Nadal News 2.0

octobrina10

Talk Tennis Guru
ATP Cup in Australia

January 12, 2020
Rafa's post-final press conference in Sydney

Rafa said at the press-conference: “In general terms, for me the last 10 days here, in the ATP Cup, have been positive. ... I don't think, I'm in a bad way for the next week."

I’m glad that he did not get injured at the ATP Cup and I think that playing there was a good practice to him before the AO.

Rafa's full press conference:

Vamos Rafa!
yes-fist-pump-smiley-emoticon.gif
 

The Blond Blur

G.O.A.T.
Amazing USO campaign i’m in full agreement here, but would he had won it if he faced Novak as opposed to Medvedev??
He doesn't need to get past Joker to win slems outside of clay. Joker is a not the same monster at the USO compared to the AO. He also struggles against NextGen way more than RAFA does so for all we know one of them could knock him out before the finals. At the AO Joker is the heavy favorite against anyone, but at the other slems he's much more vulnerable.
 

ElChivoEspañol

Hall of Fame
Time will prove me wrong, and I’m hoping it does. But for now, Nadal’s mind won’t let him get over the wall that is Djokovic.

Agreed.

he has the game to beat anyone, including Djokovic, but he lacks the belief to beat the Serb anywhere that isn’t RG.

proof? He continues to employ the same failed tactics and lately quotes that he “couldn’t find something else”.

that something is the believe you have the game to beat your opponent.
 
D

Deleted member 763999

Guest
Agreed.

he has the game to beat anyone, including Djokovic, but he lacks the belief to beat the Serb anywhere that isn’t RG.

proof? He continues to employ the same failed tactics and lately quotes that he “couldn’t find something else”.

that something is the believe you have the game to beat your opponent.
He is just too stubborn lol. Continue to stand so back to return serve even after Uncle Toni told him to move up after the Wimbledon SF. He is not putting enough pressure on Djokovic and Federer service games, allowing them to exploit his returning position. Nadal kind of deserves to keep losing to Fedovic, like what u said if he just continues to employ the same failed tactics when facing them.
 

octobrina10

Talk Tennis Guru
Interview

This article on the CBS News website contains excerpts from Wertheim's story on Rafa that was broadcast on 60 Minutes on January 12:


PIsriAcH


My previous post related to the same interview:

Vamos Rafa!
 

vernonbc

Legend
Here's the whole interview from 60 Minutes. It's excellent!!!!! I was a little leery about what Wertheim would do as the media isn't always kind to Rafa but I think he did a really good job. :) (Hope it's not geo-blocked for any of you.)


Keep letting the video run and it'll go for another four minutes of stuff they didn't include in the telecast. Some of it's better than what they aired! :)
Here's a link if it doesn't go automatically.

 
Last edited:

vernonbc

Legend
More stuff from the 60 Minutes interview. (y)

Rafael Nadal still really likes playing tennis

More from the 60 Minutes interview, including his feelings about eventual retirement, how he rallies when he's down—and what the deal is with his water bottles.

2020 Jan 12
By Brit McCandless Farmer

60 Minutes contributing correspondent Jon Wertheim visited Nadal last month in his hometown on Mallorca, the Spanish island where he was born and lives. Rather than use the time to rest before the start of a new season, Nadal was working intensely, honing his southpaw forehand and double-fisted backhand.

Wertheim watched as Nadal played through his morning practice with his characteristic vigor, sending balls catapulting off his racket with an urgency typically reserved for matches. His relentlessness has served him well on the court. He has won 19 majors—only one shy of Roger Federer's record 20—with his own record of 12 titles earned on Paris' red clay courts.

It has also taken a toll on his body.

"I'm very happy that after all of the physical issues that I had to suffer through my career, which are a lot, I'm delighted to be where I am, being 33," he told 60 Minutes correspondent Jon Wertheim. "This is something I value and that gives me great personal satisfaction."

ot-nadald.jpg


Nadal has joined tennis royalty, in spite of frequent physical injuries. He has experienced the gamut, occasionally taking extended time off to rehab. Each time, he pushes through and returns to the top of his game.

In a way, struggling through adversity is also what Nadal likes most about tennis itself.

He told Wertheim that he enjoys the "mental effort" of the game, the search for solutions when he is down in a set, the analysis needed to change a match's dynamics. When he is losing, he wants to understand what is going wrong, to analyze how his opponent is playing better that day.

If he comes from behind to win, he said he finds the victory even more satisfying than, say, trouncing a competitor in straight sets.

"Because you make the extra effort," he said. "It means that you have the chance to compete again the next day. And the next day, you're going to be playing better. Sometimes when I'm in the first round or second round, and I'm not playing well, I say, okay, just accept it. Don't get frustrated. Just accept and focus."

