Why Rafa's fans should smile

Fanatic Omes:

7-5 for the first set,

0-40 down in the fourth set - 2 winners, 2 un-returnable serves and an ace,

7-6 for the fourth set having been down 3-5 in the tiebreak,

In the fifth, break point saved at 4-4 and 5-5,

Break point when Djokovic served for the title,

67% first serves, 10 aces, 5 sets, 5 hours 53 minutes.

Longest Slam final in history.

Novak Djokovic is out of Rafael Nadal's head.

Smile.

(Pic: AP)

Rafa pranks Ferru

Fanatic Omes:

It must be love.

(Vid: RafaNadalOfficial on YouTube)

Davis Cup 2011 thoughts

Fanatic Omes:

Can I just use this opportunity to say, um, WOOP. I'm so pleased - this is exactly what Rafa needed! After a tumultuous year full of darkness, anger and despair (#blameNovak) us Rafa fans at least got the end we were hoping for.

It was a rollercoaster-tastic match. In the first game when Rafa was getting broken left right and centre, that feeling of misery echoed in those 6 finals resurfaced and it was horrific (#blameNovak). I thought the unthinkable would happen. A loss in front of a home crowd final on clay after the year Rafa had had would have, at the risk of sounding dramatic, destroyed him. (Bearing in mind Abu Dhabi starts at the end of this month.)

But that didn't happen and even though he final set had more breaks than holds of serve (was there even one??), I was confident that Rafa would take it in the tie break. I hope at that moment he too "let go of the fear" (#blameNovak) for 2012.

Anyway if Rafa gets an A for his part in the DC final, Daveeeeed (Ferrer) get's an A+, MVP and Man of the Match because he really did pull it out the bag for Spain.* That win against Delpo was just courageous. And I'm just gonna go ahead and choose to ignore what the hombres were saying about retiring from DC next year.  Lalalalalalalalalalalalalala.

Finally let's just all give a cyber group hug to Delpo who fought his arse off out there - it's not easy to convince people that you actually had an extremely realistic shot at winning Rafael Nadal on an important best of 5 clay final in from on a home crowd. It really wouldn't have been surprising if Delpo pulled off that match. (Well, it would have but you know what I mean). And it must be gut-wrenching thinking you'd lost it (twice) for your country. I guess our B.F.G can take solace in the fact that he's hitting the ball cray cray and everyone should be very afraid next year. And Nalby, oh Nalby. Watching him rehabilitate himself on twitter is giving me sadz, but he knows what Argentina accomplished and what he accomplished for them and he and he seems fine.

So that's all from our overworked and overpaid tennis boys for what, 3 weeks? Tennis never ends.

*Fernando also gets an A for being captain of cheer camp.

2012 is for all of the Big Four

Neutral Omes:

2011 has been the year of Novak Djokovic - and with the results of recent months lest we forget. Of course it wasn’t long ago that we’d crowned Rafael Nadal king of 2010. With the great era of tennis we currently find ourselves in - the likes of the best of the best all competing in such rich form at the same time - monopolies may come as a shock, as it’s often points here and there that determine results. But because with so little, in terms of skill and will to separate the best, confidence has become the most coveted and necessary weapon; and confidence is the fuel for monopoly. 

We are lucky to have a top four that is literally - in the literal sense of the word - a top four. They may shift amongst each other but it will be a huge ask for any outsider to penetrate that inner circle with audacity. Still it must be said that the remaining top ten is indeed worth boasting about and hardly comes as a surprise. But as long as Novak, Rafa, Roger and Andy are willing, it will be difficult to imagine a no.5 or higher next to any of their names.

