Clay warrior..

Living with Maradona would be a punishment?! In that case, I feel I've been a very bad girl.

C'mon, it'd be great. Beards! Insanity! Cocaine on your chips!

And just to be vaguely tennistical, I lol'ed at "the Claycier".

tunafish: yup, he was the Brat, wasn't he? Did you see the piece NBC did yesterday on the 1980 tiebreak? When John and Bjorn came onto the court for the final, the crowd boo'd mac! never been done before. The Wimby crowd really loathed him. And rightfully so. Here are the best tennis fans in the world. Always respectful to the players and this guy's behaviour was so shocking to their proper sensibilities. It was hard being a Mac fan. But I loved his tennis.

tennisanyone,

By 2011, Roger will not be a major factor in Rankings nor in Slams.

Sorry, that is just the naked truth that Sampras had to accept as well.

tennisanyone -Fed as Quentin T? That is SO 2007.

AGAIN with that? I think we got the whole tailspin thing the first time around. Enlightening, thanks! ;-)

"Living with Maradona would be a punishment?! In that case, I feel I've been a very bad girl."

Aren't you English? I thought you were required by law to hate Maradona.

espnalanaldo,

"By 2011, Roger will not be a major factor in Rankings nor in Slams."

Are you willing to bet money on that?

Sampras is different from Roger you know :-)

Roger has better hair, therefore he is less likely to go down the way Sampras did.

How about The Illusionist, or the Spanish equivalent.

I think we should incorporate one of his classic Spanglish words.

Daylily - I know you weren't trying to get it to catch on here. Just venting about my own pet peeves. Although Annie is right. He did celebrate with a sommersault. Sometimes Boyish Fully Grown Human Male? (SBFGHM)

Hee. Ice Borg!
My mom always described Borg as Robot Hot.

I think that sexret(!) of Nadal. He has to also align his package, as all of us men, do instictively. (he, he)

Else, it is going to be painful even to walk straight.

CPM - see! That was EXACTLY Queen Elizabeth's point when she told Fed to hit his BH DTL more! But at the last minute she got all 'girly' and was distracted by his beautiful locks and forgot the 'shave you head' part. Which really is better than the 'OFF with your head' part.

Part? Well, yes, now that you are all mentioning it, Rafa's widens apace.;-)

We should stay away from "Rafanator". Astonished to see that suggested by someone with Rafa or Nadal in their handle.

You see, the Governator was a longtime steriods user. I am sure you see why it may not look right.

Well, maybe...Hmmmm...maybe I should..Nah, too easy.

daylily....when he is on court, he transforms himself into a ruthless terminator...

The exclusive clay names are not all that appropriate anymore so no to 'Clay warrior' :)

'The naturalist' since he seems to prefer natural surfaces? (yea I know I'm no good at this, lol)

Gauloises,
Are you young enough not to have known Maradona as a player? cause that would explain it ;=)

Sufrayce Master?

CL: So many times I've wished I had your email addy to write you over the years. :) I'll leave mine if you are up to exchanging email at any point. tennistari@hotmail.com

I believe the coalition are making a determined effort to enshrine that into legislation, yes.

But I wanted England to lose, and I wanted Argentina to win. Besides, how do you hate Crazy Diego? Bless him, the whacked-out little fantasist.

Wow, how the analysis of tennis achievement gone to the dogs.

It all hinges of hair.

How pedestrian!

It seems this forum has descended into the gutter of hair discussion --- hair from top to bottom. or drapes to carpet. (boinggg!)

Arnold played a "role" in the Terminator....we are not talking about Arnold himself here.....come on

Thank goodness the Queen wasn't there when Rafa "aligned his package"

I agree with people wanting to take the "clay" out of it...its no longer true.

Again Pete, again, you got your facts wrong. There was not a 13th game in the 2nd set (7+5 only addd to 12) . And Nadal broke Berdych in 4 service games , not 3 (2 in the first set). Are you sure Pete you did watch that match? It must be nice getting paid for writing articles with only 50% of correct facts!!.

"By 2011, Roger will not be a major factor in Rankings nor in Slams."

