After A Slow Start, Rafael Nadal Rolls In First Match Back At Vina Del Mar [Video]

Full house, standing room only, to see my Champ in action! #VamosChamp

February 7th, 2013 at 3:13 am

Monaco has really fallen off. It’s a shame. He was the only guy in the field who could, in any way, push and test Nadal. I’m looking forward to Acapulco. Nadal should have a good amount of match play in by then so if he plays a Ferrer or Wawrinka, it could be a good test.

February 7th, 2013 at 8:57 am

Shame indeed that Pico is out, I wanted him in to give Rafa a good work-out. That’s what Rafa needs right now, good work-outs. This is why it was important for him to play doubles……

February 7th, 2013 at 9:06 am

Good constructive comments Ben and Nadalista,its hard to say where hes really at ATM,with these 1st two matches,one in doubles and one against a player most of us have never ever heard of,a wins a win,however he needs that test to really build his confidence,never the less,whichever way you cut it its still great to see him back playing,and the huge smile on his face,just goes to show how much he loves the game,how much it means to him to be back playing.

February 7th, 2013 at 9:19 am

Whew. Good to see Rafa back. Regardless of the competition, better to win than lose.

February 7th, 2013 at 9:26 am

^Quite right^.

February 7th, 2013 at 9:33 am

I watched a bit of the match yesterday, and Nadal’s comments afterward seem pretty spot-on: the two things that looked most rusty to me were his movement and his depth of shot. He was off-balance much more than we’re used to seeing, so as he says, he can control that in practice, but match play is a whole ‘nother beast. He also dropped a lot of balls short or just mishit them, but those things will disappear as the spring rolls on and he gets more matches under his belt.

Nice to see him back on the court!

February 7th, 2013 at 9:57 am

All these clay court midgets who were small, all of a sudden appear taller and bigger. But I will shrink them in due course.

February 7th, 2013 at 11:39 am

http://www.vamosbrigade.com/articles2013/lequipeinterviewfeb13.html
Rafa fans and others should read this!

February 7th, 2013 at 11:46 am

HR Lol!

February 7th, 2013 at 11:48 am

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324590904578288271323386936.html
Excellent article. Like the quote “The whole city is absolutely electrified by Rafa Nadal being here”. #RafaEffect

February 7th, 2013 at 12:00 pm

he still looks jucied to me hope he is drug tested i want to see proof

February 7th, 2013 at 1:06 pm

Thanks for the articles Giles interesting reads.

February 7th, 2013 at 1:30 pm

Thank you so much @giles! Those articles are mana for a starved Rafan.

Takeouts:
1. In the interview, he does not mention Madrid in his list of clay court tourneys leading to RG.
3. I like how he responds to the doping questions, all of them! Publish individual test results, increase frequency of testing, publish the Puerto trial names etc, etc. I bet this has thrown the haters off course. He does not come across as defensive or angry, just……adult.
3. The WSJ guy, he “gets” Rafa! With all the anti-Rafa rubbish from Wertheim and Bodo I was beginning to seriously doubt if there was a single American journo who gets Rafa.

Vamos!!!

February 7th, 2013 at 1:37 pm

Nadalista maybe Subo should read the article especially point 3.

February 7th, 2013 at 1:54 pm

http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/8910329/are-tennis-players-hiding-answers-increased-ped-questions-espn-magazine

Just in case anyone wants to say “why would tennis players need to dope?”

February 7th, 2013 at 1:57 pm

I really like Nadal’s comments on doping. I love how he interrupts to say that there’s a high price for a bad image of the sport.

Speculation is always going to exist until true transparency exists in every sport, but it’s nice that the top players in tennis understand that more needs to be done, especially from a financial stand point. And over at the NFL people are worried about QBs being paid enough millions…

February 7th, 2013 at 2:37 pm

@alison
@subo is a nutcase, best ignored.

@Ben Pronin
I read the article by Howard Bryant and my reaction was/is: damp squib. He tells us nothing we do not already know, same innuendo, no hard facts, no investigation, nothing. I get the feeling he wrote it because doping is the topic du jour and he does not want to be seen to be avoiding it.

Howard Bryant is no Paul Kimmage, the fearless Irish journo who relentlessly went after Lance Armstrong WITH FACTS, was sued by both Armstrong and the UCI but has been vindicated by Lance’s confession.

People like Bryant hope cheats will be “shamed” into confession through innuendo, doesn’t work like that. It takes proper investigative journalism, not simple character assassination.

February 7th, 2013 at 2:39 pm

Yeah, I guess. It’s a nice summary of what everyone’s been say lately, if nothing else.

Maybe he’ll start investigating. Maybe not. The most important take away is that journalists are finally writing about this, finally voicing some opinions and not just sitting idly by saying “yeah maybe, but let’s not talk about it.” They’re finally talking about it. So at least we’re headed in the right direction.

February 7th, 2013 at 2:45 pm

I really do not understand why the press is going after the players to take responsibility for better doping procedures. Surely this is the job of the sport’s regulators, not he players? Do we really want a situation where the players are paying for the doping programme? This is nonsense. Talk about the fox guarding the hen-house.

