Post №: 484
Joined: 22.03.09
Location: Москва
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Posted: 15.03.13 22:31. Post subject: Какая статья на Gote..
Какая статья на Gotennis.ru !!!Скопирую сюда... Почему Надаль - не Джордан, или "Сделай это через равного тебе" 15 марта 2013, 19:09 | Автор: Олег Тарасенко, GoTennis.ru
На турнире в Индиан-Уэллсе состоялась, пожалуй, самая ожидаемая встреча последних месяцев. Рафаэль Надаль, наконец, сыграл против одного из "коллег" по "Большой четвёрке". Добился убедительной победы над Роджером Федерером – но при этом не развеял голоса скептиков. Порой приходится сожалеть, что великий теннисист не обладает характером другого легендарного спортсмена. Как-то Майкл Джордан, выступая в одном из регулярных матчей чемпионата НБА, забил красивый слэм-данк через невысокого разыгрывающего соперников. Пробегая обратно к своему кольцу, Майкл услышал: "Сделай это через равного тебе", громко сказанное одним из болельщиков. И действительно двухметровый Джордан был на голову выше малыша-защитника. Буквально в следующей атаке величайший баскетболист всех времён "поставил сверху" через огромного центрового Элдена Кэмпбелла, после чего, развернувшись к дерзкому болельщику, ослепительно улыбнулся и спросил: "Так подойдёт?" Рафаэль Надаль, возможно, не является величайшим теннисистом в истории, но после каждой его победы на южноамериканских грунтовых турнирах в 2013 году вся теннисная общественность регулярно уподоблялась тому самому дерзкому любителю баскетбола. Рафа взял титул в Сан-Паулу - а кто там был из соперников? Непонятно откуда взявшийся Мартин Алунд и возрастной Давид Налбандян? Превратил Николаса Альмагро и Давида Феррера в аккуратную смесь с грунтом Акапулько - да у них же ноги начинают подгибаться и руки трястись ещё до выхода на корт против Надаля! Впервые за одиннадцать месяцев сыграл на харде и победил Эрнеста Гулбиса, выдавшего победную серию из тринадцати матчей - да он, этот Гулбис, нестабильный и вообще мог и одолеть Рафу! Многоцветие доводов, аргументов и экспертных мнений - но во всех этих речах недоверия, по большому счёту, было всего лишь пять слов. Сделай. Это. Через. Равного. Тебе. Да пожалуйста! Семнадцать титулов "Большого шлема", триста две недели во главе рейтинга АТР, счёт 6:5 по очным встречам на харде и победа над Рафой ровно год назад в полуфинале того же Индиан-Уэллса. Это до матча, а после матча было 6/4, 6/2, семь из одиннадцати брейк-пойнтов и уже равный счёт по хардовым встречам - 6:6. Майкл в аналогичной ситуации уже медленно разворачивался к обидчику, а на лице распускалась белозубая улыбка, больше похожая на оскал крупного хищника: "Так подойдёт?" Нет, Надаль - определённо не Джордан. Не было ещё в истории тенниса игрока с таким чудовищным сплавом харизмы, гения и абсолютного эгоцентризма, как у Майкла. После матча Рафа рассыплется в похвалах побеждённому Федереру и отметит, что во втором сете швейцарец действовал несколько скованно, по всей видимости, из-за проблем со спиной, которые досаждали Роджеру ещё в матче с Вавринкой. "He's back!", - радостно возопят болельщики Рафы. "It's back!", - резонно возразят им фанаты Роджера. Действительно, больная спина. А Надаль, можно подумать, здоров, как терминатор, только что спущенный с конвейера? Что такое проблемы со спиной Федерера по сравнению с хронической травмой колена, выбивающей человека на семь месяцев? Жаль, Рафа - не Джордан. Будь Майкл на месте испанца, журналисты бы возносили до небес даже очередную победу над Хуаном Монако в PlayStation, а колени подгибались бы не только у Давида Феррера, но и у Маррея с (возможно) Джоковичем. Великий баскетболист имел совершенно несносный характер, который сумел поставить себе же на пользу. Великий теннисист сдержан, вежлив и дипломатичен. И этим пользуются все - за исключением, пожалуй, самого Рафы. Уже идут разговоры, что Федерер, дескать, был не тот, что раньше ("говорят, царь - не настоящий!"), да и вообще сейчас мировой теннис нужно измерять по сербской либо, на крайний случай, британской мерке. Где они были, эти эксперты, когда швейцарец пять сетов рубился с Марреем в полуфинале Australian Open? Надаль - известно где был. В поте лица трудился на тренировках, возвращая былую форму. Теперь испанца ждёт Томаш Бердых, для которого каждый задекларированный "выход на новый уровень" почему-то оборачивается классическим сизифовым камнем, и потом (в случае победы) - та самая сербская или британская мерка. Главное, чтобы выдержали колени… И снова, да уже прямо сейчас, слышатся всё те же голоса: "Сделай это через равного тебе". Нет, иногда приходится сожалеть, что Рафа - не Майкл. Что он никогда не прервёт пресс-конференцию, одной едкой репликой уничтожая несчастного, осмелившегося посягнуть на его неоспоримое величие. Что каждое поражение он не воспринимает как личный вызов, а победителя - как персонального врага. А может быть, так и надо? И в душе у Рафы, деликатно покусывающего очередной чемпионский кубок, когда-нибудь во весь свой гигантский рост поднимется его собственный "внутренний Джордан", расплываясь в ехидной улыбке. "Так подойдёт?"
Post №: 57
Joined: 24.03.09
Location: Україна, Черкаси
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Posted: 16.03.13 03:54. Post subject: Лионель Месси в свое..
Лионель Месси в своем последнем интервью сказал следующие слова:
"I admire athletes from other sports. I like Kobe Bryant, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Del Potro... They are monsters." [tyc]dmire athletes from other sports. I like Kobe Bryant, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Del Potro... They are monsters." [tyc]
Он сказал, что восхищается такими атлетами, как Надаль, Федерер, Коби Брайант, Дель Потро (Дель Потро прошел по квоте соотечественников ). Приятно было это прочитать. Рафа болеет за Реал, Лионель всю жизнь играет за Барселону, но они оба ценят лучших в своем деле, так как знают, какой это труд.