Rankings yes, but he'll be a threat to 'go on a run' in any slam he enters, just as Pete was.

"Sorry, that is just the naked truth that Sampras had to accept as well."

Do you go to peoples' houses and say "what a nice dog, too bad it's getting old and will be dead in a few years", because yeah, thanks for pointing out that things age, we'd never realized that

Good evening,

Gauloises,
You have to see this. That's why:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeF4tTEWM6M

I cannot believe TW is talking about bald postural adjustment.

"It all hinges of hair.
How pedestrian!"

Not unless you walk on your head...or perhaps the back of your hands?

Oh, I was wondering why my comment disappeared.

I shall repeat it with moderate adjustments ...

I don't know, ChannelSlam, I'm pretty old. When was the Hand of Deity?

Rafan8tor (Only temporary, of course!)

espnalanaldo

You can join in if you want :-)

Besides, I think the hair theory holds more weight than your theory for Roger not being a factor for winning in slams..whatever your theory is for his decline since you care not to elaborate.

Tari - I am so there...

actually teamnadal, i was thinking more in terms how how i don't want sandwich ingredients to play a part in rafa's legend....and i would always think of Baconator and Wendy's upon hearing it. :)

"Rafan8tor (Only temporary, of course!"

Colette - BRILLIANT! :)

Maradona was the best thing about this World Cup.

At least the man was fully alive and passionate about the sport.

AB,

Give it up! with the surfrayce. Nadal is not a native English speaker. In much the same way that an English, new to Spanish will pronounce a boy, as nino instead of nin-yo.

That would make look and sound like a ninny!

While Fed has no chance catching Rafa this year unless Rafa gets injured again and can't play, some suggests that Rafa has no points to defend and will be able to build even more points. NOT TRUE. While Rafa played like crap after comeback last year, he still reached QF or SF of virtually all tourneys he entered last year.

Rafa (2009)
US OPEN SF-720
canada QF-180
Cincy SF-360
Shanghai F-600
Paris indoor SF-360
Beijing 500 SF-180

So only place he totally sucked was the year end final where he got 0 point.

Compare to this, Fed has
US OPEN F-1200
canada QF-180
Cincy W-1000
Shanghai Didn't play-0
Paris indoor R32-10
Basel 500 F-300
Tour final RR-400

Too lazy to compare exact total points to defend between the two, but I bet when you all add them up, the numbers are about the same. Only difference is that Fed has more points to defend until US Open, but has way more chance to earn points since he didn't play much due to injury last year. If you're curious I suggest that you add numbers and compare.

Gauloises,
Then I rest my case and I obviously lose :)

"Do you go to peoples' houses and say "what a nice dog, too bad it's getting old and will be dead in a few years", because yeah, thanks for pointing out that things age, we'd never realized that"

LOL.

"....and i would always think of Baconator and Wendy's upon hearing it. :)"

let's save that for nalbandian

"I have come to think Nadal is not bad looking."

To be sure, not your classic Kendoll face, but strong masculine features, more so since he lost his baby facial fat. On/off court, it's quite a transformation with him, always going through several stages.

Calm pre-match concentration:
http://tinyurl.com/3xjwk2g

Intense match semi-snarl:
http://tinyurl.com/38hqwrb

Post-win joy:
http://tinyurl.com/33u7xqn

Presser smile:
http://tinyurl.com/37fwhku

Sorry, everytime I see Arnold..I wonder how come he is not dead yet from all the steriods.

I did not see any of the Terminator movies..for me he is a body builder and politician.

"....and i would always think of Baconator and Wendy's upon hearing it. :)"

"let's save that for nalbandian"

ROFL

tba; you like to bring up the steroids thing or you like to hint around it. In today's NYTimes article about the final, they mention that rafa had drug testing right after the match. That's s.o.p. nowadays. the guy is clean and always has been.

how about "bisquit"? or "Beeskweet" as he said it in one of his pressers. :)

Oh yes, the highly original Fat Dave jokes. Just for that, I'm taking both Fed's hips. Nalby can have a spare.

zenggi, he smokes during practice?! Awesome. Although I've always heard that anything you can do while smoking isn't a sport, so ... Maradona's just killed football. Finally.

