Rafael Nadal Surprises World By Declaring Clay Season Is His Most Favorite Part Of The Year!

So cute!

April 14th, 2014 at 11:10 am

Rafa looks great in this picture.
Vamos, Rafa, get all those titlles!!! You can do it champion!!! See you soon.

April 14th, 2014 at 11:10 am

Where’s the joke, Tom Gainey? All I see is a sorry ATTEMPT at a joke.

Try harder.

April 14th, 2014 at 11:14 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w65OC8XmtH0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

And here is a little reminder/tribute to Rafa, courtesy of the ATP.

April 14th, 2014 at 11:40 am

gotta hand it to nadal – he’s a beast on this surface – but i’m happy to see the clay season see some new victors this year. it’s become a tad predictable. but of course, easier said than done.

April 14th, 2014 at 1:27 pm

Stupid Tennis X. Vamos!

April 14th, 2014 at 1:38 pm

Nadal’s last defeat on clay was in last year’s MC final. I’d love to see him go unbeaten on the surface like it’s 2008/10 again.
Vamos Rafa!

April 14th, 2014 at 1:38 pm

“Rafael Nadal Surprises World By Declaring Clay Season Is His Most Favorite Part Of The Year!”

..and yet it’s still “newsworthy” on T-X!

Irony at its finest!!!

April 14th, 2014 at 1:48 pm

Lets see how the clay season goes.
Some people are already hyping up the one time finalist as the favourite for FO more on hope.
Lets see if he gets to final again. This year he has a great chance to get the final since he wont meet Rafa in the semis.

But Rafa usually throws a bone or two to his opponents before the FO. Who will be the lucky one to get the bone ?

April 14th, 2014 at 2:01 pm

I’d love to see new challenges for Rafa this year at FO. Both Nole and Fed are 0-5 against Rafa and it gets a bit boring to see the same guys getting beaten by Rafa again and again. Hope someone who can really challenge Rafa gets to the finals this year.

April 14th, 2014 at 2:04 pm

Tom Gainey, I suggest you ditch the corny attempts at humour and read this, hopefully you will learn:

http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/04/clay-still-needs-its-king/51174/#.U0xId01ZrIV

“All of which makes Nadal’s presence on dirt as essential as Tiger’s presence at the Masters—more essential, in fact, because Rafa is still at the top of his game. Imagine a clay season without Nadal. I can almost hear the cries of relief from some of you, but by the end of two months, how satisfying would it be? There would still be dramatic matches, and deserving new champions, and no one would have to wait while Rafa lined up his water bottles. Yet there still would be something missing for all fans.

Those who love Nadal wouldn’t get to see him play. Those who are bored, or think they’re bored, by his dominance wouldn’t get to sense history in the making—however briefly—every time he has his service broken. And those who loathe him, while they would be happy to see their favorite player win, wouldn’t have the pleasure of seeing Rafa, the world’s greatest dirt-baller, knocked off his throne. Anyone who cares about sports knows that the taste of your side’s victory is only made sweeter by your enemy’s defeat.

You may love him, you may loathe him, or you may just be tired or him, but the king still needs his clay, and clay still needs its king.”

April 14th, 2014 at 4:52 pm

I welcomed all Tennis-X’ers to the Humble Season 2 days ago. Just saying.

April 14th, 2014 at 4:57 pm

Why not put together the Arrogant One’s 100 best shot in clay? Oh well, never mind.

April 14th, 2014 at 10:56 pm

This is all too funny. Never seen such infactuated love for a tennis player and propping up his supposed “multi language” skills. This vid is another fine example of his english vocabulary. *Stunning*.
Can it be his Tennis that is so awesome…….or his looks? Hmmmm… Not hard to read between the lines on that in these posts….LMAO! Enjoy the Clay season rafafanatics, and try to just enjoy watching the game, regardless if Mr. Nadull wins or loses! You might actually enjoy the game of tennis for what it is. Don’t forget to stick around if he loses by chance, don’t want to see another “disappearance like AO”, no?
clay=vamostime….enjoy!

April 15th, 2014 at 12:39 am

I love to listen to Rafa speak English. I think he is so much better than he once was. He gives great interviews too. I love the way he rolls his rrrs!!

Vamos Rrrafa! I can roll my rrrs too!!!

April 15th, 2014 at 1:28 am

The title sounds satarical. Ofcourse, Rafa feels more comfortable on Clay than other Courts, but what is irrefutable is that he is an all court player and his record speaks for itself. Remember he has beaten Novak twice at the US Open finals in four sets and that speaks a lot about his abilities on hard courts. Nevertheless, the Clay season is here and Rafa is all jacked up to prove once again to the World his invincibility on Clay courts. I only hope that Novak mounts a decent challenge to make the clay court season more competitive and engrossing. The battle starts right here at Monte carlo and the outcome would prove crucial as to who has the momentum going forward into the Clay season. Last year, we had Novak winning the title beating Rafa comprehensively, but yet he faltered in Rome and Madrid before making a spectacular come back at the French where he nearly eclipsed Rafa. Let us see what this year unfolds and everybody expects only a Rafa Vs Novak final.

April 15th, 2014 at 6:55 am

What is the point anyway in having a CC season,been as its such an inferior surface,and Rafa is such an inferior player,thats so one dimensional,why not abolish clay and just play on HC and GCs,better still why doesnt Rafa just retire from tennis and make everybody happy,even though hes only trying his best to do his job??

April 15th, 2014 at 7:11 am

skeezer said “propping up his supposed “multi language” skills. This vid is another fine example of his english vocabulary. *Stunning*.”

