Nadal Stops Bleeding with ATP Buenos Aires Title

“I’m really happy because I have not been a champion for a long time,” Nadal said.
—
Have you heard this from anyone else.

Humility defined in front of your eyes.

March 1st, 2015 at 11:50 pm

Nadal with a much needed title for his confidence. Let’ see if he get back to his level in next tourneys. Even if not, European clay swing is two tourneys away and him going for RG #10 which will be the history of the year. That or Djoko winning RG or Fed winnning another major (preferably Wimbledon).

Rankings wise, Murray went down to #5, Kei up to a career high #4, Ferrer passed Berdych who dropped to #9. That can shake things up for IW and Miami. I think the seeds for Miami are before IW ends so there is no room for seeding shifts before Miami apart from DC next week.

March 1st, 2015 at 11:51 pm

I’m not sure of his schedule, but if he participates in IW, that would be a good test for him.

March 2nd, 2015 at 5:31 am

A morale boosting win for Rafa which was badly needed ahead of the hard court swing of IW & Miami as well as the consequent clay court season where Rafa is indomitable and held Supreme by his continuous domination right from when he came to the scene. Rafa is looking highly relieved and extremely satisfied with this win which took some time to come. Being just a 250 title with not much competition, there was tremendous pressure on him to win this title or else his critics would have pounced upon him to write their obituary columns. So, Rafa did well to silence his critics at least for the moment. Let us now see how he fares when there is more competition ?

March 2nd, 2015 at 7:38 am

I didnt see the match live,i only went by the live online scoring,but the match was more competitive than the end scoreline suggested,like the Berloq match many of the games were going deuce or advantage,just saying if Rafas opponents had taken their chances,the outcomes might have been quite different….

March 2nd, 2015 at 7:46 am

Come on!…he beat a bunch of nobodies…Monaco always implodes…Berloq??…Delbonis??…This is like Federer or Djokovic playing Delray Beach and beating Donal Young, Ryan Harrison and Jack Sock to claim the title.

March 2nd, 2015 at 7:52 am

Michael he was in a no win situation whatever the result,if he lost like you say people would be writing the obituries,if he won its due to the lack of competition,as the saying goes your damned if you dont,and damned if you do….

March 2nd, 2015 at 7:54 am

HC. Ok hippy, when you have finished being negative with regard to Rafa, his opponents, his game, the scores blah, blah, blah, perhaps you will remember to congratulate him on his win. Thank you!!!!!

March 2nd, 2015 at 7:57 am

Felipe well its certainly better than losing to a bunch of nobodies….

March 2nd, 2015 at 7:58 am

Alison,

You have misunderstood me. I said that there was too much pressure on Rafa to win this one as there was less competition. If he had not won this one, he would have been teared apart by Media commentators.

But that apart, this is a morale booster win for Rafa and ofcourse it remains to be seen how he fares with better competition.

March 2nd, 2015 at 7:59 am

Felipe. Didn’t Delbonis beat Federer??? Yes he did! These guys Rafa beat are not nobodies, they are very accomplished clay courters, one of whom beat fed. So, don’t try and diminish his win, it won’t work with me! Kapeesh???

March 2nd, 2015 at 8:02 am

Big fat nobody’s they are indeed. nothing wrong for nadal entering these easy tournaments. They all play that way but Nadal takes these free bees when clay is out of season.
the others always follow the specific ATP tour.
Except with Fed in Summer 2013 when he needed tourney for practice. not so with this from nadal incredible to play clay with HC Masters to follow.
It is like practice on Clay for wimbly prep.

March 2nd, 2015 at 8:50 am

Giles congrats to Rafa for the win,thats all you can do anyway is beat the person stood in front of you,hopefully this win will give him a confidence boost going forward….

March 2nd, 2015 at 8:53 am

@sienna

Total garbage. His favorite surface is clay. His most successful surface is clay. For Nadal, it is the most logical decision to play on clay when you need to get your confidence back.