The press should the hounding the alphabet soup of the sport’s regulators to put in place proper and effective doping procedures. They can find the money if they are serious. All the players should concern themselves with is providing their bodily fluids on demand for testing, that’s it.

February 7th, 2013 at 2:48 pm

LA claimed and condemned doping for years. Any athlete who has doped swears by the sun moon and stars they never had and it shames the sport. Then, they get caught.

Sometimes the best defense is to go offense, just sayin…

If Rafa ( I am not saying he did )did use it (roids)it would have been earlier in his career when his biceps were bigger than Ahnolds. He seems to be shrinking every year now and looking more like a Tennis player. It’s probably better on his knees to be lighter anyways….

February 7th, 2013 at 3:05 pm

@nadalista:

Excellent comments. But doping is indeed le plat du jour, and not without a reason. For my part, I really would like to see much more testing.

Anyway, if there is doping in tennis, it started 20 years ago already.

February 7th, 2013 at 3:17 pm

^^^

This is why I say tennis journalists should engage in proper investigative journalism and go after any suspects out there WITH FACTS, not opt for the lazy way of spreading rumours and innuendo.

If Rafa was doping in his early days I would like to think there were doping tests being conducted then, that the samples are still available (as I recall, Lance’s fluids were stored and tested later on, would like to believe the same applies to tennis samples) for testing. I cannot imagine he would blithely call for Fuentes’s client list to be made public if his samples are out there ready for re-testing if need be.

I am not an expect on doping but does blood doping make your biceps grow? What I am saying is it is dangerous to infer doping on the basis of appearances only. If you look at the peloton during Lance’s time (and present) you do not see any bulging muscles but we now know that doping was the norm, not the exception.

February 7th, 2013 at 3:20 pm

I agree with you nadalistia; it’s up to the regulators to ensure their practices are up to par and it’s up to the players to be held accountable to whatever measures are in place. As far as I am aware, the players have been available for whatever testing is being done (except for that time with Serena in the panic room…that’s the only time I know of wherein a player “escaped” testing).

I also think we should assume “innocent until proven guilty”, but that’s just my opinion.

February 7th, 2013 at 3:23 pm

nadalista says “This is why I say tennis journalists should engage in proper investigative journalism and go after any suspects out there WITH FACTS, not opt for the lazy way of spreading rumours and innuendo.”

Again – 100% agree! It borders on libelous to do otherwise imo.

February 7th, 2013 at 3:24 pm

Don’t get me wrong……I do not harbour blind faith in Rafa. If tomorrow someone presented me with irrefutable evidence that he is/was doping, I would be very disappointed but I would not be surprised because this is the world we live in. He is just one in a myriad of athletes, subject to the same motivations, fears and temptations.

But until I see that irrefutable proof: he is clean in my book. End of.

I was a Lance fan and backed him UNTIL I read the USADA report. Then I saw the proof and I believed it.

February 7th, 2013 at 3:29 pm

@jane, nadalista:

As far as I know, the samples are kept for some time (10 years?). It is possible to check it on THASP, there is an article, if I remember well, about it.

Anyway, it seems that the very best players have clearly understood that it is in their best interest to have more testing.

February 7th, 2013 at 3:41 pm

@Giles
The other thing that made me laugh is the Rafa/L’Equipe interview is when he was asked if he had watched the Oz Open final between Novak and Muzza and Rafa said no because he did not have access to Eurosport!

Rafa……with those millions you’ve made you CAN afford Eurosport hook-up! Lol….

February 7th, 2013 at 3:42 pm

Meanwhile:

http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Jerzy-Janowicz-Novak-Djokovic-and-Roger-Federer-The-first-one-false-the-other-is-full-of-himself-articolo8330.html

February 7th, 2013 at 3:47 pm

Does Lance Armstrong look like a guy who was on roids? No. And he wasn’t. So who cares whether Nadal used roids or not, there are more serious drugs to worry about.

Nadalista and Jane, I disagree. Not completely, but to a large extent. If the players shouldn’t have to concern themselves with doping regulations, then why are Nadal and Murray and everyone else lately speaking out? Because they are concerned. Who does doping affect more than anyone? The players? I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, they are the ones affected by dopers more than anyone because when a guy is winning by doping, he is taking away wins from clean guys. Do the doctors and scientists in the labs studying the blood really care if they come up positive or not? It really makes no difference to them, they just record/report it and move on. But if player z tests positive after beating players a-y, then it’s players a-y who are affected the most.

Also, the players are, first and foremost, the ones that generate the revenue. They’re the reason that every sports organization from the ITF to the NBA makes money in the first place. And then, they’re the reason that WADA, USADA, and all of the other anti doping organizations require funding. No athletes? Then no sports, no money, and no need for anti doping regulations.

But even though there’s a lot of money involved, it’s still finite. But the players are greedy and they want bigger cuts of the pie and a fair share and so on and so forth. But then all of the sudden there’s no money left to fund anti doping. So then people can dope. And on and on it goes. Which is exactly why I think it’s great to hear Murray say that, if need be, the players should agree to reduced prize money in order to get more money into the ADAs.

