Rafa is a stand up guy

V

VeryVolkl

New User
I've seen Rafa do a couple things make me appreciate his character. The most recent was the fact that when he and Lopez won the doubles, they handed Rafa a pen to sign the camera screen and he gave it to Lopez for him to sign first. It's a subtle thing, but I think those behaviors are more important than grand gestures.
 
P

Puma

Rookie
VeryVolkl said:
I've seen Rafa do a couple things make me appreciate his character. The most recent was the fact that when he and Lopez won the doubles, they handed Rafa a pen to sign the camera screen and he gave it to Lopez for him to sign first. It's a subtle thing, but I think those behaviors are more important than grand gestures.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%...Rafa seems to know his place in his sport and appreciates and respects it. This is great to see. I hope his career lasts as long as possible. It hard to find a fierce competitor that is humble at the same time.
 
_maxi

_maxi

Banned
I care about what he does inside the court, and he is a *****.

Outside the court he is kind and blablabla, but as a player he is a bad person.

Outside, he is pure acting. He is a deception as a fair tennis player, that's enough for me.
 
C

CMM

Legend
VeryVolkl said:
I've seen Rafa do a couple things make me appreciate his character. The most recent was the fact that when he and Lopez won the doubles, they handed Rafa a pen to sign the camera screen and he gave it to Lopez for him to sign first. It's a subtle thing, but I think those behaviors are more important than grand gestures.
Click to expand...

I think so too.
 
L

Ledigs

Legend
I don't think it's acting. I think he really cares what impression he makes and I think that is a good thing. Shows he cares about others too.
 
P_Agony

P_Agony

Banned
VeryVolkl said:
I've seen Rafa do a couple things make me appreciate his character. The most recent was the fact that when he and Lopez won the doubles, they handed Rafa a pen to sign the camera screen and he gave it to Lopez for him to sign first. It's a subtle thing, but I think those behaviors are more important than grand gestures.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's a very nice thing to do. He also does that thing where he if he's leading in the match (most likely the case) in the break he will let his opponent go to his chair first and only then he goes to his own.
 
rossi46

rossi46

Professional
He sure is, humble, unassuming and gentle in nature even though he is a brute on the court. Doesn't play mind games in interviews/press conferences either unlike Mr Kleenex.
 
babbette

babbette

Legend
he's only emphasizing that we should focus on Tiger as an athlete only because now that hes done the deed with Shewolf ( and Caroline, and Ivanovic in the jet) he wants the same kind of sympathy when we find out the whole truth.

Jokes!


Tiger is a bleep. And I can't believe Eilen went back to him. She deserves what she gets when (not if) he cheats again. And the man that invented the theory that sex addiction exists....:mad: it's the perfect excuse isn't it for all the serial cheaters out there. what kind of therapy do they get in there anyway. :roll:

*anger over the ex again*
 
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stoo

stoo

Semi-Pro
I'm a huge Fed fan, but I must say that I have gained a lot of respect for Rafa this past year, both on the court and off.
 
B

Big Dave

New User
Rafa is definiely a stand up guy. He's very humble. In trophy ceremonies, he's always quick to emphasize how well the other guy played and how good they are.

I know uncle Tony has been a great example/mentor for Nadal. He's tried to help rafa stay grounded/humble instead of an egotistical pompous primadonna, and so far it seems to be working.

Rafa is a good guy :)
 
M

Murray Mound

Banned
_maxi said:
I care about what he does inside the court, and he is a *****.

Outside the court he is kind and blablabla, but as a player he is a bad person.

Outside, he is pure acting. He is a deception as a fair tennis player, that's enough for me.
Click to expand...

Guys, gotta call a spade a spade.

Nadal is a gentleman on and off the court.

If there is anyone that puts on an act outside the court its Federer. I swear he has some magic spell over people. Just look at the facts:

-He cries after losing
-he gets fined for cursing
- he tosses water bottles at ball boys
- he says rotten things about other players.....for example jankovic was very angered by federers comments that she didnt deserve the #1 ranking, he also had sour grapes about Nadal calling his game one dimensional, he basically call the Joker a quitter, he never loses gracioulsy and always has an excuse.
- he ran off the court after losing wimbledon
-he smashes racquets.....

Federer may be the greatest player that ever lived.....but he is also the greatest magician. How this guy wins sportsmanship awards and has an image of pure class and of a gentleman is really beyond me? Doe he have some sort of a maguc wand or something?