It’s as if it’s a crime to have a favorite surface other than hard courts ? What sort of retarded logic is this ? SMH

March 2nd, 2015 at 9:54 am

a good win for rafa for sure. there are big gaps in the the rankings at the moment:

Ben Rothenberg ‏@BenRothenberg 8m8 minutes ago
There’s a bigger gap in ATP rankings now between No2 Federer and No3 Nadal (3,530 pts) than between No3 Nadal and No13 Tsonga (3,420 pts).

and there’s about 3900 between #1 and 2 as well.

rafa can really close that gap starting, in particular, from wimbledon onward, as it’ll all be gravy for him at that point.

March 2nd, 2015 at 10:25 am

who’s all playing davis cup. novak and andy are, but is rafa? i know fed’s not. who else?

March 2nd, 2015 at 10:27 am

@Jane – I don’t know the answer re: Davis Cup (though I know that Stan is also out), but if you go to the Davis Cup site and click on the countries on the top right, the teams for each tie come up.
http://www.daviscup.com/en/home.aspx

March 2nd, 2015 at 10:46 am

Spain isn’t in the world group (they lost their relegation tie) and won’t play until July. In terms of major players, it’s Andy, Novak, Milos, Kei, and some other top 20 players.

March 2nd, 2015 at 10:48 am

thanks rz and emily. wow! i didn’t know that about spain; when’s the last time they’ve been relegated?

March 2nd, 2015 at 11:08 am

Hamza’s
So you claim he is one trick pony!

March 2nd, 2015 at 11:24 am

A champion in tennis plays ATP tour schedule.

To pick and Chery your events is for journey men in tennis to make some money.

Do we consider Nadal elite player or journeyman ?

Disrespect for current tennis, history of tennis, other players, tennisfans, ATP tour as a whole…

March 2nd, 2015 at 11:30 am

Yup Roger getting some serious stick in letting DC go by, but those nutcrackers didn’t know Rafa let his team already fall out of world group last year.

nadal aka Mr home tie with 4 cups to show for.

Lmfao for the double standard from rafanatics.

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:12 pm

Whatever people might say, tennis is a lot better when Rafa is in top form. It feels complete when you have all the 3 playing their best against each other. Not to demean any of the other players though.

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:30 pm

Nadal is trying to play his way back into the game after multiple and prolonged layoffs. He probably put a premium on getting his confidence back and what better way to do it than play on a surface he is most adept at? As soon as he’s honed his skills on clay, the biggest outcome would be a 10th French which is not at all impossible. When he gets that, I think he will be happy and relaxed which could then beget better results. All the naysayers can bark all they want but he has his own plans. He needs no approval from anyone, most of them are detractors anyway and would most likely complain whichever plan Nadal chooses to do.

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:33 pm

Tennis is a lot better when Rafa is in top form. How can it not be?

I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with playing some smaller tournaments to build confidence. Pros get confidence from winning. You put Rafa on his best surface and give him some time to get into the tournament and his confidence will come along. Agassi went back to the challenger circuit after his wrist injury. He needed wins under his belt. We all saw what happened afterwards. There’s this belief that if you’re beating the lower ranked players to build your confidence, that it won’t carry over when playing the better guys. Thing is, I doubt there are any facts to back this up. Rafa is an all time great player. He knows he’s an all time great player. He can draw upon that when he gets into the better fields. He knows that his best on red dirt is better than anyone else’s best on that surface. That’s a huge mental edge.

I strongly suspect that reports of Rafa’s tennis death have been greatly exaggerated. To my mind, he will be a force to be reckoned with at Rolland Garros. Beating Rafa on the terre battu in a 3 out of 5 set match at Rolland Garros. I think this is still a tall order for just about anyone other than Novak and perhaps someone like Wawrinka in top form.

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:46 pm

Fantastic posts from Nirmal,Markus and SG1,whom all understand a little thing known as perspective….