Unless the players don’t care if their fellow athletes dope. Then, you’re right, it’s not their responsibility and everyone should shut up about it because if the players don’t care then no one should care.

February 7th, 2013 at 3:49 pm

@Nadalista. Maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t too interested to watch that boring final! #GoodExcuse

February 7th, 2013 at 3:59 pm

@Ben Pronin says, “…….then why are Nadal and Murray and everyone else lately speaking out?”

Me: Because they are being asked direct questions by journalists. I do not believe their concern started now. I believe they are clean guys, I believe they are and have always been concerned but have not been speaking out because it was not an issue then as it is now, post Lance.

@Ben Pronin says, “Who does doping affect more than anyone?”

Me: the sport. and this is what Rafa says and I agree with him, and you pointed this out in your post of 2:37pm Of course the players themselves are affected but I think the reason Novak, Rafa, Federer and Murray are more willing to address the issue NOW is beacuse they realise that the BRAND is at risk with all the swirling innuendo.

The players are but one piece of the revenue generating process, albeit the most important one. All I am saying is care should be taken to make sure there are proper “chinese walls”, so that we do not have an obvious conflict of interest situation where the players determine the doping controls budget.

February 7th, 2013 at 4:05 pm

@mat4 on other thread: “In Rafa’s case, I believe that he managed to become the champion that he is despite his uncle. Nobody can convince me that a good coach would learn a child to play the FH the way Rafa plays it. A good coach should know the methodology to teach the serve. It seems obvious that Toni doesn’t know it.”

There was a Nadal fan called Guy who used to post here, and he was convinced Nadal would have done much better without Uncle Toni – in particular, he lamented the decision to turn Rafa into a left handed player. I was never quite convinced about that. I mean, one can see pros and cons.

About the serve. Well, it is certainly not fluid, it looks awkward – but then, it plays awkward too. For whatever reason, Federer always struggled to deal with it at Wimbledon (and RG of course). This was especially notable on break points or even 0-30, and I am including second serves here. Nadal would, it is true, get very few free points, but he didn’t really need them (he would have liked them, obviously – but that’s another matter). His serve usually got Federer into defensive mode – one has to assume due to heavy spinning and slicing which a spectator can’t necessarily see – and this allowed him, Nadal, to take the iniative. So I think you can say that Nadal’s serve was adequate to purpose. Of course, it was never a killer serve (except perhaps for that one US Open), but generally speaking, a player plus coach has to deal with certain inbuilt limitations. Otherwise, everyone would serve like Roddick or Sampras. Does Roddick know how he generated such speed – I don’t believe so, I understand he hit upon the salient feature of the serve by accident.

As for the forehand, well it’s unorthodox, but so much the worse for coaches that they would not have come up with such a shot. It is a unique stroke and quite incredibly effective – and, imo, a thing of strange beauty.

February 7th, 2013 at 4:33 pm

@grendel:

Although you may have a point about the FH, I beg you to watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GljqJv84tTI

Then, just compare his serve motion in 2010 and in 2011 at the USO.

February 7th, 2013 at 4:39 pm

Then, there is also Rafa’s book.

I should add that I am disadvantaged here, for my lack of English, and it is very difficult to describe what I felt reading the book. I just can advise to read it. Most of the books feels very… false, but there are parts when you can hear Rafa’s voice, and they are quite revealing.

February 7th, 2013 at 4:49 pm

So, to me, it is clear that there were no inbuilt limitations… just lack of knowledge.

February 7th, 2013 at 4:51 pm

@mat4 3.47

These are strange comments from Janowicz:”Djokovic is a false one, he just likes to show off and play. Federer instead is full of himself, he has something not natural. It’s hard to feel him like a integral part of all of us.”

What could he mean? It is interesting to try and tease out a meaning, although your guess is as good as mine. w.r.t.Djokovic, I guess he means Novack is a showman, who enjoys showing that he is the best. You might wonder: does anyone who is the best (at anything) not enjoy displaying this fact about himself? Presumably, then, he thinks it is a matter of degree – that Djokovic overdoes it. That will be his observation. Whether it is justified or not, I don’t know.

What about Federer? That is a bit harder to interpret. But he seems, to me, to be alluding to a certain regal quality he detects, or thinks he detects, in Federer. In other words, Federer believes he is apart from everybody else, occupies almost a different universe. This is clearly true of Serena Williams (who once alluded approvingly to what she called Federer’s “swagger”), and interestingly Janowicz is implying that Djokovic isn’t quite sure of himself in the way he sees Federer being. Djokovic, in short, is aspiring to the Federer “swagger”, but actually he is still “one of us”.

Curious.

February 7th, 2013 at 4:51 pm

@grendel:

I believe he just forgot to think before speaking. He’s young. He’ll learn.

Anyway, when I think of his behaviour on court in that match against Devvarman, it is a bit… too much.

Anyway, those are clichés.

February 7th, 2013 at 5:06 pm

But, those clichés are built on something. Novak overdoes it a bit – although we shouldn’t forget that he is from the South of Europe, with all that such a things culturally implies. Roger too, sometimes, overdoes it a bit, in a different sense, but he is… a middle class Swiss, a product of his own country.

