A little something on Rafan's favourite subject ... the Rafamag. Now this is some sort of on-line magazine so I don't think its available in the shops, but have a *flick**flick**lick**flick* at your leisure ...
A resume of the US Open is to be found in there, along with a very nice article on a tennis sports photographer (Rafan's drim job) which is where the lovely shot of Rafa above is taken from.
Who wouldn't mind tip-toeing their fingers up Rafa's vertebrae?? Hmmmm ....
Alright, I know ... its slow Rafatime and therefore I'm *feefing* of other sites, but this is a little something about Rafa and the Olympics as his page has been found by Rafaholics on olympics.org ...
Who remembers the Olympics?? I remember dashing home from work on the Friday afternoon of the opening ceremony, not because they're my thing, but because Rafa is. And I eagerly awaited the entrance of the Spanish team, which thankfully, I didn't miss. I remember Rafa there for two things ... (1) was the sheer joy on his face, taking it all in and enjoying every moment; and (2) for the silly white trilby with red ribbon that all the male Spanish competitors were obliged to wear. In true Rafa fashion ... he looked a complete dork in it.
But from the off, Rafa had that "look" about him ... the one he has when he is absolutely determined to win a tournament and I just had that feeling that he was going to do it. The stand-out match was obviously his semi-final against Novak which was a cracking encounter. Rafa was out of the blocks so quickly and took the opening set, only for Novak to play a blinder and take the second. I can't quite remember now if Novak lost it on a double fault, but I remember how absolutely gutted he was and there were tears upon him leaving the court.
The final was a match played on Sunday morning our time, and there I was, cheering Rafa on to victoree. Now what is the one thing that makes the Olympics special and what we all enjoy watching ... yep, the medal ceremony. The one time where we all get to listen to various countries' national anthems and witness the pride (and tears) of the competitors when they watch that flag being raised. And what did we get to see at Rafa's trophy ceremony?? Beach volleyball ... I kid you not. Beach volleyball. The BBC, in their wisdom, decided that those who had taken the trouble to follow the tennis and watch the final weren't then obviously bothered about the trophy ceremony. This was tennis, and so we were used to them. Well wrong!! I just think that the director was a bit of a perv and more interested in watching scantily clad women bouncing about on a beach.
With this in mind, I have therefore attached a link to a vid clip ... which again is amusing in its own right, as its someone just filming it off the telly. At least its Spanish though ...
As my Spanish only extends to an 'O' level achieved in 1982, I'm not understanding what the gist of this is. However, I think our lovely boy has now gone to a Barcelona clinic to continue with the platelet rich plasma injections to his knees, and has perhaps gone for another dosage. Ouch!!
Interesting that he's now doing this in Barcelona, which may just be co-incidence or more convenient as he started all this in Bilbao with a doctor called Mikel Sanchez. However, as Dr Sanchez then started talking publicly about his patient and the treatment, it wouldn't surprise me if Rafa has had a change. Seriously, Rafa should surely have the basic right of patient confidentiality for any medical treatment he undertakes.
Whilst we all know that these injections are extremely painful for Rafa, his face may hide it, but Rafa's hair certainly is not!! *Yikes* ...
According to AskMen.com (although who asks men? I mean ... seriously, hehe), well, according to them ... Rafa is no. 15 on their 'Top 49 Most Influential Men' list for 2010.
Now then, I don't know who conducts the poll and under what criteria a tennis player is deemed more influential than the President of the United States, however, its a harmless bit of fluff and as its approaching year-end, I'm sure there's going to several other 'polls' published which will probably feature Rafa given his stellar year.
Perhaps of a more interesting read are the comments that people have left, such as ...
"He is the kind of kid I want my child to be. Honest, hard working, humble, just a nice person who works very hard to be at the top without criticising or hurting anyone."
Absolutely. But it does upset me to also see some really spiteful, mean-spirited "so-called" Fed fans lacing the article with barbed comments against Rafa. Get over it. This was Rafa's year to shine, Rafa's moment, done the right way through his own hard work and beating all who came before him. So I echo the sentiments expressed by Ebony ...
