What a fun video featuring two of the best players – ever.
And those shoes look great too : )
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Home » Posts tagged 'Rafael Nadal'
Rafael Nadal
One day after the euphoria of beating world #3 Roger Federer, American Andy Roddick tasted the dregs of defeat in losing to Juan Monaco.
Roddick didn’t just lose – he got smoked 7-6, 6-0. Apparently he wasn’t yet fit after coming back from injury. Funny – he looked pretty good against Federer.
Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic avoided the Federer stumble and are through to the next round.
Meanwhile, on the women’s side, Screamin’ Serena Williams’ string of convincing wins came to an end against former world #1 Caroline Wozniacki. Ever-petulant Serena mumbled post-match woe-is-me comments about how everyone she plays always comes up with their biggest match, and how she herself “only played at about 20%.”
Caroline now moves on to a semi-final against Maria Sharapova, a match that will set a new record for tall, willowy blondness.
Watching from the sidelines will be Serena. But for lessons in grace under pressure, she need look no further than big sis Venus, whose win over another former world #1, Ana Ivanovic, now puts her in the surprising position of a semi-final matchup against Radwanska. “Surprising” because prior to this tournament, 31-year-old Venus had not played a single tennis match in 2012 and had spent much of her time receiving treatment for an autoimmune disease…not exactly the way you prep for top-flight tennis in the south Florida heat.
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Sports Illustrated’s tennis blogger, the smart & savvy Courtney Nguyen, sketches out how the Miami Sony Ericsson Open might play out in the latest installment of Beyond the Baseline.
Courtney predicts a Federer-Djokovic semifinal on one side – with high-flying Federer coming out on top. (He’s been red-hot since the U.S. Open.) On the other side, Nadal defeats Thomas Berdych, and then goes on to beat Federer in the final. Key Biscayne would love that match-up. Federer has inherited the much-loved elder-statesman sentimental-fave mantle worldwide, while Nadal revitalized his standing with fans with his valiant six-hour Aussie Open final loss to Djokovic.
The women? This tourney will see Venus Williams returning to action, though she’s unlikely to make it far enough to face her petulant sister Serena, who’s in the other half of the draw. Courtney sees Serena defeating Maria Sharapova in one semi, but losing to world #1 Victoria Azarenka in the final.
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In the longest Grand Slam final match in history, world #1 Novak Djokovic beat world #2 Rafael Nadal in a 5th set that finished around 130a in Australia, almost six hours after the match had begun.
Nadal brought everything he had, and got closer to beating Djoko than he had in all of 2011. You’ll see some amazing shots and rallies from both in this video from australianopen.com.
The rest of the tennis world might be asking itself today: if Nadal can play that well and NOT beat Djokovic, what hope does anyone else have right now?
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One of tennis’s top rivalries took another turn Tuesday in London’s ATP World Tour Finals as world #4 Roger Federer took just an hour to cream his great rival, world #2 Rafael Nadal.
With the win, Federer moves on to the tournament semifinals. And despite his loss, Nadal has a chance to stay in the tournament with a win Thursday.
Both are big faves here at Best Player, and prior to this season’s amazing run from new world #1 Novak Djokovic, both vied for many years for the coveted spot at the top of the men’s game. Federer may not be the best in the world at the moment, but his demolition of Rafa shows he’s still got plenty in him…and at just 30, he may even have a chance to reclaim his #1 ranking next year.
Roger: anything for the win
Rumours from Nadal’s camp have it that Rafa was deeply disturbed by seeing his long-time adversary sporting such a gruesome moustache. “That thing on his face was so hideous I couldn’t concentrate on my returns,” sources claim to have heard him mutter.
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OK, this result was never that much in doubt… Even Rafael Nadal hinted in interviews the last couple of days that he might have trouble with the Djokovic machine – and it turns out Rafa’s fears were well grounded. Djokovic continued his amazing season (now 64-2) by rolling over Nadal 6-2, 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 to win his first U.S. Open. (Nobody believes it’ll be his last, either.)
Neither the scores nor the video above tell the full story of this match. For one thing, it took about 4 grueling hours to play – longer than Djoko’s 5-set win over Roger Federer on Saturday. For another, the level of tennis, especially in the 3rd set, was as high as anything we’ve seen in years – maybe ever. Long, punishing rallies of 20+ strokes, driven by crushing baseline shots, fantastic saves, subtle net play, and killing winners on both sides. Only Djoko could have beaten Nadal today; only Nadal could have pushed Djoko that far in the 3rd set.
What’s just as amazing is that Djokovic closed out the match with a 6-1 set, all the while suffering from back spasms that had needed a medical attention break after the 3rd-set tiebreak. Nadal must have wondered what was going on, with his opponent supposedly hurting, and yet playing such brilliant points. In the end it was Nadal himself who looked to be running out of gas, legs seizing up in the final few points.
A fitting end to a great two weeks of tennis…congrats to the world #1, who is uncontestedly, categorically the Best Player in the World.
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