Posted: 16.03.13 18:02. Post subject: Ольга Коп Любопытная..
Ольга Коп Любопытная статья Дело даже не в том, что раздаются голоса "Сделай это через равного себе", а в том что сам Рафа этого хочет и к этому стремится. Поскольку спортсмен и боец до кончиков пальцев. Он ведь всю жизнь ставит себе цели, порой кажущиеся недостижимыми, и упорно идет к этим целям. Вспомнить хотя бы заявление после победы на РГ-2005 о том, что главная мечта - Уимблдон. Кто только тогда у виска пальцем не крутил и не издевался. Потом АО и ЮСО, казавшиеся когда-то совершенно недосягаемыми. А то, что манер и повадок как у Джордана нет, так это слава богу.
Posted: 16.03.13 18:24. Post subject: RAFAEL NADAL PRESS C..
RAFAEL NADAL PRESS CONFERENCE
Indian Wells, USA 13.03.2013
R. NADAL/E. Gulbis 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
An interview with:
RAFAEL NADAL
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. You certainly held the crowd. Did they inspire you? That was an awful lot of noise for you out there today. RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, all the support of the crowd since I am coming back every place, you know, around every tournament that I played was amazing, and today was not an exception. I just can say thank you very much all the fans. You know, in the tough moments like I had, they are very important. And, you know, in my coming back having matches like today and having matches that I am with some troubles like I had in Chile and Brazil and lot of days and the support, the feeling that you have a lot of people with you around is very important. That's, you know, give to me a lot of energy.
Q. As happens a lot in your matches on a lot of the intense points, you were grunting pretty loud. Can you talk about just why you grunt? RAFAEL NADAL: Sorry?
Q. Just a general question about that. RAFAEL NADAL: (Through translation.) During the point?
Q. Yeah. I know you do it a lot. RAFAEL NADAL: (Shrugging.) I cannot answer. I didn't know.
Q. You don't know you're grunting? RAFAEL NADAL: That's the first time I heard that my life.
Q. You don't think you're grunting? RAFAEL NADAL: I cannot say I don't think. The only thing I can say is I don't feel it. I didn't have that feeling never, so it's first time that somebody told me that. For sure, if I did, you know, I didn't because I wanted.
Q. First off, nice shirt. RAFAEL NADAL: You like? Golf.
Q. Some of your fans were wondering why you didn't hit to your forehand more often, because sometimes he's shaky on his forehand. You seemed to go to his backhand a lot. RAFAEL NADAL: I did in the last three games, so that's give me the match. But, yeah, it's true. I had to change it a little bit more directions. Today my movements weren't perfect, you know. I felt for moments that playing against his backhand I had I know it's not the right thing, because to play against a player like Ernests, the right thing to do, in my opinion, is play against his backhand and change to his forehand quick, no?
But, yeah, today I didn't have legs for that. Changing direction from behind not from side is much more difficult, so I felt more comfortable with my movements playing against his backhand. I felt if I changed directions I had to run more, too. I didn't want that today.
Q. After the first set, how would you assess your level of play? How is your knee playing? RAFAEL NADAL: I said before the tournament my knee some days good, some days not that good. Today so so. But I fighted. I fighted every ball. I tried my best in every moment. I know I cannot go to some balls that in the past I went today, but I will do it in the future. So win matches in days like today are more important that ever for me, and very happy about what I did on court. Happy about the attitude. With all the problems I was able to keep being focused and keep winning.
Today every victory is very important to me, and I really appreciate every moment and every victory.
Q. You're going to be playing Roger for the first time before the semis and finals since the first time you guys played in Miami. Can you talk a little bit about what you remember from that match in 2004? RAFAEL NADAL: Well, since that moment was my best match ever. Feels like happened 100 years before. (Smiling.) We played that much times after that. Well, tomorrow will be a nice match. Always play against Roger is a pleasure. This match arrives early for me, too early to, you know, to go to the match with the feeling that I can play equal conditions than him. I think I am not that level today, but I gonna try, as I do always. I gonna try to enjoy the match. I'm going to try to play well and, you know, make the match positive for me with any result. I am here in Indian Wells in quarterfinals. Two weeks ago I didn't know if I would be able to be here. Being in quarterfinals is a fantastic result for me, and we'll see. It will be very difficult tomorrow for me.
Q. I just wonder how encouraged you are at your level here so far. You didn't know you were going to play on hard court or how you were going to feel, but how encouraged are you by what you've done so far in this tournament? RAFAEL NADAL: For tomorrow or in general?
Q. Your level of encouragement about what you have done far. RAFAEL NADAL: I need to keep doing. I need time and I need matches more on clay than hard. Be in quarterfinals is great. Be able to be here for, you know, seven days, ten days and play, practice with all the best players here with professional players is positive for me. That's why I am here. I didn't want to go back home and stay one month and a half before Monte Carlo at home. I am tired to be at home and waiting for the competition and watching the competition and the matches, watching competition on the television.
So I am here, and I think any result tomorrow will be a positive week for me. That's what I have to say and that's what I have to think, because I think that's the right thing.
Q. If you're not moving the way you want to, did you think about ending points more quickly, or is it because you like to set up points usually that it's hard to force yourself to do that? RAFAEL NADAL: To end the points quickly you have to move quick, because if you don't take the ball early you cannot finish the point early. You cannot pretend to you know, if you're not moving quick you cannot take the ball inside the court, because the ball comes quick and you have to be able to go against the ball very quick. If I am playing with my conditions today, for me it's easier to play one, two meters behind the baseline because I can move myself with a little bit more time. I have to play with electric movements like when I'm 100% well and I am able to play inside.
But seriously, tomorrow I don't have much more to say than I have to play aggressive. I have to play aggressive to enjoy the match. If not, the match not gonna be good fun for me. I always play one way against Roger, or similar, not always the same, but tomorrow will be not easy to do this as I do all the time, because I need to move quick, especially on hard to do this kind of game, no?
