Nadal is playing with Marc Lopez

March 17th, 2009 at 12:33 pm

Nadal is the GOAT. Federer will go outside the top 10 very soon.

March 17th, 2009 at 2:19 pm

Whatever you say Ryan… lol! Define “very soon” for Roger going out of the top 10? lol!

March 17th, 2009 at 2:55 pm

“…a surprising partnership after their lockeroom blowout last year in the Davis Cup final.”

Richard: Don’t you think this is an indication that this either never happened or was blown completely out of proportion? You should at least include the word “alleged” before “lockerroom blowout”, because I’m still not convinced this was anywhere near the nonsense that was reported in such a cowardly way at the DC final last year.

March 17th, 2009 at 5:14 pm

I read somewhere that coaches of Nalbo-Del Potro got them talking again and playing doubles was part of the ‘team building’ exercise. Good for Argentina team…They have really good draw and could reach DC finals again this year.

March 17th, 2009 at 7:17 pm

MMT:

I absolutely agree with you. Until someone is proven guilty, it’s an alleged incident. Defamation is a bad thing. Very similar to the reporting on the Roddick thread; one obscenity lead to ‘several obscenities’ and a match ‘laden’ with such. Careful you guys, reporting should be about the ‘facts’ not sensationalism.

It’s very good to see the two Argentines playing together; positive for their DC team and their personal morale.

March 17th, 2009 at 8:00 pm

what happened in the locker room. i missed thst one

March 19th, 2009 at 7:45 am

I would defer to Richard since he indicates he has a “good source”, but apparently there was a bust up between Nalbandian and del Potro during the Davis Cup final after del Potro came up lame against Lopez in the second rubber.

The rumor is, although it’s amazing that nobody seems to be able to cite their source or definitively confirm what happened, that Nalbandian chastised del Potro for playing the TMC in Shanghai rather than saving himself for the Davis Cup final (as did Nalbandian, who declined an offer to play as an alternate, which eventually went to Stepanek) to which del Potro took exception.

Of course nobody will publicly state that they heard this “discussion” personally, and it all comes from unnamed sources who’ve heard from someone who’s heard from someone…etc.

There are more stories, for example, that Nalbandian was “pushing” for the final to be located somewhere close his hometown and personal business interests. Of course, the final took place in Mar del Plata, which is about 400 miles away from his hometown of Cordoba.

There are also stories that Nalbandian had a bust-up with his doubles partner Augustine Calleri following their collapse in the doubles match, but again, nobody that directly witnessed the alleged incident has publicly corroborated.

In my experience, the only way 2 people can keep a good secret is if one of them is dead, and even that’s no guarantee, but somehow everyone who witnessed the event has kept publicly silent, but fed sources who’ve gone on to report the the incidents which have been repeated in great detail, but with no corroboration.

I also find it more than mildly ironic that the person at the center of these alleged “incidents” is the only player to have won a point for Argetina in the final.

I should also point out that the Argentine press has a history of sensationalizing rivalries between players (such as Guillermo Vilas and Jose Luis Clerc in the late 70′s and early 80′s), and their journalistic standards in sports are about as reliable as British tabloids, IMHO.

They even once went so far, once, as to falsely sub-title an in match dispute between Rafael Nadal and Gaston Gaudio (an Argentine), in which they alleged Nadal, after exchanging words with Gaudio, uttered an unflattering slur that the (some) Spaniards use to refer to South Americans; this is way back in 2005 long before Nadal had developed his reputation for proper behavior.

So, I have no doubt, particularly given that nobody seems to be able to cite a source, that much of this is an invention of the Argentine press. I’m sure there was some discontent and disappointment given the unexpected results, but I reitterate that, to my knowledge, the details above have not, been corroborated publicly by anyone who was there.

Richard, I’m sure, will correct me if I’m wrong.

March 19th, 2009 at 10:31 am