Even after stating all these facts people on this board are gonna go nuts about my statements. I really just dont get it. Its down right weird.:confused:
 
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D

dmt

Hall of Fame
Murray Mound said:
Guys, gotta call a spade a spade.

Nadal is a gentleman on and off the court.

If there is anyone that puts on an act outside the court its Federer. I swear he has some magic spell over people. Just look at the facts:

-He cries after losing
-he gets fined for cursing
- he tosses water bottles at ball boys
- he says rotten things about other players.....for example jankovic was very angered by federers comments that she didnt deserve the #1 ranking, he also had sour grapes about Nadal calling his game one dimensional, he basically call the Joker a quitter, he never loses gracioulsy and always has an excuse.
- he ran off the court after losing wimbledon
-he smashes racquets.....

Federer may be the greatest player that ever lived.....but he is also the greatest magician. How this guy wins sportsmanship awards and has an image of pure class and of a gentleman is really beyond me? Doe he have some sort of a maguc wand or something?

Even after stating all these facts people on this board are gonna go nuts about my statements. I really just dont get it. Its down right weird.:confused:
Click to expand...
exactly. Federer is as arrogant as it gets, yet *******s attack Nadal even though Nadal is as humble as you can get. Rafa doesnt take shots at other players either.
 
R

rommil

Legend
Federer is honest and straightforward, detractors call it arrogance. Nadal is humble and nice, detractors call it cheesy and fake. This is a never ending argument.
Yet this is tennis, the result that speaks for itself. Federer has already cemented his legacy. Nadal needs to figure out how to achieve more before he totally breaks down.
 
namelessone

namelessone

Legend
rommil said:
Federer has already cemented his legacy.
Click to expand...

I agree:)

v6j8ki.jpg
 
namelessone

namelessone

Legend
CMM said:
Is this Roger's outfit for Miami?
Why do they always dress him so nice?! This is not fair. :evil:
Click to expand...

Rafa chooses his own clothes,it's not like nike shoves them down his throat. Plus,Nadal likes bright colours,he wears them off court as well. Now if he could only stop with those stripped patterns...

Pirate look,even when at its worst,was much better than the sleeved look. It fits Nadal's on court persona more. I'm not buying the "Nadal needs to grow up" excuse. There are plenty of older players who wear sleeveless(blake,ginepri etc) and they don't look out of place.
 
C

CMM

Legend
namelessone said:
Rafa chooses his own clothes,it's not like nike shoves them down his throat. Plus,Nadal likes bright colours,he wears them off court as well. Now if he could only stop with those stripped patterns...

Pirate look,even when at its worst,was much better than the sleeved look. It fits Nadal's on court persona more. I'm not buying the "Nadal needs to grow up" excuse. There are plenty of older players who wear sleeveless(blake,ginepri etc) and they don't look out of place.
Click to expand...

That's your opinion.
For me, the pirate look was a huge mistake and I'm glad that it's gone.:)
I don't have a problem with bright colours , but it would be nice to have just one or two, not 45667879 colours on him at the same time.
 
abmk

abmk

Bionic Poster
The pirate look fit rafa better. But even otherwise it was fine .. until those pink shirts at RG. Now those shorts at IW , uggh !

then we have federer at wimbledon in 2007 and 2k8.

uggh, how do these players agree to those silly outfits ?????????? :roll:
 
namelessone

namelessone

Legend
abmk said:
The pirate look fit rafa better. But even otherwise it was fine .. until those pink shirts at RG. Now those shorts at IW , uggh !

then we have federer at wimbledon in 2007 and 2k8.

uggh, how do these players agree to those silly outfits ?????????? :roll:
Click to expand...

Maybe they look better on paper:)
 
abmk

abmk

Bionic Poster
Murray Mound said:

If there is anyone that puts on an act outside the court its Federer. I swear he has some magic spell over people. Just look at the facts:

-He cries after losing
-he gets fined for cursing
- he tosses water bottles at ball boys
- he says rotten things about other players.....for example jankovic was very angered by federers comments that she didnt deserve the #1 ranking, he also had sour grapes about Nadal calling his game one dimensional, he basically call the Joker a quitter, he never loses gracioulsy and always has an excuse.
- he ran off the court after losing wimbledon
-he smashes racquets.....

Federer may be the greatest player that ever lived.....but he is also the greatest magician. How this guy wins sportsmanship awards and has an image of pure class and of a gentleman is really beyond me? Doe he have some sort of a maguc wand or something?
Click to expand...

the bolded parts say it all about your confused mind. Make up your mind, does he put an act when he is saying rotten things about other players ? LMAO !

oh and nadal was 1-D then, joker was a quitter

he ran off court after losing wimbledon ? what ? which wimbledon was this ? your video game wimbledon ?