Steely Don (pronouned as in "Don Quixote)

All I can think of is Rafaking ... but wait ... oh well, maybe not.

espn: it's called humor, as in, if we can't ignore you, we'll humor you, but Grant is much better at turning defense into funny.

hahahha Lynne.....Rafa King or King Rafa.....Home of the Whopper!

I hate it when I am at a grunting concert and they start playing tennis,

Thanks for the table...but Fed still has 3090 points to defend while Rafa has 2400 points to defend.

So Fed has 690 more points to defend than Rafa. All in all, the dynamic will only change if Fed wins USO and Rafa does not.

I don't think Fed will travel to Asia again given the twins cannot handle jet lag...so i think it boils down to the last major of the year.

oops,

Dat wud make u look and sound like a ninny!

Yeah, I think the 'clay' doesn't work because it makes you think of some statue that doesn't move...which would NOT be Rafa.

I've said from the beginning, back when Daylilly and Zola first raised this, that the reason it is hard to get a nickname to 'stick' to Rafa is because his OWN name..which is short, and punchy, and quite charming, just fits him so well. Rafa is a great name.

Lynn, last two syllables ... not so much

and AB,

ninny sounds funny indeed.

CL

True "Rafa"...says so much more about "Rafa" than anything else does.

tic: thanks for those pics. I like the first the best. I actually think his full-on snarl is wicked sexy. You know his mother says she does not recognize him when he's on court, his personality changes so much. So I don't think he snarls in his everyday life :)

tba: arnold has had heart trouble. I don't know if that is a symptom of long term steroid use. honestly, I didn't expect him to have any children.

CL, good point. Charming, yet "majestic" too

Annie, I have been explicit about hearing about Nadal first many years ago in connection with Operation Puerta, the drug scandal.

No hinting. Explicit.

I am making no assertion about drug use by him beyond that.

And, yes...Arnold reminds of steriod use everytime I see him. So no, Rafanator does not work for me.

Anyway, now that you have engaged me directly I will exit for the day and return at a more benign time. Leave the party to the Nadalnation. Ciao, been real.

tunafish,

I am sure the queen, who has lived this long, has seen her husband, the prince adjust his package so many times. Who knows, she may have liked it? As much as the prince has seen the queen adjust her own tunafish.

LOL.

CL: agreed. I was going to post something along those lines earlier. Rafa is his nickname isn't it?

"tunafish,

I am sure the queen, who has lived this long, has seen her husband, the prince adjust his package so many times. Who knows, she may have liked it? As much as the prince has seen the queen adjust her own tunafish."

"LOL"

x 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The thing is that right now the difference between Nadal and Fed is 3860 ranking points.
If Nadal can defend some of his points, Fed won't be able to catch him even by winning the USO.

ladyjulia- "The twins cannot handle jet lag."??? Since when? From within weeks of their birth, those 2 girls have flown east, west and all around the town. They MUST hold some sort of record for most air miles traveled by humans under the age of 1 year. At just a little over a month, they flew from Swiz. to to North America. Westward - the WORST for jet lag. And face it, if they can't handle it, all they can do is whine and fuss about it and since that is par for the course anyway, who's to notice?

I'm just glad Nadal has a "package" to adjust. I often wondered about him. I think the Queen was happy Nadal didn't show up to meet her as he probably picked his butt right beforehand and then would shake her hand. The Queen probably doesn't even know who Nadal is.

Is Nadal the father of Federer's twins?

CL

Fed mentioned in an interview that the travel from US to Asia within two weeks may not be good for them...If I can remember where I read it, I will link it.

True otherwise...they have done a lot of traveling. The article mentioned him specifically saying trip to Asia and jetlag in two weeks of time.

Oh, yeah, the Queen knows alright, everyone knows ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/operation-puerto-fails-to-link-players-with-drug-abuse-406789.html

No tennis players were involved.

