Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
Nadal can beat Federer’s grand slam mark
If there was any doubt before, there is now no question that Rafa Nadal can and most probably will better Roger Federer’s record of 16 grand slam titles following the Spaniard’s French Open success over the Swiss.
Sunday’s 7-5 7-6 5-7 6-1 victory for his record-equalling sixth Roland Garros crown and his 10th grand slam title overall underlined why Nadal just will not lie down even when the crowd and his own initial form are against him.
Nadal endured his first five-set match on the Paris clay in the first round but his play gradually improved over the fortnight so that when he came up against Federer and his vocal fans in the final, the world number one was ready to flourish.
He slipped 5-2 down in the first set but roared back and dealt with a 10-minute rain interruption to down what had been a resurgent Federer even on his least favorite clay surface.
Wimbledon starts in just two weeks and even though Novak Djokovic is a contender after his 41-match winning streak before being halted by Federer in the last four of the French, another Rafa-Roger final is equally likely.
“After winning a title like this, you go there with a different attitude, with very positive confidence,” Nadal told reporters.
“So for me, winning here makes me play Queen’s and Wimbledon with less pressure.”
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Soccer Break Wednesday
Happy middle of the week to you all, and if like me you are in London where the sun is out and there is very little football to write about, you are forgiven for thinking the season is over and the grasscourt tennis season is about to kick in.
Don't look so worried, David (right). While the weather will probably change before I’ve finished writing this blog, the good news is it’s only March and there is plenty more football left. It's just this week it’s the international break.
One of the most intriguing matches is Friday’s qualifier between Serbia and Northern Ireland. Why? There will be no supporters in the ground after Serbia’s clash with Italy in October was abandoned following crowd trouble and the 2006 World Cup winners were handed a 3-0 win.
Also in action on Friday are Italy, France and the 2010 World Cup finalists Spain and the Netherlands, while on Saturday Wales host England in a British Isles derby and Norway host Denmark in a Scandinavian battle. Germany and Russia are two other big names playing.
Chelsea fans fond of Guus Hiddink should also keep a close eye on next Tuesday’s Turkey v Austria match. Blues supporters, should Carlo Ancelotti go if Chelsea fail to win any silverware this year?
Back to European football, and read here for a very dedicated look at the major European leagues including an analysis of AC Milan’s loss in form that has made the Serie A title much more open.
Some good news for Barcelona fans on Tuesday was fullback Dani Alves renewing his contract until 2015.
Nadal fails to pull off the Rafa slam
Rafa Nadal was stunned 6-4 6-2 6-3 by fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the Australian Open quarter-finals on Wednesday, ending his quest for a non-calendar grand slam.
A leg injury contributed to the defeat but maybe the task of holding all four majors at once is almost impossible these days, despite Nadal and Roger Federer’s dominance.
This loss is unlikely to affect the Spaniard greatly going forward. The way he bounced back from adversity last year was remarkable and Federer will know the battle is only just beginning.
Nadal was in tears and had his head in his hands at one point, the pain of the injury and the weight of expectation just proving too much.
Any thoughts on how the rest of the year will now pan out?
Rafael Nadal of Spain leaves after losing his quarter-final match against compatriot David Ferrer at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 26, 2011. REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic
Will anyone gatecrash the Roger-Rafa party in 2011?
Will 2011 be the year when Rafael Nadal’s stock rises even further? Or will it be the year when Roger Federer will leave Australia with a lighter suitcase? Or will it be the year when someone finally gatecrashes the Roger-Rafa party?
There will be 126 players looking to stop the all-or-nothing battle royale between Nadal and Federer when the Australian Open kicks off in 18 days.
While Nadal will be in pursuit of becoming the first man in over four decades to hold all four grand slam titles at once – a feat last achieved by Rod Laver in 1969 – Federer will be heading to Melbourne Park with a pounding heart as one slip up would mean that for the first time since 2003 he will not be a reigning champion at any of the four majors.
It is a situation that seemed unthinkable in January 2010.