It’s been Novak’s year, but it’s also been Rafa’s clay season, Andy’s Asian swing and Roger’s end of year. Even with the dominance of Novak this year, the rest of the big four never failed to remind everyone that they were still in the picture. I think 2012 will be a leveller. All have proven they have what it takes to take it. Novak’s gotten himself out of Rafa and Roger’s shadow, Rafa has shown everyone that in amidst of adversity, he still owns the clay, Andy has shown more of the kind of play that everyone wants him to adopt (remember 6-0 in the final set of Tokyo against Rafa?) and Roger has once again proven he’s not a decrepit old man descending into mediocrity. 

So as we hit the reset button and look ahead to the new season once again, we need be aware that there is plenty to prove for the big four. Each knows what can happen when one man’s confidence is allowed to overflow and all will be looking to stem that flow should it begin. Competitiveness in 2012 may just reach unprecedented levels; and with the Olympics being a welcome addition to the year, should certainly make for nail-biting 12 months.

(Pic: Getty)

Rafa's other ball game.

Fanatic Omes:

Per marca.com Rafa will supposedly be playing football for a third division Manacor team. He will play for the team when time permits and will be sporting the no. 9 shirt.

Wait, what?

(Info courtesy of onthegotennis on Twitter; Vid: ksyuzi on YouTube)

 

US Open 2011: Rafa Reflections

Fanatic Omes:

I don't think I'm going to write a neutral post about Nole only because I've done it before and nothing's changed - if you want to know what I (neutrally) think of him and his season (fine then, and fanatically too) - go here and just add in his hard court results. 

Well what can I say? Do I feel like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat has ripped out my heart through my stomach? Yes. Do I want to hurl my laptop, TV and myself out the window? Yes. But am I unbelievably proud of Rafael Nadal? Hell to the yeah! He had NO serve and probably a total of two cheap points the entire match. He was up early twice, only to get broken back straight away. He was facing a monster-alien with the "luckiest" returns in the business that served for the championships. I can't imagine how much that 24 hour game in the 2nd set took a toll mentally. But he fighted. Boy he fighted. I've never seen anyone fight that hard on a tennis court - he had no right to win that 3rd set, break point down, but every right thereafter. 

And yes I do believe if Rafa brought his best from the start, it could've gone either way. But many times he wasn't allowed to do that both as a result of his opponent and the disappearance of some crucial aspects of his game (dude, where was the forehand down the line? And seriously enough with the short balls; thankyouplease). Regardless, he's not totally unhappy with the match: 

"I am happy with a lot of things, much happier than the previous matches against him. ...I go back home knowing that I am on the way. You know, I like to fight, I want to enjoy about this battle against him. Six straight loses, for sure that’s painful. But I’m going to work every day until that changes. So I have a goal, easy goal for me now. It’s going to be tough to change the situation, but the goal is easy to see. To have a goal always you know how to work every day."

And he's definitely on the way. I now see this as a work in progress. No one has been better than Nole this year, and to expect Rafa to snap out of a 0-5 final scoreline just like that would be unfair. He knows what he needs to do and that's a huge step up from being totally lost at Wimbledon. 

Things are definitely looking up - this will not last forever. And if the thing that Nole has sold his soul to makes it so that some way it does (kidding guys), being the sort of champion that he is, Rafa has nothing to left to prove. 

So just can say, BRAVA to our man and bring on 2012! Oh wait, it's Davis Cup this weekend (vamos España) then Shanghai, then Paris then the World Tour Finals. Tennis never ends.

Vamos.

(Pic: Getty)

Rafa Book Review: 10 things 'Rafa' Reveals About Rafa

Neutral Omes:

Rafael Nadal has admitted becoming more open as he's gotten older. He's always been that charming, grounded, sensitive guy who never revealed much at all about his personal life. His memoir with John Carlin has allowed us to gain - rather surprisingly - much insight into the contradictory nature of this humble champion.

Here are10 things 'Rafa' reveals about Rafa:

1. His insecurities.

We always knew Rafa had that humble, unassuming air, but we didn't quite realise the depths of his insecurities. He doesn't seem to believe in his abilities as much as others (including friend and mentor, Carlos Moya,) do and often feels like his top competitors are more talented than he. Rafa admits that Toni with his harsh coaching methods is partly to blame.

