Friday: Rafa vs. Moya Post-Mortem
I wrote this earlier, but couldn't post it because our blog has been closed as a potential spammer. *grrrr* I'm sure they'll open it up later, but it just highlights what a bad day it was overall on the Nadal board.
Well, the body isn't even cold, but Rafa fans are expressing their disappointment over Rafa's 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 loss to his good friend and fellow Mallorcan Carlos Moya. I believe the fan reaction to Rafa's loss to Carlos Moya is an over-reaction. He's reached the semis in the last 3 tournaments he has played, and beat Federer to win one of them (Dubai).
Moya is a very good player. He was a finalist in Miami in 2003, and he knows Rafa's game better than anyone. Rafa did not play his best tennis today, for whatever reason, and Moya played exceptionally well. So Rafa lost. The scoreline is somewhat surprising, but that doesn't mean that Rafa has lost the ability to play great tennis and to win matches.
We all got a little spoiled watching him win practically every tournament he played last year. That is not usual. And he nearly killed himself in the process. By the end of the year he had tendonitis in both knees, was walking around Madrid with ice packs on his knees and injured his foot in the process.
He was out for nearly four months, and his team decided he would have to make adjustments to shorten matches (that's why he is going for his serves more), and he is playing with new insoles. He is making these necessary adjustments, but he's human. He's under a lot of pressure, especially with the Federer rivalry, and he's going to have bad days. He had one today, and now he has time to rest his ankle and get mentally and physically prepared for the clay season.
But there will be even more pressure on him there. Hopefully he'll be able to win everything in sight as he did last year, but if he doesn't, that won't mean his career is over. It will mean he has things to improve for coming years.
Rafa is not a run-of-the-mill journeyman player. He is a great player, who has already made history at a young age. He isn't going anywhere, and neither are we. At age 19, he has time to improve all aspects of his game, and to continue his success on Tour. I'm sure we'll be celebrating many wins in the future. But not in Miami this year.
Now onto Monte Carlo!!!!
Members of our site will be there to give us on-the-spot Rafa news, and we should be able to provide live blogging during the matches. Stay tuned for our MC Blog. Vamos, Rafa!!!
And in the meantime, I'm going to take a bit of a break, focus on my work (my day job can be pretty fun, too), and tonight my husband is taking me out dinner and then out for a big night at Barnes and Noble -- where they are holding a copy of Sarah Dunant's "In the Company of the Courtesan" for me.
So as you read this, I'll be reading that. I'll catch you all later. :D
Well, the body isn't even cold, but Rafa fans are expressing their disappointment over Rafa's 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 loss to his good friend and fellow Mallorcan Carlos Moya. I believe the fan reaction to Rafa's loss to Carlos Moya is an over-reaction. He's reached the semis in the last 3 tournaments he has played, and beat Federer to win one of them (Dubai).
Moya is a very good player. He was a finalist in Miami in 2003, and he knows Rafa's game better than anyone. Rafa did not play his best tennis today, for whatever reason, and Moya played exceptionally well. So Rafa lost. The scoreline is somewhat surprising, but that doesn't mean that Rafa has lost the ability to play great tennis and to win matches.
We all got a little spoiled watching him win practically every tournament he played last year. That is not usual. And he nearly killed himself in the process. By the end of the year he had tendonitis in both knees, was walking around Madrid with ice packs on his knees and injured his foot in the process.
He was out for nearly four months, and his team decided he would have to make adjustments to shorten matches (that's why he is going for his serves more), and he is playing with new insoles. He is making these necessary adjustments, but he's human. He's under a lot of pressure, especially with the Federer rivalry, and he's going to have bad days. He had one today, and now he has time to rest his ankle and get mentally and physically prepared for the clay season.
But there will be even more pressure on him there. Hopefully he'll be able to win everything in sight as he did last year, but if he doesn't, that won't mean his career is over. It will mean he has things to improve for coming years.
Rafa is not a run-of-the-mill journeyman player. He is a great player, who has already made history at a young age. He isn't going anywhere, and neither are we. At age 19, he has time to improve all aspects of his game, and to continue his success on Tour. I'm sure we'll be celebrating many wins in the future. But not in Miami this year.
Now onto Monte Carlo!!!!