Many pundits were busy penning Nadal’s tennis obituary when he followed up his injury-ravaged 2009 season by quitting mid-match in the Aussie Open quarter-final against Andy Murray. While Nadal headed home to nurse his dodgy knees, an unstoppable Federer looked like he was ready to monopolise the men’s game for a few more years when he pocketed a record 16th grand slam title on Rod Laver Arena.
But a monopoly of any kind rarely excites the masses and thankfully for the men’s game, rumours of Nadal’s demise were greatly exaggerated. After the Spaniard roared back to win the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S.
Open crowns, the Roger-Rafa rivalry was once again reignited at the season-ending Tour finals.
How important is the Federer-Nadal rivalry for tennis?
The ATP World Tour Finals are supposed to be a showdown between the world’s eight best players although even before a ball has been hit in anger, the talk of a Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal final showdown has been gathering momentum.
The Federer-Nadal rivalry has been the lifeblood of tennis since the duo first traded shots at the Miami Masters over six years ago but lately fans have been suffering withdrawal symptoms as the two men have locked horns just once all season.
While this has been good news for rivals such as Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, pundits such as Boris Becker feel there is no better advert for tennis than the epic clashes between Federer and Nadal — who between them have won 25 grand slam titles.
“Every sport needs a rivalry between the one and two in the world and tennis has it with Federer and Nadal. It’s just amazing for the fans to watch two players that are so different by personality, by character, by playing style,” six-times grand slam champion Becker told Reuters.
“They beat each other up, one day the Swiss wins the tournament, the other the Spaniard wins, so it’s great for tennis and I hope it continues for a couple more years because that’s something any sport needs.”
Federer, more than anyone, wants the rivalry to continue because he would dearly love to narrow the 7-14 head-to-head record against his Spanish foe but to do that he needs to shake off an affliction that is creeping more and more into his game – matchpoint-itis
Just hope that Federer and Nadal can meet up on a surface that is not clay more often. Not enough is said about the fact that the head to head between the two of them has been mostly on clay, which is Nadal’s favourite surface and Federer’s weakest.
We know that Nadal is the better clay court player – but really that is all the head to head tell us since nearly 2/3rd of the matches have been on clay alone (rather than the other 3 surfaces).
Makes me wonder what the head to head between Borg and McEnroe would have been if the majority of their matches had been on clay? (Rather than the 7 all they finished at).
U.S. Open final: Nadal beats Djokovic – how it happened
Rafa Nadal beat Novak Djokovic in four sets to win the U.S. Open title for the first time and complete the career grand slam, only the seventh man to do it. Here’s how it happened.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
What’s behind Spain’s run of sporting success?
Spanish sports fans have never had it so good.
The Iberian nation is celebrating its latest triumphs after a month of success that local media have called a golden age.
On Sunday, Alberto Contador sealed his third Tour de France title, Fernando Alonso won the German Formula One Grand Prix, and Jorge Lorenzo roared to MotoGP victory in the U.S.
Pictures of Contador clad in the Tour winner's yellow jersey and Alonso in the red driving suit of Ferrari dominated the newspaper's front pages, chiming perfectly with the colours of the Spanish flag.
All that just two weeks after Spain secured its first World Cup soccer crown and three weeks after Rafa Nadal won Wimbledon for the second time.
It was enough to leave the daily Marca proclaiming Spain "the world's great sporting superpower".
English Premier League starts this weekend.All the Games will be streamed live at http://www.WorldCupTV.org 08:12
Waiting on royalty at the court of King Rafa
The sun is beating down, the Rue d’Auteuil is abuzz with vocal ticket touts, children clutch their over-sized tennis balls hoping a tennis player – any tennis player or even anyone who looks like a tennis player– will grant them a precious autograph.
The French Open is officially underway at Roland Garros but for now the leafy suburb near the Bois de Boulogne has the feel of a royal gala awaiting the arrival of a monarch. This tournament doesn’t really start until Rafa Nadal returns to the courts he once made his own.
The organisers have strung it out as best they can, offering the only Sunday start to any grand slam with the cynics arguing extra TV and ticket cash is the reason rather than any consideration for the tennis-watching public.