2. It's more “Rafa's foot” than “Rafa's knees”. 

Rafa's knees had been somewhat infamous around 2008/9 as his Achilles' heel (they even have their own Twitter account). Especially as they were the reason (physically speaking) he lost his first ever match at Roland Garros in 2009 and couldn't defend his Wimbledon title that same year. However the injury - the one that threatened Rafa's career - actually came about due to very rare foot disease where the 'tarsal scaphoid' - a bone located in the bridge of the foot failed to form as a child and thus became slightly deformed as a result of repetitive stress on the area, making it liable to splinter and causing intense pain. The injury knocked him out for four months, with the only form of treatment found in special trainers that had to be made for him. And Rafa claims it's still a work in progress. It definitely explains his reaction when he sustained a foot injury during his match against Del Potro at Wimbledon this year. The knees however have received a special treatment and are no longer a problem.

3. His pre-match rituals are not superstitions but a means for transformation.

The borderline OCD rituals (the jumping up and down before a match, the drinking from the two bottles etc.) are all a part of the transformation into Rafa's on court alter ego - the warrior - and enable him to get into the frame of mind to compete. Some have relentlessly dubbed them as superstitions despite Rafa's countless contestations. But Rafa is adamant that everything down to the tightness of his bandana is necessary to prepare his mind.

4. The extent of the love-hate relationship with Tio Toni. 

We've always known Uncle Toni to be a stern coach, but the extent to which the tension between them permeates everyday situations is revealed. You can even feel Rafa’s attitude towards Toni as he writes. Many times throughout the book, Rafa will relay just how difficult it is to cope with Toni's antics - almost bitch about him (for lack of a better term) - but then will retort with praise and understanding, knowing that he owes his successes not in part to Toni.

Rafa learns a new word!

Fanatic Omes:

Rafa via Facebook: "I am on my way to the Letterman show, let's see how it goes.... Not sure my English is the best but will give my best try. Hope he'll be nice to me! Tomorrow i'll be at Macy's Herald Square tomorrow at 5:00pm as I unveil the new Fall @Armani Jeans ad campaign."

(Pic: Getty) 

Readme

Fanatic Omes:

Hello friends. Sorry I  haven't been blogging much lately - I spent last week in the middle of the Mediterranean sea. They should really put some telecom masts in there.

Now, read.

• Mardy Fish's Open opportunity.
• Pete Bodo talks about dubious retirements (*cough Tsonga* *cough Nole*) and their effects on the sport. And it's reeeaaallly hard to argue with him.
• Chris Chase's Serena seeding sentiments before and after he found out her seeding. Let's just say he wasn't thrilled, as I'm sure plently of people won't be.
• Holy Swiss! Fed has actually apporached Hingis about the Olympics. Come on guys stop tennis flirting and just pair up already.
• Going to the US Open? Well that means I don't like you :P. But anyway here are tips to make your stay that much more US Openy.
• Lovely jubbly article on Masha. (Gist: she's still here. Ahem.)
• A picture of Rafa's burns. Egadz. Hope he feels better soon!
• Great article on Caro's state right now and what she can do to silence her 100000000000+ critics and win a major.

(Pic: ffk8mediacenter.wikispaces.com)

How to Beat Novak Djokovic

Neutral Omes:

To reiterate that Novak Djokovic has had one of the most fantastic seasons in the history of men’s tennis is as useful as declaring the sun shines. So I’m not going to go there. I will go however to the fact that he’s managed to continue on this unprecedented run whilst making Rafa and Roger look like less than stellar players who haven’t won 26 Slams and 36 Masters titles combined. I mean these guys have done it before – they know how to win Slams; and they know how to win Djokovic (c.f. their combined winning record of 30 to Novak’s 21). But not anymore it seems. Ok Roger has been the first and only player to beat him in 2011 in that four-setter at Roland Garros, but it wasn’t like Novak was completely outgunned. It was a thriller of a match and the pressure from so much victory played a part in his defeat. Meanwhile Rafa has made no secret about the fact that his game simply isn’t troubling Novak.