And here's that magazine cover rugged serious looks pic of Nadal with his trophy:
http://tinyurl.com/39uw9ub

""Too lazy to compare exact total points to defend between the two, but I bet when you all add them up, the numbers are about the same ""

NOPE, they are not. Doing the maths, Fed has 3080 pts to defend until the end of the year, and Nadal has 2400 odd pts to defend. Djokovic has the maximum to defend (approx 4200). Therefore, Nadal has a good shot to end the year as #1 since he has a 3500+ cushion over Fed and Djokovic.

That said,, Nadal COULD do disastrously in the hardcourt season (loosing in the QF or before of the USO and other events) and Fed COULD win the UsO along with a couple of HC events, in which case Fed could be #1. STILL, Nadal will probably play consistently with past performances (or slightly poorly), and maybe pick up a tournament, which would put him out of reach as #1.

If I had to guess the top 10 at the end of the year:

Nadal
Federer
Soderling ( The Swede's time is coming and perhaps a slam is within the reach)
Murray
Djokovic
Delpo ( goes higher once he comes back).
Berdych
Roddick
Davydenko
Tsonga
Verdasco/Ferrer

gauloises,
I cannot agree. I strongly disagree. Or not.

Looks like the french press were doing their usual smear campaign. At the expense of an athlete's lifelong reputation. that stinks.

What a shame we can't talk about the wimbledon champion the day after the tourney ends on a tennis site without killjoys arriving.

oh yes, I forgot the 3500 points that Rafa already has ahead of Fed.

I think its almost tied up for YE#1.

But there is always next year...if Rafa wins USO...defending 3 GS a year is no joke...Mats couldn't do it nad Fed couldn't do it the first time either.

So, Fed should look for his chance sometime around this time next year. He would do himself a world of favor if he wins a MS tourney now and then.

The correct name is 'Operation Puerto' not Puerta and there hasn't been any proof that Mr. Nadal was involved in any way.

Looking at past performances by Nadal during the fall HC season, I think that only an extended absence will prevent him from keeping his ranking. If he's relatively fit, it's likely that he'll get similar results: Quarters/Semis.

Where did my post go?

Channelslam: i just posted the article that basically retracts the french press's allegations. The ITF looked into it and NO futbol or tennis players were involved. Just cycling. It was a cycling scandal apparently.

Nadal is tested more than any other player/athlete. I think he plays cleanly.

Daylily:

Two suggestions:

1) simply, "The Fisherman"

2) - to be tennis specific: The Running Man

Oh there it is :)

Annie,
Thanks for fighting the good fight.
I understand everyone has a right to their opinion and there is no way any of us will ever know for sure what athletes do or don't do but I must say I couldn't accuse anyone of drug use unless I had hard proof *shrugs*

Nadal is a very good tennis player. He makes the game exciting, withouth Nadal and Federer, tennis is in big trouble. My other comment about Nadal is this guy has some issues - the way he arranges the water bottles and especially the way he digs into his tush after each point. I've never seen a grown man do this, espcially in front of millions of people. This is the kind of thing a 3 year old kid would do. Can't somebody help this guy?

Annie

The wikipedia article on "operation puerto" mentions football and tennis players. I don't want to do the research though to check up their facts and sources. Apparently, the doc mentions that why only cyclists are being blamed when football players were also his clients.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Puerto#cite_note-1

I don't have an opinion on this subject except that WADA dosen't do enough testing for EPO out-of-competition for tennis players (which are clear in the stats). I know Fed and Rafa are the most tested tennis players, given that they win so much...but I don't think the testing system is sufficient for tennis in general. Not that I have suspicions about any players...except that the stats of being tested out-of-competition are sadly not up with the times or expectations of an olympic sport.

Again, I am talking in general about tennis as a sport..esp. as an olympic sport. Not about any players or anybody in particular.

Annie

The wikipedia article on "operation puerto" mentions football and tennis players. I don't want to do the research though to check up their facts and sources. Apparently, the doc mentions that why only cyclists are being blamed when football players were also his clients.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Puerto#cite_note-1

I don't have an opinion on this subject except that WADA dosen't do enough testing for EPO out-of-competition for tennis players (which are clear in the stats). I know Fed and Rafa are the most tested tennis players, given that they win so much...but I don't think the testing system is sufficient for tennis in general. Not that I have suspicions about any players...except that the stats of being tested out-of-competition are sadly not up with the times or expectations of an olympic sport.

