri quarterfinal match in Brasil.
Because of rain, both of them played matches earlier today, which they won. And they played their quarterfinal match as the last match of the day. Their last two matches have been very competitive, and going into today they were 1-1.
I saw that Rafa had won the match 6-2, 6-3 on the scoreboard, and was putting that up on the vamosrafael.com website. But when I went to verify the score, I saw it was heading to a tiebreak.
We have now more info as to what happened, as translated from Spanish/Portugese, courtesy of a bi-lingual fan on our site:
"The Costa do Sauipe website article about the match Nadal-Calleri says that in `the second match point when Nadal was serving 5-3 up to win the match, Nadal served and the return of Calleri was very close to the line, then the umpire said " out ", but when Calleri was going to the net to shake hands with Nadal, Rafa corrected the decision and said the ball was " in "."
As the article said, this fair play behaviour could cost him the match, because after the match point Calleri broke Nadal in that game 5-4, Calleri confidence grew up and they arrived to the tie break where Calleri was always up and won it after a winner."
Rafa did win the match in the third set. He broke twice, Calleri broke once, but in the end Rafa prevailed 6-4.
Some fans are concerned Rafa expended too much energy today, and won't be fit to face home-town favorte Mello tomorrow.
That could be true -- but what he did today was something Moya would do.
Although he has a a very competitive instinct, it's nice to see he also has that element of sportsmanship.
Because of rain, both of them played matches earlier today, which they won. And they played their quarterfinal match as the last match of the day. Their last two matches have been very competitive, and going into today they were 1-1.
I saw that Rafa had won the match 6-2, 6-3 on the scoreboard, and was putting that up on the vamosrafael.com website. But when I went to verify the score, I saw it was heading to a tiebreak.
We have now more info as to what happened, as translated from Spanish/Portugese, courtesy of a bi-lingual fan on our site:
"The Costa do Sauipe website article about the match Nadal-Calleri says that in `the second match point when Nadal was serving 5-3 up to win the match, Nadal served and the return of Calleri was very close to the line, then the umpire said " out ", but when Calleri was going to the net to shake hands with Nadal, Rafa corrected the decision and said the ball was " in "."
As the article said, this fair play behaviour could cost him the match, because after the match point Calleri broke Nadal in that game 5-4, Calleri confidence grew up and they arrived to the tie break where Calleri was always up and won it after a winner."
Rafa did win the match in the third set. He broke twice, Calleri broke once, but in the end Rafa prevailed 6-4.
Some fans are concerned Rafa expended too much energy today, and won't be fit to face home-town favorte Mello tomorrow.
That could be true -- but what he did today was something Moya would do.
Although he has a a very competitive instinct, it's nice to see he also has that element of sportsmanship.
