DUN I LOVE napisał:

Rafael Nadal, wygrywając, turniej Masters w Madrycie, odniósł swoje 17 turniejowe zwycięstwo w tego typu elitarnych imprezach.

Dun, nie przyznawaj Rafałowi z góry zwycięstwa w Madrycie

Nadal'sback ni form to winfifth Rome Masterrs

RAFAEL Nadal kept focus through two rain delays to beat fellow Spanish player David Ferrer 7-5 6-2 for his fifth Rome Masters title in six years.

Having won the Monte Carlo Masters two weeks ago to end an  11-month title drought, Nadal improved to 10-0 on clay this year and provided another signal that he is back to dominating on his preferred surface after a series of injuries.

"I didn't play at the level I did in Monte Carlo but I'm still winning and that's the important thing,'' Nadal said.

"Winning the tournament in Monte Carlo losing 14 games doesn't happen every week. That's not usual.

"I'm probably more happy winning without playing (my) best. It was more of a mental thing.''

In contrast to his emotional celebration in Monte Carlo, Nadal was comparatively subdued upon winning in Rome, simply raising his hands over his head and letting out a big smile before calmly walking to the net to shake hands with Ferrer.

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Nadal showed no sign of fatigue after pulling out a long, three-set win over Ernests Gulbis in the semifinals on Saturday.

The win enabled Nadal to match Andre Agassi's record of 17 Masters Series titles. Agassi achieved the feat at the age of 34, though, while Nadal is only 23.

Top-ranked Roger Federer, who was beaten by Gulbis in the second round, is third in the list with 16 Masters Series titles.

"It's important to have the motivation to want to keep improving. That's the main thing,'' Nadal said. "That's how it's been all my career, all my life, and I still do it.

"I love to play tennis. I love the competition.''

This tournament is an important warmup for the French Open, which starts May 23. Nadal won four consecutive titles at Roland Garros before being stunned by Robin Soderling in the fourth round last year in Paris.

Nadal's only loss in Rome came against compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero in the opening round two years ago, when he was slowed by a foot blister. No other player has won more than three titles at the Foro Italico.

Nadal has now won his last seven meetings with Ferrer, who was playing in the first Masters Series final of his career.

Ferrer indicated that he was affected by the rain.

"Maybe the court was slower and I had problems to (end) the points,'' Ferrer said. "Of course Rafael had good chances in the important moments. It's difficult against him but I'm happy with my game.''

The match was suspended for an hour due to rain with Ferrer serving at 4-4 in the first set. Ferrer maintained his concentration when the players came back out and held serve to take a 5-4 lead.

But Nadal broke at his next opportunity when Ferrer's forehand clipped the top of the net to end a long rally.

Nadal didn't face a break point until he served for the first set, and he saved it with a well-positioned serve out wide that Ferrer returned long. On the next point, Nadal moved Ferrer from corner to corner and then rushed forward to put away an easy volley.

On his first set point, Nadal hit another solid first serve and Ferrer's reply sailed long.

Nadal broke again in the third game of the second set, and the match was then suspended again for 1 hour, 45 minutes - causing many fans to head home.

When the players came out again, Ferrer hit a costly double fault and followed that with a loose forehand wide to hand Nadal another break and let him serve out the match.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nadal … 5861642175

Nadal chasing history in Madrid

Rafael Nadal remains on course to earn an 18th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 shield this week, as he tops the bottom half of the draw at the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open. The World No. 3 enters into the tournament as the second seed.

Rafael Nadal will be looking for his third clay-court Masters trophy this season. The 23-year-old has returned to top form this spring, having pocketed a record-breaking 6th Monte-Carlo crown (def. Verdasco) and his fifth title in Rome (def. Ferrer).

Nadal has captured 17 Masters shields heading into Madrid, currently tied with 8-time Grand Slam champion and former World No. 1 Andre Agassi. The Mallorcan won the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open over Ivan Ljubicic in 2005. Nadal finished runner-up to World No. 1 Roger Federer in 2009.

With the absence of World No. 2 Novak Djokovic, Nadal leads the bottom half of the draw as the No. 2 seed, directly behind defending champion Roger Federer and just ahead of World No. 4 Andy Murray. Reigning US Open champion and 2009 Madrid semifinalist Juan Martin Del Potro will not compete in Madrid, as he continues to struggle with a wrist injury.

Seeded players located in the Mallorcan’s quarter are No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 12 Gael Monfils and No. 13 John Isner. Additional competitors include: Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Fabio Fognini, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Stephane Robert.