I also think that they are genuinely nice guys, that they don’t pretend, and they are much easier to understand than Nadal or Murray, who are both introverted and struggling a bit with their feelings, for different reasons too.

February 7th, 2013 at 5:17 pm

Rafa and Monaco just won their doubles match. In the semis now! #WellDoneGuys

February 7th, 2013 at 5:33 pm

Giles i was just about to post that,but you beat me to it 6/2 7/6,7/4 in the tiebreaker,im glad the 2nd set was tighter,as it gives him more of a test,even though its doubles.

February 7th, 2013 at 5:38 pm

mat4

Yes, I watched the video again – MMT originally posted it, to demonstrate that it is still possible for a great player to learn from a humble coach.

Of course, it is well known that Nadal’s serve in 2011 was nowhere near as potent as in 2010 (US Open). The commentator on the video ascribes this to bad habits resuming their sway. I find this unconvincing. After all, we are talking here about a dedicated professional who is known to prepare with enormous care – as are all the top 4. Is it likely that he would slide back into the bad old days and ways merely through a kind of mental laziness?

One has to assume – in the dearth of any other knowledge (which may not be forthcoming, since I believe there are some legal issues with the serve coach Oscar)- that the new serving motion was responsible for the shoulder problems which emerged not so very long after the US Open.

My own suspicion, for what it is worth, is that 2010 was Nadal’s annus mirabilis, and he knew it. The US was always going to be the toughest nut for him to crack, and if he was going to do it, clearly this was the year. And the key might well be the serve. So he was prepared to take risks. Once he had achieved his goal, he had to pay the cost of injury. Well, that was ok, he had kind of budgeted for that. But it was definitely not ok to keep risking the shoulder – not once he had achieved his main aim. Hence the reversion to the old, less effective serve.

So in this sense, mat4,there was “an inbuilt limitation”. Possibly, of course, if he had learnt the modified serve at the outset of his career, he could have incorporated it into his physical system without undue strain. Who knows?

About Janowicz. No doubt as he gets older he will learn prudence – that is, he will conceal from the public what he really believes. But for the moment, you have to assume he means what he says. This doesn’t excuse his own sometimes demented behaviour on court, of course – that is another matter altogether.

February 7th, 2013 at 5:40 pm

mat4

You put it well. And of course, Janowicz has his own axes to grind. He is very ambitious, isn’t he? If he ever gets to the top of the greasy pole, expect a different outlook….

February 7th, 2013 at 5:49 pm

I thought there were some lucid posts from nadalista on the business of doping. This is not an area I know anything about, but I would suspect that the Armstrong case was unusual. The heavy rumour swirling around such an enormous figure in international sport was bound to attract some dogged journalistic investigation. Not sure if there is any such motivation where tennis is concerned. Journalists are not detached seekers of truth. They go where the publicity beckons.

February 7th, 2013 at 5:59 pm

@giles “Maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t too interested to watch that boring final!”

not many can equal the excitement of the nadal vs rosol match.

@ mat4 “they are much easier to understand than Nadal or Murray”

interesting. i find nadal, murray and djokovic much easier to understand than federer.

February 7th, 2013 at 5:59 pm

“Maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t too interested to watch that boring final!”

But how does he know that it’s boring until he has watched it?

February 7th, 2013 at 6:07 pm

@grendel:

“we are talking here about a dedicated professional who is known to prepare with enormous care”

You could be making a big, big mistake. Reading Rafa’s book, I had the impression that his team was “a familly affair”. I am almost certain that Federer and Djokovic have much better teams, with proven professionals.

I also think that Federer and Djokovic are the ultimate professionals in today’s tennis, with a clear vision of what they want to achieve and of the way to do it. They both had their wanderings, for opposite reasons, but finally found the right tracks.

On the other side, it is very difficult to understand what Rafa is doing.

February 7th, 2013 at 6:14 pm

@grendel:

“interesting. i find nadal, murray and djokovic much easier to understand than federer”

I was born near Geneva. I know my man. ;-)

February 7th, 2013 at 6:15 pm

@grendel:

Sorry, I misquoted.

February 7th, 2013 at 6:18 pm

mat4

“You could be making a big, big mistake”.

Tell me about it. I bear the scars of endless unspeakable mistakes…Why, only the other day – er, no, think I’ll keep that one to myself.

You may well be right that Federer and Djokovic have much clearer visions than Nadal w.r.t.their tennis careers. Although I think tribute should be paid to Nadal for being willing to put himself under the scrutiny of a virtually unknown coach. That is unusual, don’t you think, for a player of Nadal’s stature?

However, I do repeat: why did Nadal’s serve revert to the old version after his startling success? We may never know the answer – but personally, I find it hard to believe that it was due to a sort of absence of mind.

February 7th, 2013 at 6:22 pm

Ben, in this I’d back what nadalista says at 4:05 – agree with both her (? her right?) replies.

February 7th, 2013 at 6:23 pm

@ mat4 – “I was born near Geneva. I know my man”

I was referring to matters other than culture or language.