Members of our site will be there to give us on-the-spot Rafa news, and we should be able to provide live blogging during the matches. Stay tuned for our MC Blog. Vamos, Rafa!!!
And in the meantime, I'm going to take a bit of a break, focus on my work (my day job can be pretty fun, too), and tonight my husband is taking me out dinner and then out for a big night at Barnes and Noble -- where they are holding a copy of Sarah Dunant's "In the Company of the Courtesan" for me.
So as you read this, I'll be reading that. I'll catch you all later. :D
posted by Susan at 3:24 PM
10 Comments:
With Agassi out, anyone read his presser?, and Rafael out, and Safin out and etc etc etc out, well there's now 25 days to get one's house in order.
And besides The Nasdaq-100 has a web-site which causes our browser to freeze. No other site has ever done that. Got tired of rebooting everytime we checked their live scores or draws etc. And we have a computer that can handle just about anything.
We are really getting tired of hearing Agassi's this and that health situation. He evidently will never learn how to retire gracefully and be an elder statesman.
See you in Monte Carlo. Getting our cash in order.
And those statistics for Rafael's 2nd and 3rd set looked very strange. How could they be that poor. Carlos may know Rafael's game, but Rafael knows Carlos's game too so that levels out. Well if Federer gets blown out early then you're have to agree there's something strange in the water down there this year.
Rafael you picked up 45 points in Indian Wells but now you've lost the 70 race points you had from Miami last year in a sense. Bummer. Bummer. Bummer. Bummer. Bummer. ESPN's ratings will thus suffer a bit unless the Americans hold up in this tournament. Bad thing about this tournament also was that CBS is going to carry the Finals, and that may mean having to listen to the syrupy-blabbering Dick Enberg.
Folks in the United States would best get The Tennis Channel before Monte Carlo. Available on some cable systems and in some areas on Dish satellite (however Dish may stop carrying The Tennis Channel as Dish is only running it on a trial basis for limited time in some areas in their basic tier ). They may move it to a premium tier as is the case with The Tennis Channel on many cable systems. Meaning you have to pay extra to even get it as we have to.
Well, this news is heart breaking. .
but its okay, i would have wanted him to really heal that ankle before all the other important tourneys that he has to start defending. . . especially in the upcoming clay court season which he dominates and considered the "King of Clay" in this generation.
i cant bear seeing him lose in any of those matches bec. he is still nursing an injury. gosh worries me though and i guess all of us who loves Rafa.
have a nice rest rafa, take care of your health and get well soon. see you in action in your fave surface in the next few days . . .
VAMOS VAMOS !!!
Those who are really old will remember the buffoon Riley in 'The Life of Riley' saying in situations such as this,
WHAT A REVOLTING DEVELOPMENT THIS IS!
It was expected Rafa might lose in a semi-final, but geez, we just blindly assumed he could handle the 'tennis' aging Moya in a round-2 match. Everyone thought Moya got screwed getting Hanescu in round-1 and Nadal in round-2. But Moya is playing really well. Just look at his battle to defeat Victor Hanescu right after the awards party the night before. Now's thus the time to chear on Moya in this tournament while Rafa gets back with his friends to that little bar on Mallorca. But first he may go fishing in those beautiful waters in Florida. He may take Moya along.
Will he get cash for playing round-2 with the bye in round-1? I'd assume so but is that true?
Anyone note, that two who can defeat Federer are now out. Safin and Nadal in their first matches.
vamosrafael.com webmaster,
Small error on Calendar page?
Tournament calendar linked from your Home page has a table showing AMS Monte Carlo tournament as having hard courts rather than Clay.
I will fix that, Karen. Thanks. The fact that it is on clay is HUGE for Rafa. :D
I agree with you Susan... Rafa can't win all the matches, and if this would be possible, that wouldn't have any fun...
Thanks for give your point of view and make us feel better... (at least you made me)
Well Rafa seemed to have handed Moya a big gift but the #35 Carlos Moya has just lost to a #65, 30 year old, Calleri(ARG) 2-6,6-7(6).
Well Carlos, now at least you can go back to Mallorca and practice with Rafa. That'll be good for both of you.
Have a great rest, Susan!! Thank you again!
What's happened to the Rafa Board server today? Can't connect at all...
Rafael Nadal is amazing!
Post a Comment
<< Home