Focus is a key element of Nadal's game. To block out distractions—from the crowd, from his opponent, from his own head—he has built-in rituals that he performs each match. He told Wertheim that about an hour before a match begins, he talks with his coach. Then, he thinks to himself as he prepares the grips on his rackets and his physiotherapy bandages. Just prior to walking out on the court, he steps into an ice-cold shower.

Then, once on the court, there are the water bottles.

Even a casual tennis fan has likely noticed Nadal's very specific habit regarding his water bottles. He always places two bottles in front of his chair, setting one behind the other so they face the court diagonally. He turns their labels outward. Prior to the match and during changeovers, he takes alternating sips from each before putting them back in their places with precision.

It may seem like superstition, but Nadal says it is all part of the way he disregards distraction.

"If I don't do that with the bottles, then I sit down, I could be thinking of something else," he told Wertheim. "If I do always the same things, it means that I am focused and I'm alert to think purely about tennis."

Wertheim has seen plenty of Nadal's rituals in the 15 years he has covered the tennis tour, both for Sports Illustrated and the Tennis Channel. He has also written Strokes of Genius: Federer, Nadal, and the Greatest Match Ever Played, which chronicled Nadal's marquee victory over Federer at Wimbledon in 2008.

When Wertheim first profiled Nadal for Sports Illustrated in May 2005, the tennis phenom hadn't yet won a major. But the 60 Minutes contributor saw the potential in Nadal's passionate playing, writing, "[T]here's every indication that Nadal … has begun a long residence at the top of the sport."

And he has. Nadal entered the Association of Tennis Professionals' top 10 that same year and hasn't left.

Now with the Australian Open set to begin next week, he is on a quest for his 20th major. But his main coach, Carlos Moyá, said they are not focused on Nadal's potential place in history.

"The subject is always there. But we try to avoid it," Moyá told Wertheim. "He has a lot of pressure on him just being Rafa Nadal. And we try to forget about that challenge of beating Roger [Federer] or whoever is the one who's having more [Grand] Slams."

For now, it is Federer, who is possibly Nadal's greatest rival. The two have played each other 40 times, with Nadal leading in head-to-head matchups 24 to 16. Theirs is a classic rivalry with a timeless clash of playing styles: lefty versus righty; passion and intensity versus precision and quiet restraint.

In most sports, a competition such as theirs is intense; the rivalry is tribal.

"Nobody says, 'I like the Yankees, and I'm a Red Sox fan, too,'" Wertheim said. "You've got to pick sides."

But not, it seems, with Nadal and Federer. That's in part because theirs is a rivalry devoid of animosity. In fact, they actually like each other.

"[We] also know that this is a game," Nadal told Wertheim. "And there are many other things in life that are more important than a game, than a match. And of course there have been some moments with more tension. But like everything else in life, both he and myself, we had very clearly in our minds that the human relations are more important than the tennis rivalry."

But just as Nadal inches closer to Federer, so too does Novak Djokovic, who has won 16 majors. The dominance of this "big three" is hard to overstate: Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic have won 55 of the last 66 majors since Wimbledon in 2003. Another player has not won a major since 2016.

But in this three-person race to the top, history may mean the least to Nadal, according to Wertheim.

"If he retires with the most majors, that's great, and if not, I don't think it's going to devastate him," he said.

At the very least, Nadal told Wertheim he will be ready when retirement arrives.

"I'm not worried about retiring at the end of my career," Nadal said. "I just want to be happy and enjoy playing as much as possible. And when I retire, I think, fortunately, there are many things in my life that will make me happy."
 

Sephiroth

Hall of Fame
Crazy to think what Nadal has achieved when he started out people never even gave him a shot and it's turned out that he's had the best longevity of any player in Tennis history, he was winning slams all the way back in 2005. He's even surprised me, I didn't think he'd last thing long given the amount of injuries he kept piling up it's scary cuz you can think one of them will be career threatening but luckily he's been able to avoid that.

Man if not for all his injuries he would've already passed the slam count years ago. What makes him so remarkable is despite all the setbacks, he's only 1 less and still reached his totals at a quicker pace.