But what’s interesting is that Rafa, Roger and Andy Murray all declared earlier this year that Novak has always had it in him; yes he is a lot more focused and yes maybe a lack of gluten helped him to get around the court that much quicker (come on, did you think I was going to write a piece about Novak Djokovic and not mention gluten?), but he’s always been one of the best defenders in the game. No, Rafa, Roger and Andy were adamant that he’d always played that way, with the notable difference being his insurmountable confidence.

And that confidence is so high that he gets visibly irate when a would-be winner against any other player isn’t blasted back into a corner of the court twice as fast and two millimetres inside the baseline. And therein lays the secret. A fine tennis tactic employed by many is to attack a player’s strong side to expose their weaker one. And since we can safely say Novak has not one weak shot in his game at the moment, the only way, aside from hoping he has a bad day at the office would be to shake that unparalleled confidence I was talking about earlier. And then shake it some more. Novak’s strength is his confidence – attack that and you expose a weaker Djokovic.

We saw Mardy Fish almost succeed in doing this in the Montreal Masters final. As soon as Mardy made Novak doubt himself, the errors crept up and the shouts became louder, and all of a sudden the second set was the American’s. But what Mardy failed to do was capitalise on that situation and Novak was allowed to get back to autopilot when Mardy was broken in the final set. And that’s what’s so important. If he gives you an inch you have to take several thousand miles. You must play him into submission. If you break him once, you try your darndest to break him again; breathe even for a second and let him back into the match and you’re toast. That’s not to take away Novak’s fighting spirit, which is obviously right up there with the best of them, hence the 1 loss this year; but since that confidence that he’s playing with is what’s responsible for elevating himself above the rest, you’ve got to go for it. I mean, really destroy it. In a strange way it’s not only his strength, it’s also his weakness.

And that’s how to beat Novak Djokovic. Good luck trying. 

(Pic: Reuters)

Cutting-Edge Investigative Journalism

Fanatic Omes:

I came across this display on the windows of the Selfridges department store in London.

So the only logical thing for me to do was to cross the threshold and delve into the exciting world of men’s underwear and see for myself the fruits of Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe's underwear-y labour for charity.

Verdict: Nice colours, good quality, great entry for a Christmas stocking, even better makeshift night-wear for girls. Bjorn loves John. Omes loves Bjorn loves John.

Hmmm now all they need is a tennis player to model them...

I was going to nominate Rafa but this will do just fine. Plus he already has underwear loyalties of his own.
 
(Pics: Omes Tennis, TalkAboutTennis.com)

Day Four at the Rog

Fanatic Omes:

Ok I'm just going to remain calm and breathe.

It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis. It's only tennis.

OOP for men
OOP for ladies

Men's matches of the day: Fish vs Gulbis and Federer vs Tsonga; 4th on Central and BN respectively
Ladies' match of the day: Zvonareva vs Radwanska; 3rd on Grandstand

(Pic: Reuters)

Let's kick the weekend off with a shirtless video of Rafa.

Fanatic Omes:

That was yummier than my breakfast. And it had berries on it.

(Vid: MLArgentina on YouTube)

Rafa joins Twitter...and learns a new word!

Fanatic Omes:

He's herrrrrrrreee:

New word: thrilled.
I'm freaking thrilled!!!! And slightly embarrassed. Is anyone else slightly embarrassed for some reason?

Rafa learns a new word!

Fanatic Omes:

Rafa: "Good afternoon, today’s workout with the junior Pol Toledo was very enriching. I’ll be training hard with him in the court some more days :) Rafa"

(Pic: Rafa's facebook)

More Happy.

