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.

The US Open Draw

Fanatic Omes:

Having listened to the confusion that was the 2011 US Open draw on a barely functional usopen.org radio (who had the temerity to switch back to the studio just when Rafa, who was on hand to help with the ladies' draw was about to be interviewed) whilst also being ill, I needed a few to recover. So after the intital ooohs and aaahs, I now bring you some attempted analysis.

The Men

For the men, bottom line, if you're a fan of the top four, you can sleep easy. And you can also start to unbelieve the coincidence of the stars aligning ever so nicely tournament after tournament for your guy.

Nole, the heavy favourite, is very likely to remain untroubled till the semis. The only notable threats for him are Monfils and Berdych - you know the guys who an injured and ailing Nole beat on the way to the final in Cincinnati last week - the kind of threats you toast to.

Rog has a testier route to the semis, with pesky Jo-Willy who just relishes beating the guy, and a very in-form Tuna Fish Mardy Fish in his quarter. Jo-Wills and Tuna could battle it out in the round of 16 before the winner takes on Rog in the quarters.

The biggest threat for Muzz en route to the semis would be Delpo, who he could face in the quarters. But with Delly P a little bit out of sorts and with Muzzard coming in from victory at Cincy, he should be cool with that.

Rafa also has a sweet deal, with his biggest threat being Daveeeed (of the Ferrer variety) in a potential quarter-final match. Daveeed is just coming back from injury but nevertheless a third round appearance at Cincy bodes well. Even still Rafa, brains and burns-permitting, should be more than ok.

So everything is set, some would argue quite literally, for YET another Rog vs Nole and Muzz vs Rafa semifinal. Fine then, we'll take it.

1st rounders to watch: Cilic vs Harrison, Gulbis vs Youzhny and Isner vs Baghdatis (who just played each other at Winston-Salem yesterday - Izzie won).

The Women

The biggest threat to top seed CaroWoz, would be Petkovic for a potential quarters match up, IF Caro finds her form. If not, then Hantuchova and Vinci are also in there. Just sayin. Li Na could also potentially meet Woz in the quarters, but she would have to get through Petko first, and her form is kind of questionable at the moment.

Vika (no.4 seed), poor poor Vika, is the lucky sod in who's quarter Serena lies. The two could potentially meet in the third round. There there Vika.

Masha (no. 3 seed) has Aga and Kvitty to contend with on her way to the semis. That could be tricky as Kvitty was the one with the audacity to deny her her 2nd Wimbly trophy; and Aga's shown us what's she's capable of in this year's US Open Series, even if she was a one-armed bandit. But Masha having just won Cincy, Masha is super-confident and unsurprisingly most people's favourite to win the whole thing behind Serena.

Bepa (no. 2 seed) has enough on her plate with Sabine and Venus (who has enough on her plate with Sabine - the two could play in the 2nd round!). If Bepa doesn't bring her A game, I expect an upset, but she seems to be performing well enough.

1st rounder to watch: Penetta vs Rezai.

And there you go. Let's hope Irene doesn't ruin it all. She's already gone after Arthur Ashe Kids Day. Wench.

(Pic: Getty)

New York Good Times

Fanatic Omes:

New York Times asked photographer Walter Iooss Jr. and Andy Samberg to explore the theme of tennis rivals for their magazine. Phenomenal idea and toe-ticklin' gosh-darn funny. As if you couldn't love Andy Samberg even more right?

(Vid: nytimes.com)

Djokes

Fanatic Omes:

So Head and Nole did this commercial - yes, I know you've seen it - just humour me. Head and Nole did this commercial whereby Nole brung that Masha impression we know he's capable of. It is HIGHLAIR. I don't get bored of Nole's impressions. (I get bored of his winning streaks, but that's a different matter.)

Brava Head! Brava Nole!

Highlights:

The annoyed fist shake at 0:10.

The laughing fit at the end.

Choice quotes:

"It makes me feel beautiful on the court."

"Fanatastic. It's just great, yeah."

I snokered (snorted+ snickered) big time when I watched this. Seriously Nole, NEVER stop showing this side of you. Never ever ever.

(Vid: Head Tennis on YouTube)

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)