February 7th, 2013 at 6:25 pm

mat4 – when you say misquoted, you mean you recognize it was the DA and not me who said that? I think, actually, the DA may have a point. Do you not think there is something slightly sphinx like about Federer?

February 7th, 2013 at 6:28 pm

@grendel:

“that the new serving motion was responsible for the shoulder problems which emerged not so very long after the US Open”

I made a post here, not long ago, where I wrote that there was a strange cyclic regularity in Rafa’s injuries. It was a big effort from me to try to explain it (in a longer post), so I will just quote the most relevant part of the post:

“Rafa’s surprise defeats and injuries come when he has manage to overcome crisis […]
What we have is a cycle: struggle and fight, great victory, surprise defeat, injury.”

The post is in this thread:

http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2013-02-05/11498.php

I wouldn’t be that certain that he had shoulder problems. The new motion wasn’t that different from the old one, it was more economical, and required a different timing, synchronisation with the legs. I tend to believe that, struggling emotionally in the midst of those defeats against Novak, Rafa just tried to feel more comfortable on the court.

February 7th, 2013 at 6:31 pm

mat4,

Isn’t that place where Calvin in and his followers had run for their lives after the night of St Bartholomew?

You are right about Nole, Ljubicic said the same thing last year, something like ” you haven’t seen best of Nole yet, I haven’t seen somebody as dedicated as Nole in all aspects of life just to be as good as he possible can and improve as tennis player.” Nole is doing just that, getting better and better. Strangly enough, I watched last year fifth set of AO SF and this year final and actually my opinion is that Nole changed more in his game and played tactically better than Andy compare to last year SF, last year one was better for watching but this year was smarter played by Nole, but that is only me.
They are very good friends and go often for lunch when Nole is in Monte Carlo, ljubicic said also that Nole is strict with his diet every single day of the year.

February 7th, 2013 at 6:37 pm

@grendel:

Do you remember when you write about Ajet and the dinosaur? I ran myself into the same dinosaur, once, and decided not to do it again.

Roger Federer is a bit older that the others. He has shown intelligence and character, forging his personality and changing his behaviour. It was a process, of course, and victories help it.

But he is not of the kind of tormented, unstable and interesting souls Rafa and Andy are.

February 7th, 2013 at 6:38 pm

@WB:

Recently, on a French forum, a poster (Karim, or Master Yoda) compared Novak’s approach to the approach of F1 team.

It was a stylish hyperbole, of course, but I found that there was some truth in it.

Mouratoglou also said that he is the most professional on the Tour.

February 7th, 2013 at 6:41 pm

mat4

This is a sort of “holistic” analysis which you provide, and of course it may be correct and is certainly thought provoking. You’ve obviously pondered deeply. I would make two points. One, so far as I know, the “shoulder injury” (if that’s what it was) surfaced quite soon after his US victory. I believe there was a tournament in Thailand, and he got beaten by G.Lopez. Now whilst we can put that defeat down to a lack of focus or interest, what about the slower serving? Surely he will still have been on a high?

And 2):”The new motion wasn’t that different from the old one, it was more economical, and required a different timing, synchronisation with the legs”. I am at sea here, but it is at least possible that there was just sufficient difference to activate different muscles in an unaccustomed way to thereby induce injury. One would like the opinion of a physio, say, here.

February 7th, 2013 at 6:44 pm

@grendel:

One can’t be certain, in those cases. Neither am I.

But his injuries came too often after unexpected losses, and losses after great victories which drained a lot of physical, emotional and mental energy that I felt it was a “depression effect” of… psychosomatic provenance, origin.

It is an elegant theory, but life usually tends to fend from such theories, and is a bit more complex.

February 7th, 2013 at 6:54 pm

Anyway, I just checked: he still used the new motion in IW 2011.

February 7th, 2013 at 6:59 pm

DA “not many can equal the excitement of the nadal vs rosol match.”

ha ha touche!

“But how does he know that it’s boring until he has watched it?”

and if a tree falls in the forest…

February 7th, 2013 at 8:02 pm

@jane:

Checking the meaning of your sentence, I found:

“If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is there to TWEET about it, did it really happen?”

February 7th, 2013 at 8:31 pm

Who is Rosol?

February 7th, 2013 at 8:49 pm

Everytime a doping article pops, some people point fingers at me. I will pee anywhere to prove myself.

February 7th, 2013 at 8:55 pm

mat4, ha ha no kidding!

HR, someone very difficult, no?

February 7th, 2013 at 9:16 pm

Ben,

Check this out

http://www.ninersnation.com/2013/2/7/3965644/jim-harbaugh-49ers-core-control-glove-stanford

February 7th, 2013 at 10:13 pm

@jane, yes I is a girl!

February 7th, 2013 at 11:16 pm

Why are the fingers pointed at Nadal on doping in tennis? Mostly because the guy is not so averse to breaking rules. This is not the kind of Federer venting his frustration on hawkeye or even his opponent [murray in AO 2013]. These are tactics like injury time outs, time violations that he [and probably toni] have built and implemented over the years.