March 2nd, 2015 at 1:19 pm

“He needs no approval from anyone, most of them are detractors anyway and would most likely complain whichever plan Nadal chooses to do.”: spot on there Markus!

March 2nd, 2015 at 1:34 pm

Major props to all the nole, muzza, Fed fans for the kudos. Like you: the Nadal fans are in check with reality regarding this win. It is what it is: an exercise to build some form and confidence by a player who’s returning from injury. As ever though the overreaction is from a few tools who have nothing to offer but their petty hate. Ignore those bitter chumps who belittle this win. Hell: if Nadal won a greater event beating their fan they’d spite him anyhow. As a wise man once said: they can go f—- themselves, as rafa sure don’t give a Danny about them! Show rolls onto American Swing- cannot wait!

March 2nd, 2015 at 1:38 pm

Damn> danny. Autocorrect: you’re ruining my flow.

March 2nd, 2015 at 1:41 pm

Cilic has pulled out of DC with shoulder injury!

March 2nd, 2015 at 1:46 pm

Since the relegation tie for Spain was right after the US Open, no-one really expected Rafa to play. We’ll have to see what he decides to do later in the year, b/c I don’t think he’s talked about it.
No point in pitting the top guys against each other in terms of Davis Cup play, even if we do have our own opinions, since their circumstances differ.

March 2nd, 2015 at 1:55 pm

https://mobile.twitter.com/tennismatador/status/572441791330435072
Delpo on Rafa

March 2nd, 2015 at 1:58 pm

i remember Fed entering estoril….Wow the same tards let him have it.

Guess what? Estoril fits in the clayswing.

But this so-called golden swing swung is only marketing and holds no merit for ATP tour. stand alone tourney for lower ranked players to gain points

What on earth should this so called all time great be playing this in his prime?
laughable the double standard portrayed by Rafanatics

March 2nd, 2015 at 2:15 pm

Emily personally as a Rafa fan i hope he takes a pass from the DC for a while,hes getting older and probably losing a step now?he needs to cut back a bit on the amount of tennis hes playing IMO….

March 2nd, 2015 at 2:16 pm

Nadal is just following the same path he took in 2013. Back then he even lost a 250 clay final in Chile. Won a 250 title in Brazil and took the tour by storm. He’s a couple of years older now than he was in 2013. But he’s Rafa Nadal. He’s been winning the big titles consistently since 2005.
Indian Wells will be interesting.

March 2nd, 2015 at 2:53 pm

James exactly,hi nice to see you BTW….

March 2nd, 2015 at 3:02 pm

@Sienna

Nope. He’s a guy who’s magnificent on clay, and great on other surfaces. What’s your IQ level ?

March 2nd, 2015 at 4:07 pm

Nadalis nothing more then a scrambler of small trophy. needing to take of 250 for no obvious reason.

and dont come ffing about # 250 fed has.
his 250 wins are always for a reason. like prepairing for slams or 1000. So never would fed go opposition out of the way to bag some nitwit no important tennis tournee.

confidence? nothing to doen with it. he just needs wins for sponsors. money and merchandise. Get real.

March 2nd, 2015 at 4:40 pm

Sienna, you need to put all your effort on comments regarding Cilic. Your synopsis on Rafa’s business is wearing me out. Get your thrilics with Cilic….how about it?? :)

March 2nd, 2015 at 5:04 pm

Cilic needs to bag some 250 in order to get confidence back.

because if 14 slamwinner is low on confidence and affraid to get with the programme of ATP tour then poor Cilic must be entering junior tour.

March 2nd, 2015 at 5:12 pm

Poor Cilic needs to get his shoulder well, atm….me thinks!! Then he’ll be able to play tiddly winks if he chooses…….he’s the one you should really be concerned about imho…..and leave Rafa to his gazillion fans. :) Okey Dokey???

March 2nd, 2015 at 7:25 pm

I don’t what it is. Biting trophies is exciting. They taste good.