I don't know if I am ready to do it, but we'll see how I wake up tomorrow. We'll see how I feel on court tomorrow. I gonna try my best in every moment.
Q. What do you do for your knee right after the match is finished in terms of treatment? RAFAEL NADAL: Well, I have to put ice every day after the practice and after the match, and I do a lot of things with my physio. We are trying to put the quadriceps very powerful, but it's very difficult sometimes when you have pain to do it because you cannot do the exercises. That's the real thing, no? We are trying to do it every, every day, even if I have pain, to create power in my quadriceps. But some days I'm not able to do it. That's negative. So we're trying to find ways to have more power every day and to be able to compete every day with the best conditions possible.
Q. Would you say tonight was the most dramatic match you have played since you have been back, most suspense and drama and tension? RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know. Every match since I come back every match is emotional for me, every match is important. Tonight was an important match. But for me was more important the semifinals of Acapulco because that give me the chance to win the tournament. Today I'm very fine of that, especially in this kind of tournament. If I have to say about tension, my feeling was a little bit more, you know, tension match in semifinals of Acapulco against Almagro for what means to me, and because it was on a surface that I have a little bit more control of the situation. But was a good match. Was emotional match. This kind of victories give me confidence, give me positive energy. I enjoy.
Posted: 16.03.13 18:27. Post subject: An interview with RA..
An interview with RAFAEL NADAL (March 14, 2013)
Mar 15
NADAL def. R. Federer 6‑4, 6‑2
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. That was some occasion, but perhaps not quite the match we were anticipating. How did you read it?
RAFAEL NADAL: I played great the first set. I played a fantastic first set, in my opinion. The second set was strange. The second set I think Roger didn’t fight as usual. Probably he had some problems and he didn’t feel enough comfortable to keep fighting. But for myself I have to take the first set. The first set was a good match, my opinion. Both of us tried to play our best. I played much better than yesterday. My movements today were much, much better than what used to be yesterday, so very happy for that ‑ especially after a long match yesterday, to be able to compete well next day. What to say? Two weeks ago I didn’t know if I can be here, and tomorrow I will be in semifinals here. A lot of positive energy, and very happy.
Q. Can you talk for a minute about how it felt walking out there? You hadn’t been there for a while against Roger; it was a packed crowd. Did you have different or strange emotions walking out? How did it feel for you?
RAFAEL NADAL: In the end, you miss these moments this whole time, but play against Roger in any moment in any situation is special for what means this kind of matches, for what happened in the past, you know. All very, very important matches against him for our careers, you know. This classic match is always special and means a lot to me to go on court to play against Roger.
Q. You moved very well today. Do your knees feel stronger as this tournament is going on? Do you have any more worries about your knees right now?
RAFAEL NADAL: You know, is hard for me because you are asking me that every day and I am having an incredible results. It’s not easy for me to talk about that, seriously.
Q. Obviously after you beat Ferrer in Acapulco people said you’re back. Now you seem back at full strength and now you’re in a semifinals of a Masters. It seems to give evidence that you’re getting back to where you were before the seven months off. Do you agree with that? Do you think you’re close to all the way back?
RAFAEL NADAL: I am here so I am back on the tour. That’s the most important thing, no? I go day by day as I did all my life, and that’s not gonna change. If the things are not working well, so change, but the things are working well don’t change, no? I go match by match, practice by practice, and I try my best in every moment. We’ll see. I said you know, one of the first interviews after we decide to come back on the tour, I think I didn’t forget my tennis. I didn’t forget my tennis in seven months. Important thing is be healthy. And if that happens and I’m able to practice as much as I can, as much as I want, probably that the comeback will be a little bit less difficult, no? But is a big surprise for me have these results. That’s the true. Is for me a big surprise because I really was not able to practice a lot. I was able to practice just a little before the comeback. It’s true that playing on clay give me a lot of positive feelings, but even playing on clay tournaments I didn’t practice a lot before every tournament. Things go well. I am happy for that. Is a big surprise for me, but I just can say thank you. Q. You have always spoken in such glowing terms of your friendship and the fact that Roger, you say, is the greatest player in tennis history. But in some ways does it surprise you when you look at the head‑to‑head record between the two of you that there is such a wide gap?
RAFAEL NADAL: That just a fact at the end. Is a positive fact for me, but that doesn’t change that he has much more tournament victories than me. He has more Grand Slams than me. In Masters 1000s we are close. I don’t know.
THE MODERATOR: Same.
RAFAEL NADAL: Same? So more than close. (Laughing.) So that means his career the day of today is better than my one, and that’s the real thing. And if I think that I am better than him because I beat him I think 19 against 10, something like this, I will be very stupid and very arrogant. I think this is not the case. (Smiling).
Q. When you miss something that you love for so long, do you appreciate it more when you come back? Can you talk about how much?
RAFAEL NADAL: I say the other day, no, the feeling just going on court and receive all the support that I am receiving every place that I am playing is something fantastic and amazing.
Probably when you are playing and playing every week, you know, that became something usual and normal, no? But when you are out for seven months and I come back and I had the feeling, that special feeling playing in clay court seen in Latin America, all the support that I had every time when I went on court and all the stadiums 100% full every day, every match, and the full support of the crowd is just amazing. Be back in Indian Wells I always said is one of my favorite tournaments without any doubt. I really enjoy it always play here. I don’t know how many semifinals I am in a row here in this tournament.
Q. Eight, nine.
RAFAEL NADAL: 2006? Probably since 2006. So playing six, eight semifinals in a row in a hardcourt tournament, Masters 1000 when the best players of the world are playing. When you have tough matches since the first round, it’s amazing result for me.
Q. Congratulations. You really played well tonight. At the end of the match when you and Roger came to shake hands, it seemed like there were some words exchanged. Did he let you know anything how he was feeling? It seemed like there was something more than just a handshake. Did he say anything about how he felt?
RAFAEL NADAL: No. He told me he’s happy that I’m back. He just congratulate me and ask him for his back. He told me, No, I’m fine.