Rafa is nuts. A phenomenon you'll never see the likes of again
 

vernonbc

Legend
To go along with the interview, here's a podcast with Wertheim talking about his visit to Mallorca. The part about Rafa starts about 8:40. Enjoy. :)

 

octobrina10

Talk Tennis Guru
Australian Open 2020

January 14, 2020
The 1st practice session

Rafa arrives at the National Tennis Centre and Craig Tiley, the director of the AO, hugs him:

Before practicing, Rafa met with kids participating in the Rafa Nadal Tour being held in Australia:


Rafa lets fans know that he is at Rod Laver Arena:

Rafa is accompanied by Carlos Moya in Melbourne:
EONuJ7QUUAAMIF3


ready-for-tennis-smiley-emoticon.gif
 

octobrina10

Talk Tennis Guru
Exhibition Match in Kuiwait

Set to take place on February 5, 2020

RNA: ¤¤ Rafael Nadal placed his trust in Tamdeen Group and Kuwait to build the 2nd Rafa Nadal Academy in the World with exceptional facilities integrated with Shaikh Jaber Al Abdullah Al Jaber Al Sabah International Tennis Complex located in 360 project by Tamdeen Group, after founding in 2016 the 1st one in his home town in Mallorca. Legendary sportsman and actual World ATP No.1, Rafa is the most respected tennis player for his fighting spirit, simplicity and high estimated human values.
On this occasion, he is coming to Kuwait on the 5th of February 2020 for the Exhibition Match.¤¤


Vamos Rafa!

Rafa will participate in the inauguration of the Rafa Nadal Academy in Kuwait (this is his 2nd academy in the world) and will play an exhibition match against David Ferrer there on February 5:

EOPbbmiX0AA1rbq


 
Last edited:

kevaninho

Hall of Fame
He is just too stubborn lol. Continue to stand so back to return serve even after Uncle Toni told him to move up after the Wimbledon SF. He is not putting enough pressure on Djokovic and Federer service games, allowing them to exploit his returning position. Nadal kind of deserves to keep losing to Fedovic, like what u said if he just continues to employ the same failed tactics when facing them.

I think he changed some things for the 2nd set and he was much more competitive.
I also feel that Djokovic dropped level a little, which helped.
Im sure Rafa got something from the 2nd set where he knows he was very close to changing things in the match.
Its positive stuff, considering the 1st set was the exact same as last year AO to me.
 

kevaninho

Hall of Fame
Agreed.

he has the game to beat anyone, including Djokovic, but he lacks the belief to beat the Serb anywhere that isn’t RG.

proof? He continues to employ the same failed tactics and lately quotes that he “couldn’t find something else”.

that something is the believe you have the game to beat your opponent.

I don't think its belief. He looks determined everytime he faces Novak. Hes not going into it showing weak body language.
His game just struggles against him now, mainly because of the physical decline.
He played this exact way years ago, and was beating Djokovic and Federer, because he could run around defending all day.

He simply doesn't have as much tools as the other 2, to make up for the physical stuff.
It cant be denied that Djokovic and Federer are masters of creating angles etc off of both wings, and Rafa not so much.

I think he can still beat them off of clay. He just needs everything to click on the day. But he will never be favourite.
 

MichaelNadal

Bionic Poster
Australian Open 2020

January 14, 2020
The 1st practice session

Rafa arrives at the National Tennis Centre and Craig Tiley, the director of the AO, hugs him:

Before practicing, Rafa met with kids participating in the Rafa Nadal Tour being held in Australia:


Rafa lets fans know that he is at Rod Laver Arena:

Rafa is accompanied by Carlos Moya in Melbourne:
EONuJ7QUUAAMIF3


ready-for-tennis-smiley-emoticon.gif

Already practicing? Lol the hardest working man in tennis :)

105955547-1559930811791gettyimages-1152414652.jpeg
 

pedro94

Semi-Pro
Rafa's projected draw at AO:

1R: Dellien
2R: Sousa
3R: PCB
4R: Kyrgios/Khachanov
QF: Monfils/FAA/Anderson/Thiem
SF: Medvedev/Wawrinka/Goffin/Zverev
F: Berrettini/Federer/RBA/Djokovic (I took one player from each quarter here)

All in all, not the worst draw in the world. However if it turns out to be PCB > Khachanov > Thiem > Medvedev, that'd mean multiple long tiring matches for Rafa :cry: Who knows if he'd have enough gas for the final after that hell... He needs to play aggressive tennis to have a chance at the title here.
 
D

Deleted member 763691

Guest
Thank God!
We will almost definitely (surely Kyrgios can make a 4th Round.....) get another chance to enjoy Rafa's victory over Krygios just like 2019 Wimbledon :)
Is there anything more fun than watching Rafa win TWO tiebreakers over Krygios?
Tiebreakers are the only thing Krygios is good at, and Rafa outdoes him!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Rabin

Professional
Bit of a tricky draw on paper, but we've seen how those can fall apart, so no sense worrying until he actually gets there. Don't love that Dellien is a leftie and Rafa's never played him before but what can you do.
 

K-H

Hall of Fame
Bit of a tricky draw on paper, but we've seen how those can fall apart, so no sense worrying until he actually gets there. Don't love that Dellien is a leftie and Rafa's never played him before but what can you do.
Dellien a lefty?
Pretty sure he's right handed
 

Yugram

Legend
I like the draw. It would’ve been worse to draw Hurkacz, Shapovalov, Tsitsipas in R4-QF than Khachanov, Kyrgios and Thiem who are all in doubtful form.
 

irishnadalfan1983

Hall of Fame
I like the draw. It would’ve been worse to draw Hurkacz, Shapovalov, Tsitsipas in R4-QF than Khachanov, Kyrgios and Thiem who are all in doubtful form.