"I think it's worth mentioning that this tribute is not about Roger Federer this time. We are respectfully aware of Roger's achievements and how great he is. However, this is a "Nadal moment" that merits recognition. For once, it would be wonderful if Nadal, his fans and admirers could enjoy a moment without having to pay homage to Federer as well! Nadal has earned the right to shine in the spotlight! All the best to Rafa, our warrior prince!"
Bravo!! Do you remember the days when Federer was chasing Sampras' tally of Grand Slam titles? Where every time Rafa beat him, its almost as if he was depriving Federer of this goal, like he couldn't express his own joy in victory and almost had to apologise for seemingly taking something away from him. Well thankfully those days are gone, Federer has his titles, and we can now all celebrate the fantastic achievements of our lovely boy and follow the journey with him as he cements his own place in tennis history. Even within silly magazine polls ... VAMOS RAFA!!!
A website has now been generated to promote the charity match between Rafa and Roger in Madrid on 22nd December, the proceeds of which will - on this occasion - go to Rafa's foundation.
Those who know me in the real world know that I am not a fan of Feds at all, however, the more I think about what these two guys are doing, the more laudable it becomes. Whatever we as fans think of either of them, there is a mutual respect and friendship between the two men, and whilst I am bored-to-death about the Rafa/Roger comparisons, the 'who is the GOAT?' arguments, the fact that neither can sit in an interview without the other being raised and discussed ... this time it is the two of them that are using their famed rivalry for the actual benefit of others. Tennis - and us - in our roundabout ways, have gone on to make these two men very rich indeed, but using Rafa's trip to India as the example, their charities perhaps bring a humbling nature to them and the realisation of just what the 'real world' is all about. Hence, they can 'give something back', and I'm sure that these two matches will be wonderful, fun events filled with tennis, charm and the humour that these two guys bring.
Along with raising loads of cash.
And to this end, please look at the link attached. The website promoting "Rafa's match" has come up with a wonderful idea. For those of us who can't attend the match for real, we can all buy a seat on "Row Zero", that is, we can make a contribution of 10, 20, 50 or even a 100 euros by clicking a button and reserving our seat, the proceeds of which are going to Rafa's charity. I know times are hard for us all in our own different ways, but can't each of us just make a little donation? Would I think twice about paying 10 euros for a good bottle of wine?? Do some of us buy our cup of Starbucks every day?? There you go ...
Think about it. Our contribution will make us feel good because we've done something in our own way to make the day special, we'll feel we've been a part of it, but most importantly, some little kid in India will reap the benefit.
"Tickets" go on sale from 1st November. Lets help Rafa make a difference to others ...
Look ... you all know what I think about calendars by now (see earlier post ...), but I have to appreciate that a lot of you love them and get besides yourselves at the thought of the Rafacalendar ... so consider this my blog gift to you.
THE 2011 RAFACALENDAR IS NOW ON SALE !!!!!
There ... I've done it, and here's the link to Rafa's site to purchase it ...
But ... do my eyes deceive me??? Is there ... NO CHARGE for postage and packaging??? As p&p from Rafa's shop usually costs more than the product itself, I'm amazed.
But ... I won't be purchasing one to find out if that is for real. Hehe ...
*UPDATED - Sorry to have to tell you all, but there is a $10.00 charge for p&p. Should've known. *doh*
I know sometimes Rafa goes out looking like he's crashed his Dad's wardrobe (who can forget that hideous outfit at last year's Monte Carlo players' party) ... but is he now rooting around his grandad's??? *yikes*
Rafa's been out partying at a place called The Atic. Now then ... we're used to seeing him partying in Manacor at a place called The Basement, so he really must be coming up in the world if he's now partying in The Atic. Geddit?? Hehe ...
OK ... I've not done a post on this before, but as its slow news time I'll do something on it. For this year's WTF, the ATP have asked its major tennis stars to don a silly white suit and hit paint covered tennis balls at an iconic posed picture of themselves. Rafa's is him on his knees in a 'vamos' repose. The idea is that they will all be on display during the tournament, following which, they will be auctioned off for charity. A very laudible cause, and although I am a fan of modern art which is largely just a load of paint chucked at a canvas, I can't say I'm filled with excitement about these pictures. But ... as ever, beauty is in the eye of the beholder ...