Q. So you asked him?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah. That’s it.
Q. Outside of your knee, given that you have had very, very few bad loss in seven, eight years, why are you surprised when you’re successful? Given that you have hardly had any bad losses since maybe 2005, maybe a few, outside of the knee, why are you surprised when you have success and you play well?
RAFAEL NADAL: Today?
Q. Any day. Because you’ll often say I’m surprised to be in this position or…
RAFAEL NADAL: I never say I’m surprised to be in position. For example, last year I practice amazing well and I start the season playing fantastic in every tournament. But this year the situation is completely different. I was outside of the competition for seven months. Is not the case that during these seven months I was able to practice a lot. I practice very little. I am back. I played one final, two titles, one other semifinals. If I’m not surprised it’s because I consider myself very good, and this is not the case. (Smiling.) I consider myself another player that had a lot of success during the last eight years, but that doesn’t mean that I gonna have in the next year another success. So especially when I’m coming from tricky situation.
Q. I just wondered if you still regarded Roger as your No. 1 adversary, No. 1 challenge.
RAFAEL NADAL: Today?
Q. No, in general.
RAFAEL NADAL: In general. But today, the day of today my No. 1 adversary?
Q. Yeah.
RAFAEL NADAL: Neil, today I cannot talk about adversaries. I can talk about myself. I am seriously not competing against nobody in particular today. I am competing about be 100% healthy another time and enjoy tennis what that’s happening today, another time. And then I’m not sure how the things gonna go in the next few months. Hopefully well. But if the things goes well and I am able to practice every tournament from here to Wimbledon, we’ll see if I am able to talk about which kind of rivals I will have. Today I cannot say. I cannot say I put myself in the group of top 4, group of top 8, or the group of top 15, because I don’t know what’s gonna happen in the next month.
Q. Apart from getting the win tonight, what pleased you most about your performance, and can you talk about your next opponent?
RAFAEL NADAL: What pleased me most was my movement tonight was much better than yesterday. I played longer than yesterday. I had good feeling on my forehand, even if I had few mistakes with my backhand in the second set. The match became a little bit strange in the second. But in the first set I played very well with my backhand. That give a lot of points for me in the final of Acapulco. Sometimes today I am not able to play all the shots with my forehand that I used to be because I am not that fast yet to do it. That’s why the backhand today is very important for my game. So if I am able to hit well, like I did in the first set, you know, a lot of opportunities open for me in my game because I can hit cross. If my cross backhand goes close to the line then I have the rest of the court for my forehand, and that’s a big advantage. Today that makes a big difference in my game.
Q. Can you talk about the next round against Tomas?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, sorry. Yeah, he’s playing better and better every year. He played final in Marseilles, final in Dubai, and now he’s semifinals here without losing a set. He’s doing great. We’ll see. I gonna try my best. I gonna try to keep playing well and try to fight as I did today, as I did yesterday, and we’ll see if I am able to compete well and enjoy another match. Every match is fantastic for me to have the chance to keep playing, and I gonna enjoy the match against another top, top player. Will be another important test for me, and I gonna enjoy.
Posted: 17.03.13 21:07. Post subject: An interview with RA..
An interview with RAFAEL NADAL (March 16, 2013)
R. NADAL/T. Berdych 6 4, 7 5
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. During the Australian Open when you were sidelined, if someone said to you that in the warmup clay tournaments you played you would do extremely well and then come here on hard court and beat Roger in straight sets and Berdych and then reach the finals, what would you say to them?
RAFAEL NADAL: You never know what’s going in on in the future, no, but sure is something that the things seem always almost impossible until the things are done. But it’s very, very difficult to imagine something like this. But here we are today, and very happy about all what happened the last month, especially last three weeks. I’m doing probably one of my best two tournaments since seven months. Joking. (Smiling.) Since long time, I think. Is not easy coming back after an important injury after seven months without playing a tournament and be back and winning against three top 10s like David, like David Ferrer, like today against Berdych, the other day against Roger, and to win against Almagro, clay court specialist in Acapulco. So coming back is certainly something amazing for me, totally unexpected, and I received more support than ever from the crowd every place that I played. That’s always a very, very special feeling. Thank you very much, all the people. I am enjoying, sure. Every match means a lot to me. Every time I am able to come back on court and play these kind of matches makes me very happy.
Q. When you come back after so long off, what is the most difficult thing to get back at a high level?
RAFAEL NADAL: Always, you know, when you are out for a long period of time, is difficult to come back and to understand how to win the points another time, how to manage the important situations. For example, you have a point that you really have to win, you know, like a break point against, like a break point on your favor, and when you are playing tournaments every week and when you are on confidence, you know, even you can change your tactic for a moment. You have your routines and you know what to do in every moment and you have a pre strategy. You have to remember all these kind of things. Sure, physical performance is impossible to be 100%, because even if you practiced a lot at home that was not my case you need to compete to feel 100% ready. You need to compete to feel quick, to feel you know, recover the right vision of the points and the nice reaction in every moment. Everything is new. Even if I had a lot of success the last weeks for example, today I was very nervous at the end of the match to close the match, and was lucky that my serve worked amazing in the last game in important moments. But, you know, there are some things that you need to adjust, and victories like today, like the other day, helps you a lot for the confidence and to remember, you know, all the things that you have to do in every moment.
Q. Last week when you arrived here you said you didn’t think you could win the title. What do you think now?
RAFAEL NADAL: I cannot still saying these kind of things after a lot of success that I had, but any opponent tomorrow will be a very difficult opponent. They are playing fantastic. Djokovic didn’t lose a match this year, so he’s amazing what he’s doing. And Del Potro is coming fantastically well, winning in Rotterdam, playing very good tournament in Dubai, and now being in semifinals here. So they are playing great, and going to be a very difficult final for me. But is true, I cannot say another thing. I don’t have nothing to lose after seven months. I did much more than what I dreamed. Everything is to win, and any result will be a fantastic week for me, a fantastic tournament. I gonna go on court and enjoy the match and try my best in every moment, as I do usually trying to win, but with good calm that is not the same than when I am playing and when I am fighting for everything. Today I am just here, and for me is a present to be here.