Again, I am talking in general about tennis as a sport..esp. as an olympic sport. Not about any players or anybody in particular.

Nadal: congratulations on winning Wimbledon. And when tennis career is over, he can concentrate on modeling.

"Thanks for fighting the good fight."

Death to the strawmen!

"Death to the strawmen!"

English is not my native language so I didn't get that... probably for the best

Sweet tweet from Horacio Zeballos re: Nalby ...

"David, is the best!, Is training 100% like us and want to play and give joy to the country!"

Or so google translate leads me to believe.

"The wikipedia article on "operation puerto" mentions football and tennis players."

And you are of course aware that Wikipedia articles are being written by an independent panel of experts and not by random public members. Oh, wait...

Tic,

That is why I said...I don't want to do the research to check up the facts adn sources...besides most of it is in spanish, so it is impossible for me to say. How do I know what the doc is saying is correct or not? I am just putting out another source of information there, not claiming any authenticity.

I don't really want to get into this topic of operation puerto given that most of the material is in spanish..but my opinion about WADA testing remains unchanged..but that is a topic for another thread..not this one.

English is my native language and I didn't understand that.

Ladyjulia: i'll read that article. I thought the one I posted was from a reputable source so I took it literally.

Annie,

To be warned, I have no evidence to say that wikipedia's description is correct and I cannot check all the references they have mentioned. Besides, half of them are in spanish.

Besides I don't think this topic belongs to this thread...so sorry for commenting on it.

Good Morning Everyone,

Daylily you have made another apperence here at TW

Going for a record 2 days in a row now?

Faints lol!

Please stay forever ok

Hmmm will catch up

Drugs in cycling nothing new there

I love the Tour and follow if every year

Though Drugs as always given it somewhat of a bad name

Some athletics have been kicked out before it starts every year

So we've covered the "who is the GOAT/who is the GHOAT" debates, and are onto the 'ever-revelatory' topic of steroid use? Again? *yawns*

For those wondering about Cincy, articles I have sen today suggest that Rafa will take a full month off and have his other knee treated....one suggested he may miss the Masters tournament in Toronto, but this one: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jul/05/rafael-nadal-tennis quotes him as saying that "Now the most important thing for me is to rest in Mallorca, to enjoy the summer and then have three weeks like a mini pre-season practice there. I will try to work as I did in December, which was very good for me. I will try to do the same and be healthy to play well in Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open."

carboncopy: love your post! yeah, rafa appears to have OCD which I am familiar with. I don't know if it is limited to just his tennis game or his life off court as well. He goes through numerous rituals before each match. The butt-picking is a habit he's had since he was much younger. It's unfortunate. Why couldn't it be like Roddick's shirt habit, or Fed's hair flicking habit.

Hi Rosangel! yes, now we're on to the tics...

Rosangel Hi.Oh My not again

How many times over the years has Rafa and the Steriod discussion has come up

Yawn!!!!! as well

I cant believe this

Then again yes I can here.

Okay You Started This Bloody Rubbish????

Hmmmmmmm A case of Tall Poppy Syndrome I see

Rafa no 1 and someone has got to bring him down

Oh Yes it also happens to Roger in different circumstances

People just love to get Dirt dont they.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G65XBMsKfQ

rafa in his tux before the ball.

Aussiemarg,
Yes that drug discussion came up again here and on another board that I scanned today but again, the poster can not come up with solid evidence. All I am going to say that Rafael is on a roll where he wins everything in sight that is a Masters event or better starting in April. Guess his next event below Masters will be Beijing(500 event) but not completely sure.

Matt my friend (if I may call you that): you may not recall it, but the toughest post I ever wrote for TW referenced Rafa and "Born To Run".
http://tennisworld.typepad.com/tennisworld/2009/06/born-to-run.html

And one of the favourite pictures I took of Rafa in 2008 on his way to winning Wimbledon was this: http://homepage.mac.com/rosangel/Rafa(4)/large-1.html