Now then. Under normal circumstances, I would rather stick pins in my eyes than grace this blog with anything to do with The (foul) Sod ... however, in spite of winning his singular 5oo series tournament and matching his French Open final appearance which is the sum total of The Sod's *achievements* this year, its now mathematically impossible for him not to appear at the WTF, so they've now released his paintball offering. His signature pose, is that one fisted salute, and whilst it doesn't capture the evilness in his eyes, I remember it well from when he gamesmanshipped a break of Rafa's serve in the third set at Wimbledon. How could we forget it ;-)
The news of The Sod's picture came out yesterday, and just by coincidence I happened to be having a lovely stroll in Manchester city centre with my lovely dog, Rose, when I came upon a familiar character in Albert Square. The resemblence is truly remarkable ...
It is with much mirth that we approach this time of the year with almost apoplectic excitement in some quarters of the Rafateers, because the new Rafacalendar will soon be on its way.
Lets make this clear ... I positively and utterly loathe and detest calendars. I know it appears that I am in some sort of minority, and I know that they are a source of valuable worth as those important dates and appointments don't go passing by ... but I say, get yourselves a Filofax, or a Smythson if you're Marcus ... ;-)
So amongst the puppies and kittens and chocolate box scenes lies ... the Rafacalendar. For sale every year on Rafa's website along with the £4,789 that they charge for packaging. Thankfully this year, we won't be treated on the thread to the Rafacalendar being tracked along its various city stoppages along the way, but the naffness of it all remains a constant source of irritation.
Rafateer Rafan loves them, however. And in whatI consider to be an act of unparalleled Rafateer kindness, I conceded to have one made for her for her recent 'big' birthday. But it seems that calendars and I are forever to be foes as firstly, I forgot to make a Mr October selection in my series of carefully chosen pictures, and secondly, the machine at Asda didn't read some of my chosen snaps. So I hightailed it to Boots, whose machine did read all the pictures I'd chosen, but only made calendars for 2010. Like ... what use is that? I was then told by the lovely Rafan that she'd been making a calendar on-line for her mother, and there was a 'buy one, get one free' offer ... so she was promptly going to make her own ... you've guessed it ... Rafacalendar. So my witty idea had been thwarted. Undeterred, I went back to Asda during the week to have mine made up ... only for all the machines to be rendered ... "Out of Order".
I therefore hate the bloody things all the more now. Anyhow ... and just for Rafan ... these are the shots that I had chosen. And nobody EVAH mention the 'c' word to me again!!!
Mr January
Mr February Mr March Mr April Mr May Mr June Mr July Mr August Mr September Mr October Mr November Mr December
Another descriptive tale of Rafa's road to success in this year's US Open. And it helps us with our Spanish too. See, informational AND eductional ... that's this blog. ;-)
Also with Rafa on Friday, was Xisca. It seems that this young lady is now becoming a much more prominent feature by his side, and although it *wounds* my fangirl heart, they make such an adorable and wonderful couple. And this bird also likes her killer heels ... good girl. Hehe.
On Friday, Rafa turned up in Madrid, supported by his mother, to continue with his work in support of his Foundation and to formally announce that not only is there to be an exhibition match between him and Roger in Zurich to help Rog's charity in Africa ... but the very next day on 22nd December, another match will be played between the pair in Madrid with the proceeds going to Rafa's Foundation.
Rafa is obviously taking his charity work very seriously right now, and I can't help thinking that it will no doubt be marked by seeing first hand what his public standing and efforts can achieve. He just seems so at ease with it all, that maybe the end of his tennis career could mark a whole new role in that of ambassador, for whatever he chooses. We couldn't wish for a finer young man. Bravo Rafa!!
Rafa's got a couple of weeks down time before he starts on that practice roll one last time to see him through to the year end which is just Paris and the WTF. I soooo bet he wishes it was all over.
Anyhow, Rafa has spent some time with his pal, golfer Sergio Garcia, looking terribly smart and proper on the golf course. I find it strangely attractive ...