Q. If you could just talk briefly about how much you think your confidence has improved since I guess in the final against Zeballos? And then also sort of a separate question about do you think the conditions here the high kicking balls off the court do you think this is as uncomfortable a hard court for you as it is anywhere in the world?
RAFAEL NADAL: The confidence is normal. Even if you didn’t have an injury and you start a season, when you are winning matches, when you are winning against important opponents and you’re winning tournaments, your confidence is improving always. That’s not just for me. That’s for everybody, no? When we have to realize which court is good for me, which court is not good for me, at the end we just have to go and watch the results. That’s just statistics. In a tournament that I played four finals in the last eight years and I played four more semifinals, is a fantastic tournament, no? The conditions adapt very well to my game. That’s the real thing. I feel like home. I feel very comfortable in this tournament. I feel very happy when I am here. Is more relaxing tournament than other ones, and probably that’s give me a positive feeling.
Q. Two things: Can you talk more about the serve? You won a lot of big points with it today. And number two, you’ve played Novak 33 times. If you do play him in the final, is it everything new or can you reflect back on all the other matches?
RAFAEL NADAL: The serve was to compete against the best players, even when I was at my 100% physically running to every ball, playing in these kind of surfaces, if my serve was not working minimum well, is very difficult to beat against these kind of players. Today more than ever is very important. My serve worked well. I don’t know the percentage of the first serves, but I think it was quite positive. And the most important thing in important moments if we forget about that double fault in the break point, the 4 3 for the rest of the important moments my serve worked great. That’s very, very important. And against Djokovic nothing is new, no? We played a lot of times and we know each other very well. But is another history for me, not for him. He didn’t stop. But for me is, yeah, new, and for me gonna be a final match. At the end, I don’t want to say test because test was today, test was two days ago, and I felt in good conditions. But, you know, always special to play against Djokovic. I don’t know if he’s gonna win today, but any opponent will be very hard.
Q. Yesterday in a TV interview, Lionel Messi said that he admires Kobe Bryant and four tennis players: Djokovic, Federer, Del Potro, and you. Have you met Messi, and who do you admire outside tennis?
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, I have met Messi in Barcelona but long time ago. I admire a lot of people outside tennis, no, especially I admire the people who really are, you know, helping the others in the right way, taking his time to take the people who really needs and the good people. If we are talking about sports, Messi, Cristiano are amazing what they are doing. This rivalry is, you know, brings the football to another level in my opinion. Every season they are improving his numbers. That’s something amazing. I love for sure a lot of Spanish sportsmen that they have a lot of success for the last couple of years. If we talk about golf, well, Sergio Garcia is doing well another time. He is playing fantastic after not an easy past years for him. For sure, always in golf Tiger Woods, his eyes, mentality when he’s playing, when he’s competing is, you know, he’s very, very difficult to say I cannot admire this mentality on a golf course and on the competition, no? He really, you know, is focused on what he is doing, and he really believes that he gonna make the right shot in important moment. That’s something. His determination in important moments is something difficult to have, and he has. I admire that a lot.
Q. You had battled it out in the second set. How important was it to make sure it didn’t go to a third?
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, if I was on the third, I was on court. I gonna still be on court already fighting, no? But I play my best game of the match in the 5 3, playing very aggressive, having two very, very good points with my forehand down the line. So that was very important, no? And for sure especially have the break and the game with double fault, be able to forget that and be able to be focused on the next game, on the first point of the next game, and finally do the right things to be back on the set was decisive, because for the other was a hard moment, in my opinion.
Posted: 17.03.13 21:25. Post subject: Divine Invention Sa..
Divine Invention
Saturday, March 16, 2013
by Steve Tignor
INDIAN WELLS, CALIF.—Saturday was a great day to watch tennis at the BNP Paribas Open, but a confounding one for anyone trying to create a coherent storyline about the state of the men's game.
In the first semifinal here, Rafael Nadal beat Tomas Berdych to reach the final of the first hard-court event that he has played in nearly a year. As Rafa made his seemingly inevitable way back from 3-5 in the second set to close it out, the words “same as it ever was” began circling through my head. Even after all of that time away, Rafa, and by extension the Big 4, still reigned supreme, while Berdych, and by extension the second-tier, were doomed to eternal failure in the clutch.
The words were still lodged in my head a few hours later, as the second semifinal, between Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro, reached the halfway point of its final set. By that stage the world No. 1, after a few fits and starts, was doing what we expected him to do: Leading del Potro 3-0, and running the big man ragged in the process.
But just when all appeared right and normal in the ATP, when a doubled-over del Potro looked ready to depart with honor, and a confident Djokovic appeared ready to take his place in what many people here were calling a “dream final” against Rafa, something happened. Something very strange happened. Was it, perhaps, divine intervention? After all, from Rome to Indian Wells, Argentines are getting used to having their prayers answered this week.
***
“It’s very, very difficult to imagine something like this,” Rafael Nadal said after his win this afternoon, “but here were are today.”
Did anyone imagine that Rafa would reach the final in Indian Wells after so much time away, and so much trepidation about hard courts? I did, actually; or at least I picked him to make it to Sunday in my preview of the tournament. I don’t usually mention when my predictions turn out to be right, because then I would be honor-bound to tell you when they turned out to be wrong, and there’s only so much time in the day.
I mention it because I don’t think it should be that surprising to see Nadal play this well or go this far here. Federer and Djokovic each said much the same thing this week; today, after losing to Rafa, Berdych was asked if the Spaniard's game had “changed in any way”—his answer was a definitive, “No.”
Coming in, Rafa had played what by his own account was some of the best clay-court tennis of his life—and by extension anyone’s life—in blitzing David Ferrer in the final in Acapulco. And while this event is played on a hard surface, it's one where, as Rafa said today, “the conditions adapt very well to my game.”
“I feel like home,” he said of Indian Wells and the desert climate. “I feel very happy when I'm here. Is more relaxing tournament than other ones, and probably that gives me a positive feeling.”