Ummmmmm....I don't like the look of this draw.....I just don't like where Rafa is at right now - I would LOVE it AO was starting Monday 27th - really feel like he could do with a break........On the flipside his form the last 2/3 has being better than ever the last 2/3 months........I thought he looked EXHUASTED only 4 days ago on Sunday......
 

Yugram

Legend
Ummmmmm....I don't like the look of this draw.....I just don't like where Rafa is at right now - I would LOVE it AO was starting Monday 27th - really feel like he could do with a break........On the flipside his form the last 2/3 has being better than ever the last 2/3 months........I thought he looked EXHUASTED only 4 days ago on Sunday......
A week of rest is more than enough for professional tennis player to recover, if he is healthy of course. This draw looks bad on paper, but it won’t last.
 
D

Deleted member 763691

Guest
Ummmmmm....I don't like the look of this draw.....I just don't like where Rafa is at right now - I would LOVE it AO was starting Monday 27th - really feel like he could do with a break........On the flipside his form the last 2/3 has being better than ever the last 2/3 months........I thought he looked EXHUASTED only 4 days ago on Sunday......
Well when you play singles and doubles in back-to-back days that tends to lead to exhaustion, but that has nothing to do with the AO, because Rafa is fully rested now.
And exhausted Rafa outplayed energetic Djokovic in the 2nd Set anyway, Rafa had 5 break points in one game, and was up a minibreak in the tiebreaker before Djokovic's bad shot hit the top of the net and floated over Rafa.....
This is probably the best AO draw I've ever seen.....Rafa getting the privilege of manhandling Kyrgios again, and an enticing match-up with Thiem, followed by Medvedev hopefully because I think we all enjoyed the US Open Final.

Maybe not at 33.5......Hopefully you are right and I am wrong :)
99.9% of this forum is wrong 100% of the time, fortunately :)
 

WarriorRafa

Hall of Fame
Hope Rafa avoids Kyrgios and Thiem, especially Thiem. Fed has a very easy draw till the semis. Djovak should be fine till the semis too, cant see Agut or Tsitsipas troubling him much. Rafas path definitely the hardest with Kyrgios-Thiem-Med-Djoko/Fed..

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
 

Sport

G.O.A.T.
Hope Rafa avoids Kyrgios and Thiem, especially Thiem. Fed has a very easy draw till the semis. Djovak should be fine till the semis too, cant see Agut or Tsitsipas troubling him much. Rafas path definitely the hardest with Kyrgios-Thiem-Med-Djoko/Fed..

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
Why is Kyrgios supposedly brutal for Nadal but Shapovalov/Dimitrov ignored for Federer? Shapovalov won 1 set against Djokovic at the ATP cup and Kyrgios was ultra-destroyed by Bautista Agut. And why is Tsitsipas supposedly easier than Thiem? Tsitsipas defeated Djokovic in Toronto 2018, Shanghai 2019 and Abu Dhabi 2020. Tsitsipas also beat Federer at the AO 2019 while Thiem never does anything at the AO and lost two matches at the ATP cup.

I see no difference in the toughness of the draw.
 
D

Deleted member 763691

Guest
Hope Rafa avoids Kyrgios and Thiem, especially Thiem. Fed has a very easy draw till the semis. Djovak should be fine till the semis too, cant see Agut or Tsitsipas troubling him much. Rafas path definitely the hardest with Kyrgios-Thiem-Med-Djoko/Fed..

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
Didn't you enjoy Rafa-Kyrgios at Wimbledon?
I found it more entertaining than any match in the last 5 years, and Rafa won both tiebreakers.
The more Rafa-Kyrgios meet at slams, the better :)
Thiem will never have the stamina to win a slam, so Rafa may as well put him out of his misery.
And Medvedev has never won a 5-setter, and Rafa has all the answers for him.
Actually after that 5th Set at the US Open I think Rafa will charge the net repeatedly because Medvedev looked clueless when Rafa came forward, and Rafa almost won that match in straight sets anyway.
The whole draw is very predictable, as Rafa, Federer and Djokovic are the only elite players.
 

clayqueen

Talk Tennis Guru
I like the draw. It would’ve been worse to draw Hurkacz, Shapovalov, Tsitsipas in R4-QF than Khachanov, Kyrgios and Thiem who are all in doubtful form.
Is Kyrgios in doubtful form? I suppose, losing to RBA is a factor to be considered. No offence to Roberto.
 
Top