Following his defeat in Shanghai, Rafa took a few days to go to India to inaugurate a school, created as a result of his Foundation.
Sure the school has tennis courts, but its also there to offer a chance and an education in one of the poorest parts of India, Anatapur. I always did wonder why Rafa's Foundation was concentrating a lot of its efforts in India, but it appears that it is affiliated with the Vincente Ferrer Foundation, set up by its namesake, who was a Spanish philanthropist who spent half his life working with the poor in the area until his death last year.
Rafa has apparently stated that he hopes to spend 15 days working in India next year. Forgive me for saying this, but as a professional tennis player, I think that a tad ambitious, however, I think that Rafa hasn't failed to be moved by the place.
Its a funny place, India. I worked with someone who used to say that you'll either love it or hate it, but you'll never forget it ... and its true. When I went, I have to say that it took me a good few days to get into the place, to assimilate because seriously ... you have never seen anything like it in your life before. The infastructure is almost non-existent, there are tut tuts, scooters, cars and cows all vying for position on the streets. Sure there's beggars, but there's beggars in every major city in England, but you've never seen poverty like it. There was even a farm at the end of the small "road" leading up to our hotel with pigs running wild around it. I couldn't believe what I was letting myself in for ... but yet through it all, the people you meet are absolutely outstanding. They have a grace about them and happiness that I don't think we'll ever know, simply because, their life is simple. There's nothing materialistic about them, because they don't have, know or crave for, material things ... and yes they have to work hard and survive on little, but they don't beat themselves up on the nonsense we drive ourselves mad about. They are friendly, courteous, kind, polite ... manners that are overwhelming.
Some things I saw, like workers in a cashew nut factory ... well, I just had leave because I couldn't believe the conditions they worked under. But we had a wonderful guide that talked to us all the time about not looking at things through our Western eyes, to stop judging things by what we know and are used to here, as the Indians view so many things so differently than us. They have work, a roof over their heads and are grateful that we go round gawking at them in factories and in their villages because it helps to feed them.
So after my initial horror on arrival and thinking, calm yourself ... it will get so much better when we get to the coast, to OMG no! FFS they are starting to drop people off ... OMG are we going to have to stop here!! ... I came home having one of the best ever experiences of my life and being deeply moved by the wonderful people I met.
And it would not surprise me one jot if Rafa has not failed to be moved by those wonderful people in exactly the same way ...
This documentary - found by Hummingbird and posted by Miri on NadalNews - well ... I just loved it.
Its a fantastic mixture of showing the absolute hard work put in by Rafa and his team - from Toni, to his fitness coach, to the lovely Maymo - its a tough job just getting it all out there on that court. Mixed in amongst all this are some absolutely charming, personal family moments. A dinner at home, lovely interaction between Rafa and Xisca, the love and cuffing of his young cousins, Xisca and Mum watching on as Rafa posed for "that" photoshoot, the wonderful houses they all live in, footage of a young Rafa being watched by Boris Becker. Its delightful, so just enjoy it ...
Sadly, I can't manage to embed the final instalment, so here's the link to NadalNews so you can watch it for yourself. Don't miss out ...
UPDATE ... sadly, the YouTube clips have now been removed. I hope you got the chance to see them whilst you could, but try Miri's links on Nadal news ...
Well ... blink and it was over. In Rafa's first match he faced old standard, Stan Wawrinka, the guy who usually plays really well against Rafa but never takes a set off him. And that was the case again. Probably the most entertaining thing was that Rafa signed, signed, signed at the end of the match, and kept Feds and Isner waiting in the corridor before they could go out to play their match. Hehe.
So he then moved on to Jurgen Melzer. He's a nice guy, Jurgen ... I like him. He has a lovely smile and has a target to getting to the WTF, not only in doubles but in singles too. And he didn't do himself any harm here as took out our Rafa by a 1-6, 6-3, 3-6 scoreline. I didn't see the first set, and the scoreline obviously shows that Rafa didn't see much of it either. I think his own stubborness took him through the second set, but Rafa is clearly fatigued, not on it, mentally elsewhere ... and Jurgen did us all a favour by putting him out of his misery.