I can remember watching Nadal arrive here in a slump in 2007 and win the tournament; and even after his “accidental” defeat to Ivan Ljubicic in the 2010 semis, he came away feeling good about his play and his progress. He knew what he was talking about: Rafa would win the next three Grand Slams. If Monte Carlo is the place where Rafa returns to dominance, Indian Wells is often where he starts feeling good about his year.
That said, today was the best we’ve seen of him in Indian Wells. His dive-bombing topspin was back, and it gave even the 6’5” Berdych fits. Nadal had his crosscourt backhand working, and he was a step and a thought ahead of Berdych on all of the big points. And, as Nadal said, his “serve worked amazing in the last game.” He fended off three break points at 6-5 in the second set, all with service winners. As for his returns, while he stood far back in the court, it was a tactical decision. From there he could generate the huge looping lefty topspin that he knows the Czech doesn’t like. The more the wind did with the ball along the way, the better.
But what was most Rafa-like was the way he responded when Berdych went up 5-3 in the second set. From that point on, the two players’ games went in opposite directions—Berdych was as bad as Rafa was good.
“The biggest difference" in the match, Berdych said, "was in the second set when it was 5-3. [After that], I served only one first serve, and he served only one second serve.”
Nadal talked today about the mental challenges of coming back. He said the biggest difference is that when you’re playing tournaments regularly, you’re so dialed in that you don’t have to stick to your routine tactics. You’re flexible enough to change them up to suit the moment. You’re also used to having things go wrong over the course of a match, so you tend to recover from adversity quickly. So it makes sense that Rafa was especially happy with the way he played from 3-5 down in the second set.
“To be able to forget [getting broken],” he said, “and be able to be focused on the next game, on the first point of the next game, and finally do the right things to [get] back in the set, was decisive.”
“I play my best game of the match at 3-5, playing very aggressive, have two very, very good points with my forehand down the line.”
Posted: 18.03.13 17:44. Post subject: An interview with RA..
An interview with RAFAEL NADAL (March 17, 2013)
R. Nadal/J M Del Potro 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
Q. Congratulations. Is it one of the most memorable wins of your career?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don’t know, no? But it is an emotional one, a very emotional one, yes. A lot of things happened last seven months, to be back here and to have this very heavy trophy with me is amazing, no? I am winning three straight top 10s, beating the top 5 of the world and No. 4 and not be in the top 4 and you play quarterfinals, no? So beating three top 10, three very important players, and win title like this is just something unbelievable for me. Very, very happy and very emotional. When, you know, when you have one comeback like I’m having is, you know, you remember all the low things, lower moments that you had during this seven months, doubts and all these things. Hopefully I passed, and just can remember all the people that really helped me a lot during all this time.
Q. It looked like even in the second set when he was ahead you didn’t have too many doubts that you could actually come back into the match, and that you were confident enough that you changed strategy a little to come away with the win, no?
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, I was in tough situation, because after starting the match 3‑0 playing fantastic in my opinion, I had big chance for 4‑0 and then I had good chance for 4‑1.
So I lost all of these opportunities, important ones for me. So I got a little bit ‑‑ I lost a little bit my calm, I think, and then I started to play with ‑‑ I didn’t choose right the shots to change against his forehand, you know, to go inside the court. I think I was wrong in strategy for moments, something that for me is not usual, because normally I can have mistakes with the shots but with the tactics and the way how I have to manage the points, how I have to play the points, normally I am right. But, you know, I felt like he started to play more aggressive and I lost a little bit the way how to win the points, no? Had the break back in the second to give me a lot of confidence, and I was able to calm myself a little bit, to think, calm, to open my mind, and think what I needed to do to win the second set.
And I was able to play against his backhand and wait for right moment to change directions my ball. I try to play, put the match in a little bit slower rhythm and wait for the right moments to go for the point and worked well. Del Potro is a fantastic player, so it’s not easy to change the dynamic of the match like this. I’m very happy.
Q. When you returned on clay your expectations were at a different level, but coming onto this surface ‑ I know you’ve talked about it many times how tough it is ‑ does that make this week a very big one for you to actually prove to yourself that on this surface you can win, as well?
RAFAEL NADAL: I know. I won in the past, right?
Q. But at this particular stage of your…
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, I don’t have a lot of doubts that if I am healthy and if I am right I have a chance to win on these surfaces. When last year you are 4‑2 in the fifth of Australian Open 30‑15, when you are here losing in semifinals, when you are playing semifinals of Miami, you are there. You are in the semifinals and you are playing finals. Why you cannot win titles? That’s the real thing, because to be in that semifinal you have to win against players who are probably the same level that players who you will meet in the final, no? So it’s something that I don’t have doubts, but after you have to win, and I didn’t for the last couple of years. But is true I played a lot of finals, no? My results on hard I think were great the last couple of years, but remain the title, and now I did. That’s makes emotional week for me. Very important victory for me, winning, like I say before, against the best players of the world on a surface that is good for them. Seriously, it’s impossible to have better comeback, no? Happy for everything.
Q. What’s your schedule between now and the French Open? After this result, do you think you’ll be able to sort of go into Monte‑Carlo ‑ I presume that’s your next event ‑ feeling the same way that you felt the last five, seven years going into Monte‑Carlo?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don’t know which feeling was last seven years or eight years. (Smiling.)
I tried my best every year, and I arrived there thinking that I have to play my best tennis if I want to have any chance. I never had a different feeling. No, no, for me clay don’t mean victory. Clay mean this is the surface that I love to play and I had a great success in the past, but every year is a different year. Every year I have to improve. Every year I have to do different things if I want to keep winning on clay. And I try to do my best and I try to do different things and be better player every year to have the chance to make good results, no? So I’m going to go to Monte‑Carlo with the same expectations than ever, than always, and I gonna try my best to arrive there healthy and in good shape playing well.