After a first-round bye, Nadal is scheduled to face either Andreas Seppi or qualifier Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr. With safe passage into the third round, Nadal would face likely opponent Isner, who made his first clay-court final in Belgrade. Should he progress further into the tournament, the World No. 3 looks to a possible quarterfinal meeting with Tsonga or Monfils. Nadal controls the head-to-head with both Frenchman at 5-1.

http://www.tennistalk.com/en/news/20100 … _in_Madrid

Nadal admits Federer Estoril exit a surprise

Rafael Nadal is loathe to speak - except in glowing terms - of Roger Federer. But pressed, the Spanish second seed admitted his rival's semi-final loss at the weekend in Estoril was a bit of a shock to the system.

"I don't like to talk about the rest,but Roger losing is a real surprise," said the four-time French Open winner. "He has lost other times. But he remains a dangerous player. it was an early clay-court match so anything can happen. I didn't watch any of Estoril so I cannot say much more."

Nadal cannot spend too much energy on Federer's problems after the Swiss player's French Open title defence was thrown off-schedule as his straight-set loss in damp Portuguese conditions to Spanish clay-court journeyman Albert Montanes, now the winner of the last two Estoril editions.

Nadal will also remember his lost in the Madrid final to Federer, who went onto win a first Roland Garros title three weeks later.

Nadal shrugged off they possibility that he can advance closer back to the No. 2 ranking with the illness absence of Novak Djokovic, saying he never thinks of his game in those terms. He has other problems on his mind.

"Playing at this altitude makes things more complicated," said Nadal, last year's losing finalist to Federer. "I think all of the matches here will be a matter of life and death."

http://www.tennistalk.com/en/news/20100 … a_surprise

ATP Madryt: plejada gwiazd wspiera Nadala

Rafael Nadal jest nie tylko znakomitym tenisistą, ale również sympatycznym człowiekiem, o czym wielokrotnie można było przekonać się śledząc karierę hiszpańskiego tenisisty. Nie dziwi więc, że podczas turnieju ATP w Madrycie z trybun kortów dopingują go największe gwiazdy sportu i show biznesu.

Nadal słynie ze swego zamiłowania do drużyny piłkarskiej Realu Madryt. Hiszpan gdy tylko może, stara się wspierać Królewskich dopingiem podczas meczów na Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. W drużynie ze stolicy ma także wielu przyjaciół, zarówno wśród byłych jak i obecnych piłkarzy tego klubu.

Podczas trwającego w Madrycie turnieju ATP Nadala wspierają z trybun kortów byli zawodnicy Blancos, Ronaldo oraz Zinedine Zidane a także obecny kapitan Królewskich Raul Gonzalez. Poza tym kciuki za Hiszpana trzymają podczas każdego z meczów gwiazdor Portland Trail Blazers Rudy Fernandez, piosenkarka Paulina Rubio a także super modelka Bar Rafaeli.

http://sport.onet.pl/tenis/atp-madryt-p … omosc.html

Nadal wraca na tak charakterystyczne dla siebie miejsce. Jutro zagra o rekord w ilości wygranych mastersów.

Na dzień dzisiejszy sytuacja wygląda tak:
17 - Agassi , Nadal
16 - Federer
11 - Sampras

To 18 masters Rafy, czym Hiszpan pobił rekord wszech czasów, jeżeli chodzi o ilość wygranych turniejów tej rangi. Nadal został też 1 graczem w Open Erze (być może w ogóle), który wygrał w 1 roku wszystkie 3 ceglane mastersy.

Najwięcej wygranych Mastersów w historii:
18 - Rafael Nadal
17 - Andre Agassi
16 - Roger Federer
11 - Pete Sampras

18 mastersów Rafy:

Monte Carlo x6
Rzym x5
Madryt x2
IW x2
Canadian Open x2
Hamburg x1

I to wszystko tuż przed 24 urodzinami.

Potrzebne to zwycięstwo z Fedem, jak i w całym Madrycie było jak nigdy chyba Rafie, przypływ pewności siebie przed RG niesamowity, ponadto wymazuje nieco obraz fatalnego bilansu z czołówką w ostatnim czasie. Jeśli zdrowie dopisze, na RG strata seta będzie wydarzeniem, bo i forma powinna zwyżkować.

French Open - Nadal relaxed despite tricky draw

Rafael Nadal was relaxed despite being handed a potentially tricky draw for the French Open at Roland Garros, which starts on Sunday.

The world number two is hot favourite for the tournament after demonstrating superb form throughout the clay court season, and was happy to practise on a sunbathed centre court while defending champions Roger Federer and Svetlana Kuznetsova made the draw for the second Grand Slam of the year.