(Vid:creditsuisse)

I Got Minez! (Rafa's book that is.)

Fanatic Omes:

Yes folks, it's happening! I've already done a fangirl and pre-ordered mine. The book is aptly named: Rafa. It comes out in August and Rafito promises to kindly release the first chapter soon for our reading pleasure.

 

I wonder what on earth Rafa could be capable of unveiling in an entire book's-worth considering he's quite the private hombre. Gives a whole new meaning to "we will see what's goin on", no?

(Pic: Rafa's fbook)

DROOL (Rafa playing golf!)

Fanatic Omes:

Rafa is playing a mini-golf tournament in Mallorca. Dun he look pweedy? And so dapper! If Rafa moves onto golf after his retirement, now wouldn't that just be something? I wouldn't have to pick up the pieces of my soul till much later.

(Pic: RafaelNadalFC twitter)

Readme

Fanatic Omes:

Are you suffering from lack of major tennis or tennis on TV? Do you not have £3.99 a month for a Eurosport player subscription to keep an eye on Bastad and Stuttgart? Have you repeatedly refreshed tennis.com seven or more times? Is everyone on your twitter asleep?

If so, you're in luck! Here is a list of articles (and a couple of vids) for you which you've probably read already.

• Love Rafa articles in Spanish. They're just so much more revealing. 
• Fed being lovely.
• Candid Andy. (Candied Andy hehe.)
• Ahahahahahahaahaha.
• AAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWW BABOO.
• Happy Dancing Spaniards, enough said. (Courtesy of Nadal News).
• Ferru is a class act, even with his emphatic Davis Cup win he says this.
• Oh Isner. At least he won the darn thing.

(Pic: sueeves.com)

Along Came Nadal.

Neutral Omes: 

(Pic: AP Photo)

On the 1^st of July 2011 Andy Murray prepared to take on Rafael Nadal - 10 time Grand Slam champion; a record 19 Masters 1000 titles; Wimbledon defending champion and firm candidate of the ‘greatest of all time’ discussion. The Scotsman had had by far his best season to date, making a final and two semi-finals out of the Grand Slams that'd gone by. 

Ok he was outplayed in Australia, but that happened to be the scene of Novak Djokovic’s winning expedition; and yes he suffered a lull after the loss, but that was only to be expected. The fact that he was able to produce enviable clay court results – clay being a surface that he has wrestled with in the past; and transition onto the grass with a trophy in his pocket, was enough evidence to show that his game had indeed enjoyed some non-trivial growth. And it’s not only his physical game that matured, but his attitude and mental strength. The shouts and complaints became more and more channelled into self-encouragement.

Taking all that into consideration there did seem to be a cloud of increased optimism surrounding the British number one going into the match; seizing a semi-final win from the defending champion seemed...well, doable. And what’s more, having now made his third semi-final at Wimbledon, he could add experience to his list of strengths.

And all that game, mentality, optimism and experience – he succeeded in transporting into the first set and three games. Quite emphatically.

But then along came Nadal.

(Pic: Reuters)

Somewhat assisted by an inexplicable slump in Murray’s form, the defending champion rose to play that brutal, exhausting, relentless game that he inevitably brings to the big stage. Andy became another one of Nadal’s mignons. Once the Spaniard became alert to the tiny crevice of opportunity that presented itself, he pried it open with a few forehands and produced the gob-smacking type of tennis that we’re now accustomed to seeing him do on grass.

From then on, he kindly reminded us why he’d been in four previous finals; why he’d kissed the trophy twice; and why the only man to deny him his gold in the other half of those finals was a man who for the majority of his career literally couldn’t lose at SW19.

Nadal will now face the only other player who has matched and indeed surpassed his level this season. Both have the uncanny ability to produce magnificence on a court. Novak Djokovic has already achieved one half of his childhood dream by becoming the new no. 1. 

The other awaits him; but so does Nadal.