Q. How about Barcelona? Madrid?
RAFAEL NADAL: That’s my schedule, the four obligatories and Barcelona. That’s my schedule. I go week by week since I came back. For example, I cannot go to Miami. I’m very sad for that. I’m very sorry for the organization of the tournament and I’m very sorry for the fans, but we never thought we’d be able to play all matches possible since I came back. The doctors recommend me to be back home for a few weeks and rest a little bit and keep practicing the right way. You know, I need more power on the left leg quadriceps, so I need to keep working hard. The competition is hard for the body, so after four fantastic weeks I can’t go to Miami. I need to prepare and rest for the next one.
Q. You mentioned that winning this tournament brought to your mind all the lower moments. Could you take a moment and share one or two of the times when it was really difficult for you when you were off the circuit?
RAFAEL NADAL: In terms of competition, the worst was for the Olympics, when I had to take position to not go to Olympics. In terms of the injury last couple of months because I worked a lot, I tried different treatments, and when you feel that you are doing everything and the results are not being very satisfactory, you know, you go down a little bit, no? Is normal. Is not an injury, you know, the doubt when and where you will be able to be back on a tennis tournament is hard, no? And when you are there and wake up every morning and test yourself and the test is negative, you know, it’s not the right feeling, that’s not nice. (Smiling.)
Q. Was there one thing that kept you going more than anything else while you were out?
RAFAEL NADAL: Sorry?
Q. Was there one sort of thought or hope that kept you believing more than anything while you were out injured? Was it the competition or was it…
RAFAEL NADAL: I like the tennis. I love the sport. So I love sport in general. I love to practice the sport. I love the competition. Even if I don’t have the chance to play tennis, I like to play football. I like to play different sports that for the last seven months I didn’t. So is not only a thing about tennis. Is thing about my life, and my life is very close to sport in general. I was not able to do nothing of things, no one thing that I really loved to do it. I love to practice sport, move my body, and only sport that I was able to do it was golf, that I love, but I really love the movement of sports. I miss the feeling to go on a big stadium with all people, all this atmosphere that makes you feel something different. And the feeling of victory, the feeling of competition, this adrenaline in life, there is much more important things than tennis. That’s only game. But probably the feeling that you have when you are in a competition, when you are winning a match, when you are winning a tournament, this adrenaline, this feeling on that moment is very difficult to find outside of this, no?
Q. Can you talk about all the momentum changes in this match? I mean, you won the first three games; he won nine of the next eleven games. You won five straight. Talk about what you think made things change so much.
RAFAEL NADAL: I didn’t say in the first answer? I don’t know. But I said I think I started the match playing great, very aggressive, making the right things to be in control of the point. Then I think Del Potro start to play more aggressive and I lost a little bit my calm. I didn’t make the right thing because I tried to change my direction against his forehand with my forehand in not the right ‑‑ in not a favorable position. So that produces more mistakes than usual. For that reason, I was not able to keep winning games. He was playing great. He was playing solid. I was playing with more mistakes and no chances. Then I was lucky to have the break back in the second set because the first game of the second set was struggle for me. Four mistakes with my forehand, and the last ‑‑ when I had the break back in the second everything changed. I found the way to win points another time, to be comfortable when the ball is in the middle of the point, know how to play. And after that break, in my opinion, I played the right tactic another time. I waited for the right moment to change against his forehand.
Q. You said on TV that you were surprised by the quality of your movement today.
RAFAEL NADAL: I was.
Q. Can you confirm?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah. (Laughter.) I was.
Q. Do you play with painkiller?
RAFAEL NADAL: With pain?
Q. Killer.
RAFAEL NADAL: What’s painkiller?
Q. Pills.
RAFAEL NADAL: (Through translation. Painkiller. Anti‑inflammatories?
Q. No, no.
RAFAEL NADAL: Anti‑inflammatories? Same? (Through translation.)
I play with anti‑inflammatories every day. I don’t know if that’s the same as painkiller. I don’t know in English. You know what anti‑inflammatory is?
Q. Yeah, of course.
RAFAEL NADAL: So I take that every night before the match since I came back. Hopefully I can play without that in short period of time.
Q. During your celebration you ran over to Larry. Why did you feel it was necessary to go to Larry Ellison and shake his hand? Can you talk about jumping on the low partition when you celebrated with your team? Your knees looked very healthy.
RAFAEL NADAL: With Larry I think it’s very important to have someone like him supporting the sport. We just can say thank you very much to him for all the things that he’s doing for the sport. He’s very important to have, very important persons like him who really love tennis and who really show his passion for our sport and who is ready to convert this tournament in one of the best tournaments of the world. The tournament already is one of the best. But with these new things that gonna happen for next year and for the coming years, probably will become, without any doubt, one of the best tournaments of the world. Personally, I have a relationship with him and he supported me a lot. Just say thanks to him personally for everything that he did during last two weeks for me and for the support that I receive from him for always.
Posted: 18.03.13 19:14. Post subject: Великолепная статья ..
Великолепная статья Стива Тиньора
The Return of the Persistents
MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013 /BY STEVE TIGNOR
INDIAN WELLS, CALIF.—Last spring, as they gained momentum through the clay season, I began to refer to Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova together as the Persistents. That trait, which they obviously share, paid off in Roland Garros titles for both of them. But it didn’t pay off forever. Neither would win another tournament all year.
Sunday, though, the Persistents, like two sides of the same penny—a good one, not a bad one—rolled back up and spun around, shiny and bright, at our feet in Indian Wells. Sharapova won her first title since Paris; Nadal won his most important. They are, at least on the surface, stone-cold opposites. He’s Mediterranean fire; she’s Siberian ice. She never lets her guard down; he never puts his up. He wins with innocent passion; she wins with ruthless professionalism. But they have one thing in common: They keep getting back up.
Yesterday Nadal and Sharapova ended up in the same spot, in the winner's circle again, smiling like little kids, their fierce selves left behind for a few minutes. They held the same strange, abstract and, as Nadal said, “very heavy” BNP Paribas winner’s trophy—Rafa struggled to find a place to bite his, Maria struggled to pick hers up. That’s how the Persistents’ week ended, but you get the feeling their seasons have just begun.