Nadal, beaten for the first time at Roland Garros last year, is in the same half as fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco and third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

Following a first-round match against Frenchman Gianni Mina, the Spaniard could meet Australian Lleyton Hewitt and big-serving Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia before a possible quarter-final against Verdasco and a semi-final clash with Djokovic.

Nadal refused to look beyond his first-round opponent. Asked who were his main rivals for the May 23-June 6 tournament, he said: "First round, no? I play against a wildcard from France and that's my toughest opponent now."

Nadal, wearing a white cap back to front, practised for more than an hour on centre court, looking relaxed as he punished his sparring partner with his trademark forehand winners in front of his uncle and coach Toni Nadal.

http://eurosport.yahoo.com/21052010/58/ … -draw.html

The Rafa Renaissance

  Following a year fraught with emotional and physical challenges, Rafael Nadal has emerged with renewed hunger and heads to Roland Garros stronger than ever.

For most young men the teens and early 20s are a time of trial-and-error. That’s even true for tennis players. No less a man than Roger Federer did not ripen into full tennis maturity until the summer he turned 22.

Rafael Nadal was a great exception. Nadal was wise beyond his years from the get-go. At 15, he turned pro. At 17, he beat Federer the first time they played and became the youngest man to reach the third round at Wimbledon since the great Boris Becker. At 18, he helped pace Spain to a Davis Cup victory.

And yet, all that was prologue to his epic. At 19, not only did Nadal win the French Open the first time he played it – a feat not accomplished in Paris for more than 20 years – he won it the first four times he played it.

    “For Nadal, life was nothing but trial-and-success”

Forget trial-and-error. For Nadal, life was nothing but trial-and-success, aided by tons of hard work and an exquisite competitive temperament. One year ago, Nadal held the titles at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the Australian Open. Heading into last year’s French Open, to predict that anyone but Nadal would win Roland Garros was unthinkable, inspiring conjecture that he could earn a calendar year Grand Slam – and perhaps, better yet, remain immune to the laws of vocational and competitive gravity that inevitably affect even the greatest champions.

Then came the hiccup.

Gulp one: Robin Soderling ending Nadal’s 31-match French Open winning streak with a remarkable four-set victory.

Gulp two: tendonitis in his knee that forced Nadal to withdraw from Wimbledon.

And then, a cascade – pummeled in the semis of the US Open, forced to exit mid-match in the quarters of the Australian Open.

Weaving its way through Nadal’s on-court life were personal woes. Important as family is for anyone, in Nadal’s case, family was no mere component. Though Nadal’s father Sebastian and mother Ana Maria were often visible at his matches, their presence was minimal, showing none of the intrusive signs often shown by zealous parents of aspiring players. The tennis business of Rafa was left in the hands of another family member, his uncle Toni Nadal. Though a great many tennis players relocate, Nadal continues to base himself near his family in Mallorca.

NadalBut last year, Sebastian and Ana Maria were divorced. For anyone, traumatic. For a kindly Catholic boy such as Nadal, the trauma was exceptionally painful. In most of his public comments, Nadal is usually as frugal about revealing his inner life as he is in making unforced errors. Certainly he’s a friendly speaker, as earnest in his desire to improve his English as his tennis game. But again, it’s Nadal’s tennis that speaks most eloquently on his behalf.

In the recent case of his family, though, Nadal speaks quite candidly. Says Nadal, “My parents’ divorce made an important change in my life. It affected me. After that, when I can’t play Wimbledon, it was tough. For one month, I was outside the world. I am OK now, but you need time to accept. And it’s more difficult to accept when you are outside home and don’t know what’s happening. At least the injury gave me time to be with my friends and family.”

According to Allen Fox, an ex-pro and psychologist, “Going up is a lot of fun. Going down is not. So now we’ll see how well he can take it. But you can tell from how Nadal’s been his whole career that he’s a high quality kind of person and competitor.”

The poet T.S. Eliot once called April “the cruelest month.” Since Eliot died two decades before Nadal was born, he obviously had no idea that in the Spaniard’s case, the exact opposite is true. By early April of this year, Nadal had gone nearly a year without claiming a singles title. He’d taken off all of February while recovering from the persistent knee injury that had forced him to withdraw at the Australian Open. He’d lost in the semis of each of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami, his attrition-based playing style vanquished by the more offensive-minded Ivan Ljubicic at Indian Wells and Andy Roddick in Miami.

    “For one month, I was outside the world”

But even in defeat, Nadal’s innate optimism revealed much. Following the loss to Roddick, he said, “Yes, just keep working like this, keep improving. You know, two semi-finals in a row, first two Masters 1000 of the season for me is positive. If you are there, you gonna have your day. You're gonna win one day.”