He's cried after winning too ( re: AO 2006 final, wimbledon 2007 final )

yes, he got fined for cursing, but hey didn't you say he uses magic ? how could he get fined then ????

smashing racquets ??????? twice in the last 7-8 years ..... LOL ! safin and goran among others were adored for that !!
 
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aphex

aphex

Banned
Big Dave said:
Rafa is definiely a stand up guy. He's very humble. In trophy ceremonies, he's always quick to emphasize how well the other guy played and how good they are.

I know uncle Tony has been a great example/mentor for Nadal. He's tried to help rafa stay grounded/humble instead of an egotistical pompous primadonna, and so far it seems to be working.

Rafa is a good guy :)
Click to expand...

lol, you're clueless.

soderling edition
nadal: I didn't play well

del potro edition
nadal: i played really bad

davydenko edition
nadal: i didn't play well
 
namelessone

namelessone

Legend
aphex said:
lol, you're clueless.

soderling edition
nadal: I didn't play well

del potro edition
nadal: i played really bad

davydenko edition
nadal: i didn't play well
Click to expand...

sod: when you're bageling and breadsticking a guy in april and are struggling to win sets(sod could have easily won in 3 sets) in may,then you are playing average tennis(a.k.a. bad for Nadal's clay level,especially since soderling had never won a clay title up until then)

delpo: when you are nadal(nr.1 player in the world at the time),leading 3-1 in the decider and being up in the tiebreaker and you lose,you did not play great(at least not on the big points).And DelPo was still not in the form that would get him to RG SF or make him USO winner. This scenario was repeated afterwards at doha and IW this year and Rafa said the same things. And it is true,if you are top player and in a winning position and can't finish off a lower ranked opponent,you were not that good on that particular day.

davydenko: Did Nadal show up for WTF? That wasn't my impression. He played as crappy as he did in shanghai and couldn't even win when novak was handing(and I mean handing) him the match in their worst ever encounter.
 
aphex

aphex

Banned
namelessone said:
sod: when you're bageling and breadsticking a guy in april and are struggling to win sets(sod could have easily won in 3 sets) in may,then you are playing average tennis(a.k.a. bad for Nadal's clay level,especially since soderling had never won a clay title up until then)

delpo: when you are nadal(nr.1 player in the world at the time),leading 3-1 in the decider and being up in the tiebreaker and you lose,you did not play great(at least not on the big points).And DelPo was still not in the form that would get him to RG SF or make him USO winner. This scenario was repeated afterwards at doha and IW this year and Rafa said the same things. And it is true,if you are top player and in a winning position and can't finish off a lower ranked opponent,you were not that good on that particular day.

davydenko: Did Nadal show up for WTF? That wasn't my impression. He played as crappy as he did in shanghai and couldn't even win when novak was handing(and I mean handing) him the match in their worst ever encounter.
Click to expand...


the way it happened:

soderling: on fire sod delivering brutal clay beatdown

delpo: nadal lucky to have won even a set against him on HC.
delpo crushes nadal in an embarrassing semi at the USOPEN semi a few months later.

davy: a routine beatdown by davy on HC. nadal proves again he's davy's pidgeon on HC.

HC record: nadal 1--davy 5. nuff said.
 
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namelessone

namelessone

Legend
aphex said:
the way it happened:

soderling: on fire sod delivering brutal clay beatdown

delpo: nadal lucky to have won even a set against him on HC.
delpo crushes nadal in an embarrassing semi at the USOPEN semi a few months later.

davy: a routine beatdown by davy on HC. nadal proves again he's davy's pidgeon on HC.

HC record: nadal 1--davy 5. nuff said.
Click to expand...

Let's see:

"on fire" sod got breadsticked and bageled by nadal in rome a month earlier. By the time RG came around,Nadal's knees were degrading and it showed in this match. But I don't expect you to see that since his queens and WB withdrawals a few weeks after RG were just for show,right? They had absolutely nothing to do with Nadal's health problems during the clay season and his RG loss had certainly nothing to do with them as well.