*****
“When you have one comeback like I’m having,” Rafael Nadal said after his three-set, near-epic win over Juan Martin del Potro, “you remember all the low things, lower moments that you had during this seven months, doubts and all these things. So beating three Top 10 players and winning a title like this is just something unbelievable for me. Very, very happy, and very emotional.”
When have we heard this before from Rafa? The better question may be: When haven’t we heard this before? He said something similar after he won his first French Open, in 2005; the previous year, he had been unable to play the tournament because of a foot injury. He said it again when he won in Paris in 2006; that winter, he had been forced to miss the Australian Open. He said it through his tears at Roland Garros in 2010, while remembering the injuries that had forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon the year before. Even last season, when he jumped into the stands at the French Open after beating Novak Djokovic, the feeling was the same. Rafa embraced his uncle Toni, and they celebrated the end of a year-long losing streak to his nemesis in Grand Slam finals. Those had also been low moments for Nadal.
Usually, as you can see, Rafa saves these words and feelings for Paris. The French Open, with its friendly red clay, is his customary reward after his annual bout of that favorite word of his: “suffering.” But this year, after his longest spell of suffering yet, he had the same redemptive experience two months earlier, at Indian Wells. The hard surface here is less friendly to his game and his knees, but the emotion made sense anyway. Nadal has taken to calling this event a home away from home, a place where he typically begins to feel good about his game again, a tournament that he might have skipped this year if he didn’t like it so much.
This is the pattern of Nadal’s career, and how his competitive psyche works. He must fall to get up. A stoic and realist with a wide streak of self-doubt, he distrusts easy success and thrives when he feels oppressed, when he must prove something to himself again.
Nadal proved it in vintage fashion against del Potro on Sunday. Even within this match, he had to rebound from some low moments. Nadal was down a set and a break, and he looked distinctly like the second best player on the court for much of the day. He spent many rallies scrambling back near the linesmen, spinning around desperately, and often futilely, to try to get in position for del Potro’s next bullet forehand. When Rafa did get a chance to attack, he pulled the trigger too early and made errors.
“I lost a little bit of my calm,” Nadal said. “I didn’t choose the right shots...I think I was wrong in strategy, something that for me is unusual. I can have mistakes with the shots, but how I have to manage the points, normally I am right.”
We know Nadal wins with emotion. But his words here point to the intelligence of his game, the amount of thought that goes into it, something that isn’t always appreciated. This week I was struck, seeing Nadal in practice a few times, by how much technical talk there was between Rafa and his coach, Francisco Roig (Toni Nadal doesn't travel to Indian Wells). They would argue, in animated, rapid-fire fashion, over the angle that Rafa should use to hit a certain shot, and try over and over again to find the right stance and balance for his strokes. Even this morning, a couple of hours before the final, they were chattering about his forehand while Nadal warmed up inside the stadium. As Rafa tried to walk off the court, Roig pulled him back for one last demonstration of the motion he wanted. The tinkering never seems to end with Nadal, and there's more than just strength and willpower in those shots.
The joy that Nadal finds in winning never seems to end, or diminish, either. After the final point of his 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win, Rafa dove to his knees and saluted the crowd and the sky and maybe the sun with an abandon and intensity that reminded me of his celebration after his U.S. Open win in 2010. After a quick salute to the Sun King of Indian Wells, Larry Ellison, Nadal ran over and leaped into the stands to embrace Roig and his team.
The rest of the audience could feel Rafa’s emotion. It was strong enough, as it usually is when he wins, to pull everyone into its childlike force field. But only his coaches, the men who had worked with him here and over the last three months to get him back into top-level playing shape so quickly, who tinkered with the strokes, fixed the footwork, and kept him believing in himself, could understand exactly what this win meant. After the months of lows, this was a well-deserved, and hard-earned, high moment.
.......
At the start of this post, I wrote that Nadal was the fire to Maria Sharapova’s ice. Really, in the way they approach the game, in their never-dying desire and never-flagging work ethic, they’re two sides of the same persistent coin. Tennis’s good pennies, they keep coming back for more.
Posted: 18.03.13 19:46. Post subject: Nadia0808 пишет: Ол..
Nadia0808 пишет:
quote:
Оль, я не поняла - Рафа играет на болеутоляющих
Рафа сказал, что на ночь перед матчем он принимает противовоспалительные. При этом надеется, что в ближайшем будущем будет обходиться без них. Тони в одном из недавних радиоинтервью говорил, что Рафа сейчас играет без болеутоляющих.
Posted: 18.03.13 20:40. Post subject: ольга Конечно тяжел..
ольга Конечно тяжело. За такими термоядерными мячами носился, успевал, растяжки, торможения, а сколько в прыжках сыграл Хороший отдых с семьей дома, друзьми в клубе, рыбалка, восстановление и снова потихоньку тренироваться на грунте Главное, что Рафа счастлив, море положительных эмоций и замечательное настроение
Posted: 19.03.13 09:46. Post subject: Nadia0808 Возвращае..
Nadia0808 Возвращаемся к "любимой" теме - к колену. После турнира Рафа давал множество интервью, в Твиттере написали, что он сказал в радиопрограмме Partido de las 12: - что он бы "подписался" на такое самочувствие, какое у него было последние две недели - что колено побаливает и немеет после тяжелых матчей как в воскресенье, это нормальная реакция.
Тони в интервью сказал, что в четверг они приступают к тренировкам.
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Журнал был моментально раскуплен, купить можно только онлайн. Редакция обещает сделать плакаты Рафы в этом образе 
Дело даже не в том, что раздаются голоса "Сделай это через равного себе", а в том что сам Рафа этого хочет и к этому стремится. Поскольку спортсмен и боец до кончиков пальцев. Он ведь всю жизнь ставит себе цели, порой кажущиеся недостижимыми, и упорно идет к этим целям. Вспомнить хотя бы заявление после победы на РГ-2005 о том, что главная мечта - Уимблдон. Кто только тогда у виска пальцем не крутил и не издевался. Потом АО и ЮСО, казавшиеся когда-то совершенно недосягаемыми. А то, что манер и повадок как у Джордана нет, так это слава богу.
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