Ofcourse the onus is on ATP/ITF to handle such crooks, but people are, fortunately, not dumb [unlike blind rafatards] and can identify a crook when they see one. Of the top 4, I would be least surprised if we find out Nadal is into doping. I am positive that is the sentiment most seen on most of the tennis discussions on various tennis sites.

The order would be Nadal, Djokovic, murray and Federer. If Federer is found guilty of doping, that would be like a major Tsunami! Personally, it will not matter to me, because I don’t worship Federer the human being, but rather his aesthetic game. It’s like mozart’s music or Tolkien’s wonderful works. It doesn’t matter to me if those guys were on dope when they produced such masterpieces. If dope helped them achieve such wonderful heights of artistry, I would say let us all dope too.

The people who will be most affected by doping are immature souls who take to worshipping a guy because he is “winning” a lot. I never was a fan of armstrong because what he was achieving was out of power and strength rather than out of skill. I can show you atleast a 100 skillful people who can do some unbelievable stunts with cyles/bikes. That is much more impressive stuff than achieving something based on power/strength.

In the Armstrong case, people and society should equally share the blame because they encouraged doping by supporting achievements based on strength/power and not on skill/craft. Another example would be people worshipping or praising the success of people who are rich, when they should be praising people who are knowledgeable and wise. What does this lead to? This leads to crooks who will try to earn more money by hook/crook to be considered most successful. On the other hand knowledge/wisdom has no short-cut except through hours of perseverence.

Bottom line : Appreciate the pursuit of excellence [ knowledge, wisdom, skill etc. etc. ] and not the pursuit of success [ money, no. of wins, etc. etc.].

February 8th, 2013 at 1:43 am

Another example would be gasquet/wawrinka/gaudio/federer’s one hander backhand or safin/djokovic/nalbandian’s double handed backhands. or santoro’s game as a whole

Those shots are so skillful and elegant and my appreciation of them wouldn’t be diminished because these guys have doped. I mean any amount of doping from nadal will never make his 2handed backhand look as majestic as djokovic’s backhand.

Doping doesn’t affect my outlook because i appreciate the skills that such shots involve and I would rather watch gasquet practce for 1hr with that sensuous backhand than watch nadal play 5hrs and win a match. I guess unfortunately most people in the world are too immature to detach themselves from having vicarious pleasure in another person winning.

I guess intelligence/ appreciation of the aesthetics is not the same for all creatures. After all, I can’t think of animals like a dog/cat being able to appreciate knowledge/skills. Likewise, not all humans are smart enough to understand knowledge/skills are a more precious commodity than money/ trivial things like winning a match.

February 8th, 2013 at 2:15 am

Friday VTR Open Chile OOP:

http://www.vtropen.cl/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/OPViernes.pdf

Rafa starts with Singles quarters match and then has a dubs semi match.

Good work-out………

Vamos!!!!

February 8th, 2013 at 4:58 am

……..Oh btw, this 16-year old kid, Garin, is being talked about as one to watch. He took a set off Chardy and Uncle Toni has said he has him in his “buy” column……….

February 8th, 2013 at 5:01 am

Selected passage from the Desiderata Poem:

“Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.”

Daresay the decent posters on this forum abide by these wise words.

Vamos!

February 8th, 2013 at 5:19 am

Nadalista and nadalista:

Are you one and the same, or two persons? There were Jane and jane on this blog, e.g.

February 8th, 2013 at 5:33 am

@mat4, good question! Haven’t noticed the capital “n” on my posts before. Haven’t noticed anything sinister as well, like identity theft.

No, I am one and the same, with or without a capital “n”.

But thanks for noticing anyway, I will be on the look-out……..I know what I write.

February 8th, 2013 at 5:37 am

Anastasia Rodionova, @arodionova says:

“And now according to media almost every elite athlete does/did take PED… Thanks Lance and few others..”

Hang in there, Nastia and continue doing the good work, this too shall pass!

Vamos!!

February 8th, 2013 at 5:40 am

Tennis is a part technically orientated sport BFF. So you are right. No amount of doping is going to give you a forehand like federer’s or a backhand like Nole’s.

February 8th, 2013 at 6:30 am

BFF not all Rafas fans think hes perfect by a long chalk,its as Nadalista says(post February 7th 3.29pm) we dont all have blind faith in Rafa,and if he were to be found doping,then we would all be dissapointed but not completely surprised as its the world we live in,hes just as suseptible as anyone else with the same fears and temptations,but maybe Rafas fans do find his game atractive to watch?
surely thats all a matter of perseption?as Grendel said the FH is a strange thing of beauty Brando also said the same thing,i dont know maybe all us Rafa fans are delusional,but surely it would be a boring old world if we all felt the same way about each and everything?

February 8th, 2013 at 7:18 am

Mat4 February 7th 6.38pm i think we have all been bitten by the dinasour at one time or another,i think the only one who hasnt is a certain lady poster,and by strange coincidence the lady doesnt post when the dinasour doesnt post hmmm.