DelPo might have nadal's number in the future but in Miami 09' Nadal had a near-choke dare I say,leading 3-1 and serving and leading far into the tiebreaker from what I remember. DelPo,at this point,was not the great player he would become later that year. He was a guy who had been double bageled by fed in AO and had just been straight setted by Nadal in IW a week earlier. Nadal was certainly not "lucky to be winning sets" at that point. Perhaps now:)

I agree on davy having nadal's number on HC but I was just sayin that nadal was crappy in WTF in every match,not just the davydenko one.
 
reversef

reversef

Hall of Fame
aphex said:
the way it happened:

soderling: on fire sod delivering brutal clay beatdown

delpo: nadal lucky to have won even a set against him on HC.
delpo crushes nadal in an embarrassing semi at the USOPEN semi a few months later.

davy: a routine beatdown by davy on HC. nadal proves again he's davy's pidgeon on HC.

HC record: nadal 1--davy 5. nuff said.
Click to expand...

Soderling would never win on clay against a good Nadal. Nadal was the shadow of himself.
Delpo had lost on hard courts 2 weeks earlier in 2 sets against Nadal. In the USO, Nadal being at the SF with his abdominal injury was already a miracle. He coudln't even serve where he wanted to. And Del Potro was at his best.
Davydenko is hard for Nadal on HC, but it doesn't change the fact that Nadal was VERY bad at that moment. Everybody could see it.
 
reversef

reversef

Hall of Fame
abmk said:
The pirate look fit rafa better. But even otherwise it was fine .. until those pink shirts at RG. Now those shorts at IW , uggh !

then we have federer at wimbledon in 2007 and 2k8.

uggh, how do these players agree to those silly outfits ?????????? :roll:
Click to expand...

I think Nike is the only one to be so extreme. They don't know what to do to create something new that some fans could buy.
 
aphex

aphex

Banned
namelessone said:
Let's see:

"on fire" sod got breadsticked and bageled by nadal in rome a month earlier. By the time RG came around,Nadal's knees were degrading and it showed in this match. But I don't expect you to see that since his queens and WB withdrawals a few weeks after RG were just for show,right? They had absolutely nothing to do with Nadal's health problems during the clay season and his RG loss had certainly nothing to do with them as well.

DelPo might have nadal's number in the future but in Miami 09' Nadal had a near-choke dare I say,leading 3-1 and serving and leading far into the tiebreaker from what I remember. DelPo,at this point,was not the great player he would become later that year. He was a guy who had been double bageled by fed in AO and had just been straight setted by Nadal in IW a week earlier. Nadal was certainly not "lucky to be winning sets" at that point. Perhaps now:)

I agree on davy having nadal's number on HC but I was just sayin that nadal was crappy in WTF in every match,not just the davydenko one.
Click to expand...


there's no changing your mind....forget it...
i maintain nadal doesn't give credit where it's due.
 
namelessone

namelessone

Legend
aphex said:
there's no changing your mind....forget it...
i maintain nadal doesn't give credit where it's due.
Click to expand...

If you listen to the top players interviews,they will usually evaluate their own game on that day and only later on will they say something(usually good) about the guy that beat them. Federer said that he should not have been in a final tiebreak with baghdatis which is true,no matter how much I respect baggie. Nadal said the same thing about his tie with ljubicic which again is true,he should have ended the match in the second at 3-2,0-40.

Only when top players get absolutely demolished to they give credit all the way so to speak and that's because top players believe that the match is on their rackets most of the time.Federer said he couldn't have done anything on that day in RG 08' final and Nadal said he tried to do everything he could with tsonga in AO 08'(he said he tried to play short CC shots,deeper shots,angled ones but nothing worked against tsonga on that day).
 
aphex

aphex

Banned
namelessone said:
If you listen to the top players interviews,they will usually evaluate their own game on that day and only later on will they say something(usually good) about the guy that beat them. Federer said that he should not have been in a final tiebreak with baghdatis which is true,no matter how much I respect baggie. Nadal said the same thing about his tie with ljubicic which again is true,he should have ended the match in the second at 3-2,0-40.

Only when top players get absolutely demolished to they give credit all the way so to speak and that's because top players believe that the match is on their rackets most of the time.Federer said he couldn't have done anything on that day in RG 08' final and Nadal said he tried to do everything he could with tsonga in AO 08'(he said he tried to play short CC shots,deeper shots,angled ones but nothing worked against tsonga on that day).
Click to expand...


since you brought federer into the conversation,
it's true that each match is on federer's racquet. he's an attacking player and i think you'll agree, when federer is on, nobody in the world can touch him.
on the other hand, nadal is a largely defensive player and when an attacking opponent plays lights out (tsonga, sod, delpo), there's not much he can do.

so, federer is right: the game is on his racquet.
that's not the case for nadal.
 