March 2nd, 2015 at 7:30 pm

In other news, Nicole Vaidisova is staging a tennis comeback?! She’s actually playing tennis, in 2015, in the ongoing Monterrey Mexico tournament.

She beat Lucie Hradecka, and is facing Arina Rodionova. Interesting times.

For those who saw her, she was a power player of incredible potential yet fragile confidence. She was married to Stepanek, and soon after prematurely ended her tennis career. This is actually the second time she is trying to stage a comeback (the first was before hear marriage).

March 3rd, 2015 at 12:11 am

you have tot play 250 as elite player for getting ready for the major tourney u ahead.

Clay islam considered getting ready for HI swing. Ik you zo play clay stay in it skip the masters. Ik your zo full of it. take the zero pointer as #1 os not your goal.
the double moral and standard is so obvious.

play 250 when they are the biggest thing in tennis happening at that moment. play 250 with aan plan dont play for sponsordeals

March 3rd, 2015 at 1:29 am

lead tennis like aan true leader would. so dont skip smaller venues play them but like aan real part of atp tour. Clay … clayswing grass….grass swing indoor….indoor swing.

March 3rd, 2015 at 1:33 am

Okie or rubbing shoulders with neo nazi pop stars….

March 3rd, 2015 at 4:38 am

@Okie. Last sentence of yr post March 2nd 5.04 pm. Hilarious! :)

March 3rd, 2015 at 6:20 am

Nadal is playing bad, and the Mickey Mouse tournament that he won, winning 4 matches on clay against journeymans, will serve as a confidence boost in the way that he can expect to beat journeymans on clay not playing great, thats it.

Indian Wells its a different animal, and as he experienced in Australia, a top player with the game plan and determination can beat him quite confortably. If he keeps losing against top players outside of clay his confidence will be diminished since the big tournaments are always defined by the big boys, and in order to win you must beat them.

March 3rd, 2015 at 9:39 am

And with respect to Davis Cup…come on!…Nadal always shows up when his team is in position to win, spaecially if the tie is in Spain and clay.
This guy is an expert in creating myths about him that are not real. Please check the ties that Spain has played and count the times Nadal has participated and the times tha he has been in the team when the tie its outside Europe (Japan, Australia, USA, Southamerica)

March 3rd, 2015 at 9:43 am

@Giles…..LOL. I thought it was rather funny myself. I write my own stuff…..don’t have to depend on Humble or anyone else….. :)

March 3rd, 2015 at 9:49 am

@Chick 4:38…

Thanks for the reminder. I had forgotten all about that. I read your comment on the other thread. Didn’t know your hubby had Jewish ties family wise. That is a very touchy subject with the Jews and rightfully so…..a horrible atrocity. I can’t hardly wrap my head around that event….it makes me shudder……and it is still going on today…very sad….

March 3rd, 2015 at 9:58 am

Felipe,
That is on the money!

I remember Federer flying all accross the world to play in the outback, after backspasm defeit in wimbly to save his team from relegation.
many times he was there to save them going down in second tie.

Nadal taking credit for DC playing only home tie when finale was reached

March 3rd, 2015 at 10:27 am

Like I said on another thread, there are many Davis Cup ties when you can question why a top player didn’t play. It is an unsolvable debate and it’s too easy to throw accusations re. patriotism and ego.

Also, Federer played that 2011 Australia tie in September, which was after the US Open and his epic semi against Novak. No Wimbledon back spasm then. (just fact checked b/c I didn’t remember that tie)

March 3rd, 2015 at 11:34 am

Felipe and siena are twin?
why is so much pain in certain people? Me no entender.

March 3rd, 2015 at 10:48 pm

ead tennis like aan true leader would. so dont skip smaller venues play them but like aan real part of atp tour.

Jost liek Rogeer do in 2031 plaayin 250 claay eeveents betweeeen Wimbeldoon aand haard coourt seazon.

Aaand it maeks mee wonderz.

Okie! You’ve developed an edge! I like it!

Cilic, the new GOAT right?

March 4th, 2015 at 9:01 am