If Sunday seemed like a false start, at least Monday sees the bows of top seeds Roger Federer and Serena Williams; and yet no Rafa, no real excitement.
A seismic wave swept through Roland Garros 12 months ago when the once unthinkable actually happened – the mighty Mallorcan lost a match at the French Open. His fourth round match against Swede Robin Soderling was supposed to be just another stepping stone towards his fifth title but it wasn’t to be.
Injury ruled him out of Wimbledon, he was soundly beaten by Juan Martin Del Potro at the US Open and by Andy Murray at the Australian Open and questions started to be asked about whether his astonishing work-rate had finally caught up with his ailing body.
But now he’s back, dominating the European claycourt swing and seemingly set to rip through the draw at Roland Garros.
Has Nadal’s career already peaked?
Rafael Nadal has electrified men’s tennis since bursting on to the scene in 2005 but there are worrying signs that the Spaniard’s career may already have peaked.
With six grand slam titles to his name already Nadal has already staked his claim as one of the greats of the game but the aura he used to bring to the court has vanished.
In his first round-robin match at the ATP World Tour Finals in London on Monday he was bullied by Sweden’s Robin Soderling, spending virtually the whole match on the run.
It was a similar story on Wednesday against Nikolay Davydenko, with the Spaniard losing his second match in straight sets to leave himself with no chance of making progress.
The match against Soderling was instructive. His shots lacked depth and menace, and were food and drink to his opponent, who had time to set up hisbig forehand and pin Nadal in the corners of the court.
The serve is a worry too — he is managing very few easy points there — and then there is the matter of his knees. Only Nadal knows how much the tendonitis that prevented him from defending his Wimbledon title is still bothering him.
So much of Nadal’s mystique was built around his physical attributes, his speed and his court coverage. Getting the ball past his racket looked a near impossibility at times as Nadal often seemed twice as big as he actually is.
What a shame for Rafa. I hope he gets better soon.
In which country other than UK is it praiseworthy to cheer for your countryman’s opponent?
Murray has the British public to contend with who are proud to be so bipartisan and support his opponents.
I hope DelPo’s winning streak against Federer continues .Why doesn’t he have a fansite-how can one wish him luck, offer to be his girlfriend etc. without one? He is so very sweet:)
Robredo makes friends in Shanghai
Reuters photographer Aly Song caught Tommy Robredo making this gesture to the crowd during a third round defeat to compatriot Rafa Nadal at the Shanghai Masters on Thursday.
The Spaniard was upset at the noise the crowd, who overwhelmingly backed Nadal, were making during the match.
Robredo is not the first international sportsman to be unhappy at Chinese crowds not observing the etiquette of spectating at tennis and golf events.
It’s not the most orginial of thoughts, but why should tennis players and golfers expect silence to do their jobs when other sportsmen are not afforded such conditions?
Maybe you should trying playing a tennis match when there is a lot of noise all over the court and the fans are walking and talking while a point is being played – then you will understand why you need people to shut the hell up when a match is going on!!!!
In other sports you can actually cheer while the match is being played. Tennis like golf requires a lot of concentration and when you have fans making a lot of noise it makes it very difficult for the player to hit the ball. It is as simple as that!!!
People always like to say how Nadal does so much to engage the crowd with all the ridiculous fist pumps and jumping up and down he does on the court – but they should realize how disgusting this behavior is on a tennis court. Yes it’s okay to get the crowd into the match but you can do that by playing good tennis which the crowd will be grateful for. However when you behave like a monkey on the court you create an atmosphere where the place is so darn noisy and it becomes difficult to concentrate and play your game.
There is something call “tennis etiquette” and sadly this is something today’s tennis players and fans knows nothing about!!! It’s quite a shame really because just only a decade ago you never saw tennis players or fans behave the way they do now!!!
I appreciated the confidence and optimism of Rafael Nadal. He has been my favorite athlete. It is great for us fans to see him do everything for the title. He is competing with Federer and other tough guys, but I think his precious battle is with himself.
http://www.eastportmedspa.com/