There is nothing supposed about his multi-lingual skills, he just doesn’t feel the need to make a big deal out of them.
He speaks Mallorquin, which is a dialect of Catalan, in much the same way that Swiss German is a dialect of German. He speaks Catalan, Spanish, very good, fluent and gramatically correct Italian, he manages some Portuguese, he also reads understands and speaks French. As an English, English speaker I do not have a problem with his English, considering that he didn’t learn English until he was of adult age I commend him, it is improving all the time. He has no need to use sentence fillers such the usual ‘you know’, ‘Like I said’, ‘I mean’,’OK,’ Ummm/Ah’, you get the picture and we all know which tennis players are guilty of filling their conversation with these word. Nadal was even commended by the Japanese for his pronunciation of their language. Come on how multi-lingual do you want him to be, he’s a tennis plaer for goodness sake.

April 15th, 2014 at 7:35 am

Michael, you contradicted yourself.

Based on your description of just how competitive Nole was last year “winning the title beating Rafa comprehensively…before making a spectacular come back at the French where he nearly eclipsed Rafa”, how can he mount “a decent challenge to make the clay court season more competitive and engrossing” I wonder?

April 15th, 2014 at 8:21 am

Mallorquin, Catalan, Spanish (Castilian-Castellano-Vulgar Latin), Portuguese…

In that case Novak speaks Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin, has no issues with Macedonian, and manages some Bulgarian, too. Plus English, Italian, and a bit of German and French. Not bad at all.

April 15th, 2014 at 8:27 am

Question is, is Novak fluent in the most important language of all, RG finals?

April 15th, 2014 at 8:29 am

Dear god does it effing matter??

April 15th, 2014 at 9:07 am

Aha! I should lace my posts with swear words, then they won’t get deleted or spend hours in the moderation queue………….

Not.

April 15th, 2014 at 9:23 am

Michael the whole tennis world doesnt revolve around Rafa and Novak,so why is it only a fitting and worthy final if those two get there,rather disrespectful IMO to all the other players??

April 15th, 2014 at 9:25 am

Apparently it’s solely up to Djokovic to make the clay season more competitive.

Who knows? If Rafa gets injured, it might be more competitive also so it’s up to Rafa too, no?

(thought I’d beat others to the punch)

April 15th, 2014 at 10:29 am

Apologies for the language Nadalista shouldve said so whats it matter?

April 15th, 2014 at 10:59 am

Nice interview from Rafa. His English is much improved but as Hippy Chick said, who cares! He is a tennis player not an interpreter. The players are not made in a mould and all have their own interests and talents which make them unique, but no better or worse than others because of it.

April 15th, 2014 at 12:18 pm

Wheels hooray,a big fat THANKYOU,at least someone sees the light finally….

April 15th, 2014 at 12:23 pm

I like the way Rafa let’s his racquet do the talking……no language barrier there!! I love clay season……sliding, gliding, running, gunning…..Love it, love it, love it!!

Vamos Rafa, win, lose or draw……no animal problem when it comes to clay! I believe everyone will agree with that!!

April 15th, 2014 at 2:06 pm

When “someone’s” backhand improves, world admires.

Someone’s English improves, world scowls.

But Humble moves on.

April 15th, 2014 at 2:10 pm

“Question is, is Novak fluent in the most important language of all, RG finals?

Question really is, is anyone more fluent than RF in the most important language of all, Grand Slam titles?
No.

April 15th, 2014 at 8:50 pm

Skeezer i have to ask sorry,Rafa has 5 GS off clay,thats usually considered good enough for most players,and almost as many as some retired legends have won in their careers,just wondering why its not for Rafa,all seems rather unfair,but whatever it seems like im on a hiding to nothing??

April 16th, 2014 at 1:42 am

@Chic

I guess all the clay wins overshadows the other surfaces. I think Rafa has proved he’s an all court player……but I’m ready for clay and anxious to see what kind of playing mode our guy is in. Hope to see a certain Spaniard on a mission!

VAMOS RAFA!!

April 16th, 2014 at 1:55 am

Okiegal i wont see the match as im off to work in a minute,so i cannot blog for at least 7 hours,and i hope the suspicious minds realize this and dont think if he loses (which he might,as theres no guarantees in this world), that im bailing out on him,i meant what i said in that im done celebrating even if he wins the title im not celebrating,as i dont want to come accross as fanatical,im fed up with been called a fanatic….

April 16th, 2014 at 2:07 am

@Chic

I understand totally where you are coming from. I’m getting to where I hate the word fanatic. The posters who accuse certain ones of being a fanatic are just as fanatical about their favorite. I don’t get it…….but the topic has been run into the ground just like the animal issue (I refuse to say which animal)……but you know what I am alluding to! LOL

If Rafa wins, give him a big VAMOS! If he loses, give him the boot! Kidding of course. Lol

April 16th, 2014 at 2:32 am

@ Hippy Chick, no problem. As I stated earlier Rafa is one of three or four players that I like watching but I try to be balanced to all the guys. I just love the game more than any individual player. The three top guys have been good for the sport so kudos to them all.

April 16th, 2014 at 10:54 am

Alison. Yr post 2.07 am. Don’t you think you are overdoing it just a wee it??

April 16th, 2014 at 11:05 am

Wheels thanks i apologize for yesterday,i said alot of stuff that i shouldnt and wish i could take it all back but cant unfortunatly,i just lose my cool sometimes,anyway yeah i love tennis and i respect all the players and their achievements,and indeed nobody is bigger than the sport itself.

April 16th, 2014 at 11:07 am

Giles NO enjoy the tennis ….

April 16th, 2014 at 11:12 am

Wheels yesteday my post on the other thread was more of a generalisation really,although i couldve put my point accross in a less aggressive manner,the thing is i find the kitsch and fawning regarding these players when they are not playing their everyday game a bit irritating really,no harm or foul just my opinion….

April 16th, 2014 at 11:27 am