King of Clay Will Clash With Queen of Poker
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Rafael Nadal
Started by
desperate for housewives
, Oct 19 2008 19:29
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#4473
alcesta
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Posted 14 April 2014 - 21:27
Clay Still Needs Its King
Around this time last year, my friend and colleague at TENNIS.com, Pete Bodo, wrote an article entitled “Rafatigue.” Its theme, in case you can’t guess, was about how dully predictable it can be to spend a large part of every spring watching Rafael Nadal win match after match and tournament after tournament on clay.
The sentiment isn’t hard to understand. No tennis player has ever turned an entire stretch of a season into his own personal playground the way Nadal has. Over the last decade, Rafa's record during the clay swing is 216-8, and he’s won 36 of the 44 tournaments he’s played. Going strictly by the numbers, when Rafa enters an event in spring, the suspense exits.
Yet I tend to see his presence at this time of year the opposite way. Because Nadal is such a heavy favorite every time he takes the court on dirt, it means that even the slightest slip-up or sign of nerves from him, or the briefest run of nothing-to-lose good play from his opponent, can turn his matches into must-watch tennis—until he eventually finds his range and drops the hammer again. The fact that Nadal wins so much on clay makes even the slightest possibility that he’ll lose that much more momentous.
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Nadal also understands that appearances can be deceiving when it comes to dominant athletes. As he has always reminded us, it’s not as easy as it looks, even for the best, and no match is a sure thing.
“I know I’m not going to keep winning all of the tournaments on clay forever,” Nadal said this week, in his customary, almost superstitiously, fatalistic way. “And there is going to arrive a day when I’m not going to win one more. But hopefully not yet.”
Nadal also likely understands what it means to have a polarizing effect on the devotees of a sport. It’s hard to imagine any halfway serious golf fan not having a strong opinion one way or the other about Tiger Woods, and it’s the same for Rafa with tennis fans. There are those who love his fiery, physical style, and those who loathe his tics and tardiness. More important, there are also plenty of fans who loathe how often he beats their favorite players. And by now, after so many years of seeing him sweep through this part of the season, there are probably plenty of others who, like Pete Bodo, could simply do with a changing of the clay guard.
All of which makes Nadal’s presence on dirt as essential as Tiger’s presence at the Masters—more essential, in fact, because Rafa is still at the top of his game. Imagine a clay season without Nadal. I can almost hear the cries of relief from some of you, but by the end of two months, how satisfying would it be? There would still be dramatic matches, and deserving new champions, and no one would have to wait while Rafa lined up his water bottles. Yet there still would be something missing for all fans.
Those who love Nadal wouldn’t get to see him play. Those who are bored, or think they're bored, by his dominance wouldn’t get to sense history in the making—however briefly—every time he has his service broken. And those who loathe him, while they would be happy to see their favorite player win, wouldn’t have the pleasure of seeing Rafa, the world's greatest dirt-baller, knocked off his throne. Anyone who cares about sports knows that the taste of your side's victory is only made sweeter by your enemy's defeat.
You may love him, you may loathe him, or you may just be tired or him, but the king still needs his clay, and clay still needs its king.
http://www.tennis.co...4/#.U0xkKPmSwgg
Edited by alcesta, 14 April 2014 - 23:57.
#4474
alcesta
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#4476
steva8lfc
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Posted 18 April 2014 - 16:17
Lavrnja, zakljucavaj... svako ko je u stanju da izgubi GS finale od takvog hedkejsa kakav je Vavrinka ne zasluzuje da jede 'leba od ovog sporta a ovo danas je samo jos jedan dokaz. Pauza do RG-a, odigrati i taj poslednji RG i povuci se posto je doslo vreme. Ostaje zal onda za Viljasom i Decugisom ali jbg, ne moze se sve postici... a sve je bolje nego konstantno brukanje pod stare dane i kvariti sliku o sebi koju je teskom mukom stvarao prethodnih 10 godina.
my2¢
#4477
alcesta
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Posted 18 April 2014 - 16:19
Ok, sad je red na mene da skidam procente stevi 
#4478
nlavrnja
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Posted 18 April 2014 - 16:36
Sad kad vidim da se Steva oglasio, meni odmah 70% lakse (sad samo da me Fica ne iznervira )
#4480
steva8lfc
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Posted 18 April 2014 - 16:47
Ako mislis da sam gledao i nervirao, e tu si se zajebao... nego tupavi telefon, 4 aplikacije me obavestavaju o rezultatu a mrzi me da ih izbrisem ;D
#4483
alcesta
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Posted 20 April 2014 - 17:31
En Barcelona, entrenando ya de nuevo!!
Back to training in Barcelona!!
#4484
alcesta
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Posted 23 April 2014 - 16:43
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVCN16c9n5I
http://www.b92.net/s...2&nav_id=839264
Rafa voli operu po porodičnoj tradiciji, dok na Ferera ova poseta očigledno nije tako dobro uticala
Ali u svim našim medijima piše da mu je deda bio šef pozorišnog orkestra 
zna li iko od novinara kako se to kod nas zove? Čik da to napišu za Tasovca 
Edited by alcesta, 23 April 2014 - 16:45.
