Wednesday: Rafa vs. Grosjean (Set 1)
The players are on court. Rafa is doing his ritual of eating that gel before coming out for the toss. Wearing same clothes -- orange shirt and white piratas. Seb is waiting for him. Jumping up and down. Seb won thw toss, but don't know what he decided. Rafa sprints to the backcourt. The warm-up begins.
Just finishing watching the Gasquet/Fed match, which turned out to be a bit of a bust. Fed played very well, though, and Gasquet didn't look sharp at all.
I was just speaking with Joel Drucker, and he may write an article for us about Rafa and his "lefty-ness advantage." I think that would be fascinating.
Rafa acknowledges the crowd, as he is being introduced. Boy, his resume of accomplishments does sound impressive!
Game 1: SG elected to serve. Fault. 0-15. Easy OH for Rafa. I'm in the outside seats in front of the media suite. Not bad, but I really liked that box seat last night. Great FH by Rafa. Fist pump. 0-30. Fault. Return into net. 15-30. Rafa had that lined up. Fault. BH just wide. Chair called it out. 30-30. Ace. 40-30. There is a beautiful balloon up overhead. Another ace. Game SG.
Game 2: Rafa to serve. Stadium is kind of quiet at the moment, and a bit empty. Seb hits long. 15-0. Great serve. 30-0. Another great serve. 40-0. Ace. Game Rafa. Great serving in that game. 1-1.
Game 3: 15-0. I think I just heard Lopy yelling for Rafa. Ace. 30-0. SG hits volley long. 30-15. Bad mishit by Seb. 30-30. Fault. UE into net. BP for Rafa. 30-40. Vamos, Rafa!!! Let. Adjusts pants. Great serve. Deuce. Screaming FH pass by Rafa. Ad Rafa. BP. Come on, Rafa!! He breaks with amazing forehands. 2-1, RN.
Game 4: Rafa to serve. Adjust socks. FH UE. 0-15. He had control of the point, but then misssed. Seb missed an opp there. 15-15. Nadal has lots of support here. Fault. Long return. 30-15. Let. Fault. Great FH's by Rafa. 40-15. There's wind, and I think he likes that. Fault. Game Nadal. 3-1, RN.
Game 5: Seb to serve. DF. 0-15. Fault. Great FH. 0-30. OH by Seb. 15-30. Unreturnable serve. 30-30. Fault. Seb misses BH. 30-40. Another BP for Rafa. Vamos!!! Fault. DF. Game Nadal. 4-1, RN.
Game 6: Rafa to serve. Great serve. 15-0. S&V winner. 30-0. Fault. Seb hits wide. 40-0. Rafa dictating play at the moment. Seems comfortable. Fault. Seb presses and hits long. Game Nadal, at love. 5-1. Vamos!
Game 7: Seb to serve. 0-15. Return long. 15-15. Fault. BH long by Rafa. 30-15. But he's being aggressive, certainly. Screaming, and I mean screaming, BH pass by Rafa. And another one, too. 30-40. BP. The balloons overhead are gorgeous. Return goes wide. Deuce. Ad Grosjean. These are hot air ballons. Deuce, as Grosjean overhits. Return into net. Ad SG. Rafa not happy with that miss. Game Grosjean. 5-2, RN.
Game 8: Rafa to serve for the set. Fault. Rafa just misses bh. 0-15. Come on, Rafa! Match is at 30 minutes. 0-30, as Seb hits great volley. Danger point for Rafa. Seb long. 15-30. UE by Rafa. 15-40. Vamos! One PB saved. Volley winner. Deuce. Long FH. Ad SG. Fault. Rafa hits out. Broken. :-( 5-3, RN.
Game 9: Fault. Rafa hits long. 15-0. Return into net. 30-0. 30-15. Bad news. Rafa is calling a trainer. Don't know why. More news to follow. He's taking his right shoe and sock off; it's not the left one. Maybe they need to tape a blister or something.
It's more serious than that -- he rolled his ankle and they had to tape it. So let's see how he goes. Grosjean just won his service game, and Rafa was going for his shots.
Game 11: Rafa to serve for match at 5-4, RN. I doubt he'll be playing doubles tonight, that's for sure. He did run out to the service line to serve. FH winner by Rafa. 15-0. Fault. SB hits wide. 30-0. Rafa seems to be moving okay for the moment. Rafa hits long. 30-15. Come on, Rafa! He needs to close out this set. 40-15, as Seb nets return. Two setpoints. Seb overhits FH. Set to Rafa!! Pheww. Hope he's okay.
Just finishing watching the Gasquet/Fed match, which turned out to be a bit of a bust. Fed played very well, though, and Gasquet didn't look sharp at all.
I was just speaking with Joel Drucker, and he may write an article for us about Rafa and his "lefty-ness advantage." I think that would be fascinating.
Rafa acknowledges the crowd, as he is being introduced. Boy, his resume of accomplishments does sound impressive!