So Rafa's Far Eastern adventure is over for this season. He's not said it in so many words, but Thailand was an obligation he just had to get out of the way and I doubt we'll see him there again. Japan was a new adventure, and I think he quite enjoyed it ... but none of this after the US Open triumph put him in any real stead for the Shanghai Masters. So Rafa has 4 weeks off till he picks himself back up again ... for Paris.
Rafa's season continues to rock 'n' roll as he ploughed his way to victoree in the Japan Open with a sound 6-1, 7-5 win against Gael Monfils today.
Rafa got off to a lightening quick start and played good, aggressive tennis as he romped home to take the first set 6-1. The second was more toe-to-toe until 4-4 when Rafa started to make his move on the Monfils serve. He didn't capture the break at that point, but at 5-5 he tried again and was successful. He then served out to win the match.
Mileage and fatigue is always a cause of concern for us at this time of year, and whilst his head was nowhere in it in Bangkok, and he's had a couple of laboured victories here with a potential loss yesterday, he played pretty well today and will enter Shanghai next week in slightly better form.
OK ... I've barely been up for this competition ... and I just don't mean getting out of bed. Yeah ... Rafa beat Dimitry Tursonov to get to the semi, unconvincingly till perhaps the second round and today, he met Viktor Troisky in the semi. And should have lost.
He took the first set and then typical Rafa of late ... totally lost concentration in the second. Of course I didn't watch the match, but lovely Rafan tendered to the Rafateer cause and stuck by our boy. He broke to serve for it in the third and put in a completely lame service performance. Tricky then served for it ... and fluffed it. Then a tie-break. And match points. Tricky's not Rafa's ... and he survived, then got his own ... and won.
Get out of jail for Rafa ... another final ... but good luck to our lovely boy.
I can barely summon up the enthusiasm to report on this tournie. I know ... its not the behaviour befitting of a Rafateer, but its like its just stuff that has to be got out of the way.
Anyhow, it seems that Rafa laboured in his first match against Santiago Shakougar and the single break in each set saw him run out the winner, 6-4, 6-4.
His next opponent is some Canadian puppy that beat him and Nole when they played doubles in Toronto. Can't wait ...
Rafa has now moved on to Tokyo as his next tournament is the Rakuten Japanese Open, so cue yet another silly outfit and another 'cultural ceremony' to take part in before any tennis is played.
Rafa's draw is already opening up as JMDP lost in the first round again to lovely Feli Lopez and the new 'next best thing' Gulbis lost -again - to Tursanov.
*Cakewalk* draw ... just as it always is, Rafa ...
Rafa's first round match is against Shakira's cousin, Santiago Giraldo ...
OK ... its an indulgent "in-joke" to cock a little snoop to Rafateer Rafan's insaaaaatiable desire for the good, old Rafamags. Of which at the last count, she had 27,473. Hehe.
It wasn't that Rafa couldn't buy a break point ... he had a shed load of them ... but he just couldn't convert, and the frustration is evident within this clip ...
This has been a funny old tournament, more about what Rafa could bring to Thailand than actual tennis - but sometimes, its not just about the tennissss, is it? I think he's perhaps a bit mentally jaded after his US Open triumph, he's not playing in the kind of arena he enjoys, he's had more than one or two late nights with his boy pals ... so all in all, its good that its over and now he can move on to Tokyo and get his head back into gear.
Sorry to be a bit fed up with you yesterday, Rafa ... but you've got Thailand out of the way now, and need not come back there again.
... or Kaka, or Kiki ... whatever!! Anyhow, Rafa continues to stroll through this tournament with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Mikhail Kukushkin. The only exciting thing seems to be the persistent shirt change at the end of the match.. Lovely.
In yesterday's clip, we noticed a middle-aged, fully coiffed, Thai lady in a very fetching hat that made us hoot with laughter as she so seemed to appreciated the Rafa Shirt Off Show. I didn't spot her in today's clip ... but Dame Wooffs' Thai cousin gets my vote for honorary export Rafateer. Hehe.
