ATP Tour - Nadal to play at Queen's

World number one and defending champion Rafael Nadal has confirmed his intention to play at Queen's in June.

Nadal, who has won the French Open, Wimbledon, an Olympic gold medal and Australian Open over the past 12 months, joins Britain's Andy Murray in signing up early to play at Queen's which starts on June 8.

The Spaniard said he was looking forward to it.

"It is nice to come back to a place where you are the last champion," he said. "To arrive as the last champion is going to be a really nice experience."

Nadal won last year's title against Novak Djokovic 7-6 7-5 and then went on to triumph in an epic Wimbledon final, beating Roger Federer in a match former champion John McEnroe described as the greatest ever played.

He also became the first player to win the French Open, Queen's and Wimbledon in the same year and says he still cannot believe he was able to leave the clay courts of Roland Garros with the trophy, arrive the following day in London, and switch surfaces so successfully.

"It was amazing," Nadal said. "It was totally unexpected for me to win after winning at Roland Garros. I arrived and all I had was one day to adapt to grass. But I played really, really good tennis. I played relaxed, without pressure and I played really well."

Nadal then went on to beat Federer 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-7 9-7 in the longest Wimbledon final and says he recently watched a recording of it for the first time.

"I remember I had a lot of nerves the night before the match," he said. "And then, during the match there were a lot of emotions.

"In the beginning, I had the match (under control) and I had match points. But he came back very good in the third and fourth sets and had the break point in the fifth set at 4-3.

"He had his chance there. I saw the match on TV for the first time last week. It was really amazing."

(eurosport)

Dodam, że jest to już 14 tytuł Masters rafy i rekordowy, 5 z rzędu, zdobyty w Monaco.

Najwięcej wygranych Mastersów w historii:
17 - Agassi
14 - Nadal, Federer
11 - Sampras

Bez przesady. Na clayu racjonalnie patrząc zgarnie jeszcze tylko Madryt, ewentualnie jeden Masters latem w USA, na jesieni nie wierzę by dał radę coś wygrać.

Robertinho napisał:

Fakt, że od jakiegoś czasu Rybak nie jest już rybakiem, napawa mnie niebywałym smutkiem Musiałem się gdzieś wyżalić.

Ostatnio edytowany przez anula (19-04-2009 20:21:23)

Podzielam smutek Roberta.

ATP Tour - Nadal coach unhappy

Rafael Nadal wrapped up a fifth consecutive Monte Carlo Masters title and is overwhelming favourite to make it five-in-a-row at the French Open, but his uncle and coach Toni is still not happy.

World number one Nadal enjoyed a 6-3 2-6 6-1 victory over Novak Djokovic in the final to equal the record of five titles set by New Zealander Anthony Wilding a century ago.

He is now 23-1 in clay court finals, with his only loss coming at Hamburg in May 2007 to Roger Federer and has pulled level with the Swiss with 14 Masters crowns.

Uncle Toni however wants more.

"He played a good third set, but it's obvious he must play better than this week," said Nadal senior.

"He was missing a little confidence in his game and you could see that his serve was incredibly weak. But it's the first tournament on clay this season for him and I hope that with some more matches, it'll get better.

"We know that there's a lot of work to do before Roland Garros. But he still won. It's a very important tournament for us and to win for a fifth time is incredible."

Nadal, who now has a 139-4 winning record on clay since 2005, insists that thoughts of a fifth French Open triumph are at the back of his mind with the Barcelona and Rome Masters to come in between a return to Paris.

"I'm not thinking about Roland Garros yet, I'm focused on Barcelona and Rome - there are more important tournaments before Paris," said Nadal.

"It's unbelieveble to win five titles in Monte Carlo. If I had to pick one Masters Series to win before the season it would be here.

"I felt well physically and mentally on the court."

Djokovic, the world number three, praised Nadal's clay court power.

Nadal's next task is to bid for a fifth consecutive title at the Barcelona Open.

The Spanish star, from the island of Mallorca, considers the city something of a second home, with his past title runs at the Real Club proving real crowd-pleasers for the Catalan public.

Nadal last lost at the venue in the 2003 second round, going out to Alex Corretja, current clay court coach of Andy Murray, the man he defeated in the Monte Carlo semi-finals on Saturday.

Barcelona is part of another ambitious spring schedule for the world number one, who is tuning up for his assault on a fifth straight French Open triumph at Roland Garros from May 24 by playing four out of five weeks.

And despite dominating on the surface, the reigning Wimbledon, Paris and Australian Open champion warned: "I haven't played to my level on clay yet, I'm still not at my best.

"So I have to improve if I want to have chances."
(eurosport)

Proszę bardzo, jakich dwóch wiernych fanów ma Rafa, nie mogą się wręcz doczekać aby wkleić kolejnego newsa o swoim zawodniku

Nasze oddanie Rafie jest ledwie marnym cieniem Twojego oddania Novakowi.

COA napisał:

No i Rafa w 1/2, wynik swoją drogą za wysoki, Denko zasłużył na więcej niż te 5 gemów.

Janie, 90% Nadala na cegle kończy się za wysokim wynikiem. Rywale się mobilizują, grają znakomicie, ale przegrywają wyraźnie. Dlaczego? Bo nie potrafią skończyć gema (tudzież Rafa im nie pozwala) przy swoich przewagach. O ile przy po 40 grają na maksa i czasami się udaje, o tyle wygrać przy GP jest sztuką masakrycznie trudną.

To w takim razie pojawia się pytanie skąd u Nadala tak ogromna przewaga nad innymi? Bo ludzie rodzą się z różnymi predyspozycjami, ale nie słyszałem o takiej co się nazywa "nadludzka kondycja".