V

vllaznia

Semi-Pro
namelessone said:
If you listen to the top players interviews,they will usually evaluate their own game on that day and only later on will they say something(usually good) about the guy that beat them. Federer said that he should not have been in a final tiebreak with baghdatis which is true,no matter how much I respect baggie. Nadal said the same thing about his tie with ljubicic which again is true,he should have ended the match in the second at 3-2,0-40.
Click to expand...

This is true,but with the difference that after these statements Federer is called arrogant and Nadal humble or he is not mentioned for being arrogant.
 
namelessone

namelessone

Legend
aphex said:
since you brought federer into the conversation,
it's true that each match is on federer's racquet. he's an attacking player and i think you'll agree, when federer is on, nobody in the world can touch him.
on the other hand, nadal is a largely defensive player and when an attacking opponent plays lights out (tsonga, sod, delpo), there's not much he can do.

so, federer is right: the game is on his racquet.
that's not the case for nadal.
Click to expand...

This is true,but on fast surfaces. Federer has been attacking Nadal on clay the last 11 meeting and only won two. All these guys who own nadal on HC have trouble with a healthy nadal on clay. Fed's record is not stellar against Nadal on HC and grass as well. With them it is a match-up thing,federer can't go all out attack on clay cause naturally the surface slows down the balls and a fit nadal can get to them,making winners out of fed's eventual winners.And this goes for slow HC as well against Nadal,so many balls that came off fed's racket in A) 09' final would have been winners against any other player but not against Nadal.

Also,people label nadal defensive way too much. He is not all out offensive like a delpotro,but he is not exclusively defensive. How the hell did he manage to bagel davydenko this year,beat soderling,play very good tennis against murray and get in a winning position against ljubicic if he was mostly defensive? This is still HC. Nadal was offensive(as much as he can be with a weak serve) in these matches otherwise he could not have got in a winning position against these players. The doha and IW matches were chokes,a couple of points here and there and nadal would have had a title in doha(and a win over a top10 player) and would have made another IW final.

Also,prime safin and nalbandian had a answer for federer's attacking tennis if I remember correctly.
 
M

Murray Mound

Banned
News

Mind your own business, Jankovic tells Federer
Tue, Feb 10 08:54 AM EST

By Julien Pretot

PARIS (Reuters) - Roger Federer should concentrate on his own career rather than criticizing others, Serb Jelena Jankovic said on Tuesday after being irked by the Swiss master's unflattering verdict on her number one world ranking last year.

Last month, former world number one Federer hit out at the way the WTA rankings were calculated, saying a player who has never won a grand slam should not be granted the number one spot.

Jankovic reached the top spot in the WTA rankings in August having never won a major tournament. She lost her first grand slam final to American Serena Williams at last year's U.S. Open.

The Serb has since dropped down to third in the world following a shock fourth-round defeat to France's Marion Bartoli at the Australian Open.

"To be honest, I do not like to talk about players, I really prefer to focus on myself," Jankovic told Reuters in an interview at the Paris Open.

She said she could not understand why Federer felt the need to hit out at women's tennis while his great rival Rafa Nadal, who took over from the Swiss as world number one, was so "humble."

"Why should he even care? I don't like putting my nose in other's business.

"I mean, one thing I like about Nadal is that he is such a great champion, he is so humble, always has kind words for everybody, he is a role model for everybody," said Jankovic.

"Federer is a great champion, I don't want to get in a fight with him but why does he care, I really don't understand. Why does he need to do that?"

Federer also led the charge against Jankovic's compatriot Novak Djokovic when he quit because of the heat in his Australian Open quarter-final match against Andy Roddick.

"I'm almost in favor of saying, you know what, if you're not fit enough, just get out of here," the Swiss said.

Jankovic said Federer should not criticize fellow players. "I don't think it's nice to attack other players.

"If he retired, he probably had his reasons, he knows better. You cannot attack someone when you don't have proof, when you don't have a piece of evidence.

"There is no reason to offend him that way."

Jankovic will open her Paris Open campaign with a first-round match against Italian Francesca Schiavone.

The interview was organized by WTA Tour sponsors Sony Ericsson.
 
abmk

abmk

Bionic Poster
He did mind his own business. He won, lets see umm, 3 grand slams since then , and what about JJ ? wait ! :oops:

I agree federer's comment about the WTA rankings was unnecessary , he should've kept quiet ...

But I don't disagree with his comments about novak were wrong at all. I mean retiring due to a sore throat ( monte carlo 2008 SF ) , wtf !?
 
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