Once he arrived 10 days later in Monte-Carlo, his attitude translated into action. For all Nadal has accomplished on other surfaces, put him on clay and it’s a whole other ballgame. On hard courts, on indoor, on grass, he must take more risk – and his opponents are rewarded for their aggression. But the tables turn on clay. As Tennis Channel commentator Justin Gimelstob says, “It’s all in Rafa’s favour. To beat him on clay you have to take chances – and for him it’s all about high-margin tennis.” Indeed, everything from Nadal’s superb movement to massive lefty topspin forehand and penetrating backhand makes him extremely effective on clay.

It was vintage Nadal in Monte-Carlo. Over the course of five matches he gave up a scant 14 games. His last three wins took him through the heart of his homeland. In the quarters he took out resurgent 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-4, 6-2. In the semis versus the formidable grinder, David Ferrer, Nadal raced to a 6-2, 6-3 victory in 75 brisk minutes. In the final he came up against Spain’s other notable left-hander, Fernando Verdasco. Off the heels of an impressive 6-2, 6-2 thumping of World No. 2 Novak Djokovic, Verdasco’s confidence was high. Nadal pounded Verdasco into dust, 6-0, 6-1. Said Verdasco, “If Nadal plays like this, no one will beat him.”

Having won Monte-Carlo for a record-setting sixth straight time – in the Open Era, no man had ever won any title six straight years – and earned his first singles title in 351 days, Nadal was elated. “When you win a tournament, very emotional tournament for me like Monte-Carlo, is a dream for me. Win sixth time for me is unbelievable. I never expect something like that.”

NadalTwo weeks later came another win at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Rome. Once again Nadal was thoroughly in command, only challenged by a three-set semi versus Ernests Gulbis. If Nadal had any pain, it certainly never revealed itself as he made his fifth run through Rome in the past six years.

The Rafa Renaissance continued at the spring’s third Masters 1000 tournament, this time in Madrid. A year ago, Madrid had commenced his undoing, most notably in the wake of Nadal’s four hour and three-minute long semi-final victory over Novak Djokovic. A depleted Nadal lost the next day’s final to Federer. But this time, the two playing each other for the first time since then, Nadal emerged the victor, 6-4, 7-6 to earn a record-setting 18th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title – amazingly by the age of 23 (Andre Agassi won his 17th at 34).

In taking a 14-7 career lead versus Federer, Nadal displayed all the skills that make him so great on clay – not just speed and his spin, but also his ability to come up with great shots at big moments, be it an angled reply to a drop shot, a firm volley and yes, luckily, at match point a service return that took such an odd bounce that Federer wiffed the response. Said Nadal following the match, "Beating Roger is always a special occasion. It’s always a very difficult match. And of course winning at home is very special against anyone. So beating him at home is amazing; it’s a dream for me. For me it’s a dream to have won the three [tournaments] before Roland Garros. I want to enjoy that now and we’ll see what happens in two weeks.”

The word international TV commentator Robbie Koenig created to describe what the Spaniard does on clay is, “Phenomi-Nadal.” As Nadal sees it, “I think is more important than the surface is the tactic on court. You have more chances. You can attack, you can defend. Is important to be very regular. Is very important don’t have a lot of mistakes. No mistakes when you are offensive and no mistakes when you are defensive.”

    “People say he was so great two years ago… I think he is playing better now”

According to Ferrer, his victim in the Rome finals, “What happens depends on Rafa, not me. He never seems to miss, he never gives you free points. People say he was so great two years ago… But I have played him twice in the past few weeks and I think he is playing better now.”

And now, Nadal’s confidence boosted once again by a flawless spring on the clay courts, he arrives at Roland Garros primed for a first: the hunger for redemption, to recapture a throne he held – and lost to a man with whom he has a history of competitive tennis and emotional rancor. Says Nadal of last year’s Roland Garros loss, “I played with less calm. One of the reasons was the pain in the knees. And I was down because of the divorce. Soderling played really well and he beat me. But I wasn’t ready, mentally or physically.”

This year it’s quite different. Nadal has come through the most challenging period not just of his career but of his life. There has been the pain in his body and even deeper, the pain in his heart. But once again he has drawn on a vast resource – his work ethic, the drive of his Uncle Toni and most of all, his distinctive positive energy – to redirect himself back into the thick of things.

The philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “If you strike a king, you must kill him.” Having been struck – but not killed – in 2009, the king of clay is more ravenous than ever.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/DEUCE- … Nadal.aspx