Game 1: SG elected to serve. Fault. 0-15. Easy OH for Rafa. I'm in the outside seats in front of the media suite. Not bad, but I really liked that box seat last night. Great FH by Rafa. Fist pump. 0-30. Fault. Return into net. 15-30. Rafa had that lined up. Fault. BH just wide. Chair called it out. 30-30. Ace. 40-30. There is a beautiful balloon up overhead. Another ace. Game SG.
Game 2: Rafa to serve. Stadium is kind of quiet at the moment, and a bit empty. Seb hits long. 15-0. Great serve. 30-0. Another great serve. 40-0. Ace. Game Rafa. Great serving in that game. 1-1.
Game 3: 15-0. I think I just heard Lopy yelling for Rafa. Ace. 30-0. SG hits volley long. 30-15. Bad mishit by Seb. 30-30. Fault. UE into net. BP for Rafa. 30-40. Vamos, Rafa!!! Let. Adjusts pants. Great serve. Deuce. Screaming FH pass by Rafa. Ad Rafa. BP. Come on, Rafa!! He breaks with amazing forehands. 2-1, RN.
Game 4: Rafa to serve. Adjust socks. FH UE. 0-15. He had control of the point, but then misssed. Seb missed an opp there. 15-15. Nadal has lots of support here. Fault. Long return. 30-15. Let. Fault. Great FH's by Rafa. 40-15. There's wind, and I think he likes that. Fault. Game Nadal. 3-1, RN.
Game 5: Seb to serve. DF. 0-15. Fault. Great FH. 0-30. OH by Seb. 15-30. Unreturnable serve. 30-30. Fault. Seb misses BH. 30-40. Another BP for Rafa. Vamos!!! Fault. DF. Game Nadal. 4-1, RN.
Game 6: Rafa to serve. Great serve. 15-0. S&V winner. 30-0. Fault. Seb hits wide. 40-0. Rafa dictating play at the moment. Seems comfortable. Fault. Seb presses and hits long. Game Nadal, at love. 5-1. Vamos!
Game 7: Seb to serve. 0-15. Return long. 15-15. Fault. BH long by Rafa. 30-15. But he's being aggressive, certainly. Screaming, and I mean screaming, BH pass by Rafa. And another one, too. 30-40. BP. The balloons overhead are gorgeous. Return goes wide. Deuce. Ad Grosjean. These are hot air ballons. Deuce, as Grosjean overhits. Return into net. Ad SG. Rafa not happy with that miss. Game Grosjean. 5-2, RN.
Game 8: Rafa to serve for the set. Fault. Rafa just misses bh. 0-15. Come on, Rafa! Match is at 30 minutes. 0-30, as Seb hits great volley. Danger point for Rafa. Seb long. 15-30. UE by Rafa. 15-40. Vamos! One PB saved. Volley winner. Deuce. Long FH. Ad SG. Fault. Rafa hits out. Broken. :-( 5-3, RN.
Game 9: Fault. Rafa hits long. 15-0. Return into net. 30-0. 30-15. Bad news. Rafa is calling a trainer. Don't know why. More news to follow. He's taking his right shoe and sock off; it's not the left one. Maybe they need to tape a blister or something.
It's more serious than that -- he rolled his ankle and they had to tape it. So let's see how he goes. Grosjean just won his service game, and Rafa was going for his shots.
Game 11: Rafa to serve for match at 5-4, RN. I doubt he'll be playing doubles tonight, that's for sure. He did run out to the service line to serve. FH winner by Rafa. 15-0. Fault. SB hits wide. 30-0. Rafa seems to be moving okay for the moment. Rafa hits long. 30-15. Come on, Rafa! He needs to close out this set. 40-15, as Seb nets return. Two setpoints. Seb overhits FH. Set to Rafa!! Pheww. Hope he's okay.
posted by Susan at 4:46 PM
11 Comments:
Would someone please post a reminder about this blog on the Messageboard.
Gracias.
Vamos, Rafa!!!!
Done =)
Gracias for doing this Susan!! It's great !!
Vamos Rafa !!!!
Gaby :)
Reminder and link duly posted on the RAFA vs GROSJEAN cheering thread, Susan.
Thank you very much, as Rafa would say. I like the way he's playing in these first 3 games. Vamos!
thank you for all that your doing Susan! Must be awesome watching Rafa live! Vamoss!!!
Susan, what you are doing with this blog is so great for people like me who cannot watch rafa's games on t.v. I really appreciate it. THANK YOU! You are living my dream by the way, getting to watch rafa's matches and actually see him in person!!!
Hi Susan,
I commented in the previous entry that Roger had made a big 'numero uno' statement with his 57 minute win - looks like Rafa has picked up the gauntlet!
Vamos!
nou.amic
what happened with rafa??? is he okay?
He was moving okay in the last game. And he's now adjusting his bottles so they are just so. So I assume he's planning on continuing.
Susan
Thanks again for the report.
What about his left foot? Is it ok or serious ?
june
"I think I just heard Lopy yelling for Rafa"
LOL
Thanks, Susan
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