February 8th, 2013 at 7:29 am

@Mat4, finally figured out the reason for the caps and non-caps in my name: when I post from my Ipad name comes out with capital N……

February 8th, 2013 at 9:32 am

alison, I’d agree with you that aesthetic beauty is, at least in part, in the eye of the beholder. I find Rafa’s forehand pretty amazing. I don’t know about technical aspects like many other posters on here, but he’s an exciting player to watch anyhow, and that forehand is definitely powerful.

“this 16-year old kid, Garin,” – I haven’t heard of this person nadalista. Is he on the ATP tour? I’ll have to look him up. Is this who Nadal plays next?

February 8th, 2013 at 9:58 am

Who is the dinosaur?

February 8th, 2013 at 10:01 am

@skeezer, February 7th, 3:05pm, says:

“LA claimed and condemned doping for years. Any athlete who has doped swears by the sun moon and stars they never had and it shames the sport. Then, they get caught.”

True. But the important differences between LA and Rafa (and Novak, and Murray, and Federer for that matter) are:

1. Lance acted holier than thou, even going to the extent of doing anti-doping commercials for Nike, making millions off them.
2. Lance went after any cyclist or person who dared speak out about doping in cycling, hounding them out of the sport i.e. Christophe Bassons, Betsy and Frank Andreu, Emma O’Reilly come to mind. I am not aware of any of the tennis Big 4 doing such things.
3. For Lance, “omerta” was what he wanted. None of the tennis Big 4 have advocated that as far as I know.
4. Apart from the paid Nike commercials, I never heard Lance call for more rigorous testing in cycling, much like the Big 4 are doing for tennis.

So yeah, while offence may be the best form of defence, the comparison with LA is not justified imo………….

This is why athletes like Anastasia Rodionova are getting jacked off with the current un-welcome attention.

February 8th, 2013 at 10:17 am

@jane, Christian Garin is a 16-year Chilean who was given a wild-card entry into the VTR Open main draw. He beat Dusan (Serbia) in straight sets in the first round and took a set off Chardy (France) in the second round.

Run the following by google translate, took it from the Open site:

http://www.vtropen.cl/noticias/garin-cayo-en-tres-sets-ante-el-chardy-26o-del-mundo

February 8th, 2013 at 10:26 am

……Rafa practiced with him when he first arrived in Chile and talked him up a lot.

February 8th, 2013 at 10:29 am

Thankyou Jane i dont know anything either about technical aspects,and TBH i know hes not the effortlessly talented all court playing shot maker that Murray,Federer or Novak are,but thats not to say that he doesnt have a game thats atractive or pleasing to the eye,personally i get so tired of hearing words like warrior or fighter to describe him,which are ok but after a while can get a bit patronising,so it was actually great to hear Grendel and Brando saying words like thing of beauty to describe the FH,which for a change recognize his talent as a tennis player.

February 8th, 2013 at 11:02 am

nadalistia, yes I googled him after I posted to you but thanks for the info. Good to hear of someone coming up from Chilie after Gozalez retired (speaking of powerful forehands!)

alison, I think Rafa should be given more credit for his offensive play; It’s not like he plays only defence. He transitions so well between the two. Also he seems to have great touch at net when he comes in.

February 8th, 2013 at 11:09 am

Jane cant believe you dont know who the dinasour is?The dinasour writes really long posts,but really good knowledgeable ones all the same,Is a big Federer fan,has not been here lately though,and before christmas just about every poster with a difference of opinion was bitten by the dinasour,you,me,Margot,Kimberly,Giles,Autofilter,Julijo 724,Giles,Mat4,Wogboy,even Skeezer to a lesser degree,dont get me wrong as he sends in great posts,but god forbid you should ever have a difference of opinion to the dinasour.

February 8th, 2013 at 11:12 am

I think Rafa’s forehand is best described as “fearhand”! Lol

February 8th, 2013 at 11:17 am

^Whats more Ajet and the Dinasour i believe had a difference of opinion over football,and im going back as far as Monte Carlo last year,and its as Grendel said he was a nice poster,very proud who felt bullied and humiliated,then like Lord Lucan dissapeared never to be seen on this forum since,i hope but its very unlikely he will be back,and thats a shame IMO,as tennis wise he was very wise with much to say,shame really.^

February 8th, 2013 at 11:19 am

alison, now I get it, ha ha. It’s crystal clear.

February 8th, 2013 at 11:20 am

nadal’s forehand is a massive weapon for sure.

February 8th, 2013 at 11:27 am

Could someone pls post a link to the Nadal Match when it starts…Cant seem to find a stream or time for when the match starts.

Thx

February 8th, 2013 at 11:43 am

http://www.streamhunter.eu/tennis-live-streaming-video.html
Thomas. Is this any good to you? Am afraid I don’t know much about streaming but I found this link. Hope it works for you.

February 8th, 2013 at 12:09 pm

alison. I don’t know whether you have noticed but ever since Grendel started posting we have heard less and less from the dinosaur, and now he has completely disappeared.

February 8th, 2013 at 12:12 pm

Giles Grendel and the Dinasour are two different posters rest assured,they are both very knowledgeable men,but Grendels posts are unbiased with alot of dry wit attached to them,hes much more approachable too,open to critisism,does not patronize people when they disagree with him,and whats more you feel like you are on a equal footing with him.

February 8th, 2013 at 12:26 pm

@Giles

Thx a bunch for the link.

Couldn’t find it anywhere.

February 8th, 2013 at 12:27 pm

John. You’re welcome. Hope it works for you. There is no live streaming where I am, I follow the live scores.

February 8th, 2013 at 12:47 pm

I can’t believe what I’m reading. All of you are gossiping about Dave? I wonder if the situation was turned around and it was one of you being ganged up on, how would you handle it?would you like it?

Some of you can’t handle an opinion about your player, so I doubt you’d be able to handle personal criticism?

Reading old posts show that there are maany who have made a 360 degree turnaround here.

There are many other posters being driven away it’s not by Dave, but by some of those who are complaining about Dave. geez. Gat a life you bunch.

From what I see, Dave was a threat to some here who feel they are the most knowledgeable, so he caused some jealousy

February 8th, 2013 at 1:13 pm

@Giles

Perhaps you could try sportslemon, I know they have live stream, perhaps its supported in your country?

February 8th, 2013 at 1:53 pm

^ the angry ewok strikes again! Confrontational and non-tennis related. Sensing a pattern here.

February 8th, 2013 at 1:56 pm

Am I the only one who’s forgotten about Tommy Robredo? Honestly I thought he retired but he’s been playing quite a bit lately. I wanna say that maybe he’ll provide some kind of test for Nadal but he couldn’t even do that when he was top 5… Yeah, Tommy Robredo used to be top 5. That’s the world we used to live in.

February 8th, 2013 at 2:04 pm

Alok Daves a very clever and knowledgeable man,and i do enjoy reading his posts even if i dont always agree with what hes saying,however theres nothing ive said that i would say not say to him if he were here,im not saying he drove anyone away but he and a poster called Ajet did cross swords,and it could be a coincidence,but we never saw him again after that,and prior to christmas alot of people dared to disagree with Dave,and we were all verbally attacked only for having a difference of opinion,is all im saying,enough said.

February 8th, 2013 at 2:04 pm

dumazz, you’ve got to be the head ewok to know I’m one. You’re the pot salt that’s in everything or else it’s incomplete without your flavoring,and one of the biggest ass-kissers around also..

Alison: so what if ajet disappeared? You’ve talked about it several times, as many times as you’ve talked about calling it a day, over and over. If you want Ajet back, send out an SOS and he’ll appear. I saw a guy Peter given the worst tongue lashing by another poster here, and he’s never reappeared.

February 8th, 2013 at 2:28 pm

Ben. If you are talking about Robredo providing some kind of test for Rafa in Vina Del Mar, he has been knocked out by Lorenzi.

February 8th, 2013 at 2:28 pm

And, alison, Dave’s argument began with two people, and others intervened. He didn’t attack them, they began attacking him to defend their *friends*. You intervened and he said stay out of it, I don’t call that attacking you.

February 8th, 2013 at 2:31 pm

Damn.

February 8th, 2013 at 2:40 pm

Both serbs are out of Sud de France. the frenchies are beating the other players, as expected, because it’s their tournnament. They play better with the home crowd backing them.

February 8th, 2013 at 2:43 pm

Alok they were all giving their opinions,and all i said was people are only giving their opinions,and i got Alison not interested so stay out of it,to which i replied fair enough i just thought this was an open forum where everyone was entitled to an opinion,now if thats not a personal attack then i dont know what is?anyway ive made my point so i wont say anything else on the matter,as im not here to start a war of words with any poster.

February 8th, 2013 at 2:45 pm

The point is, if you hadn’t intervened he wouldn’t have said anything to you. Can’t you see that?Do you have to keep rehashing past arguments and taking shots at other posters? Live in the present, not the past.

Bringing up old stuff is starting a war all over again. What if Dave got angry and answered you and the others who are referring to him as a dinosaur? Then another war would break out

Do waht you want, but discussing another poster’s arguments is not talking tennis.

February 8th, 2013 at 2:51 pm

Alok ok whatever.

February 8th, 2013 at 3:07 pm

alison, you don’t have to explain yourself to this interloper. Who made her the thread monitor? This poster thrives on conflict and butts in to lecture posters on their behavior like a demented school prefect. Don’t get drawn in.

February 8th, 2013 at 3:40 pm

Back to tennis. Just saw an interesting stat – this time it concerns losses:

Federer is one loss away from 200 career losses. Nadal has 122, Nole has 123, and Andy has 124. For some perspective, the No. 5 Ferrer has 248.

February 8th, 2013 at 3:50 pm

dumazz, you talking bout yourself? You the mediator or moderator? Interloper?

You’ve been in more fights than I’d care to remember.

People get thrown off from reading garbage all of the time. I suppose others banding together another person because they are not around to defend themselves is your idea of talking tennnis?

February 8th, 2013 at 6:20 pm

It is very easy to cut out the losses! Just do not play any match at competitive level like Nadal did. AFter his three wins in the lowest regions of the minor league he will have bumped up 12-0 reord for the last 9 months!

WoW what a performance!

February 10th, 2013 at 3:32 pm