One on one with Rog

I almost typed Roig up there. A one on one with him would be probably extremely interesting. I gather he's still with Rafa in NYC.

Roger talks about fashion quite a bit here, quite articulately, which puts me in mind of that hilarious vid of him bending Rio Ferdinand's ear about his tennis fashions for five solid minutes.

Also, Jeremy Chardy

He's pretty. That is all.

Back in... tennis

I had a bit of haitus there, although I've still been following the tennis. I don't know, the demands of real life got the better of me and blogging seemed hard. But here I am, still obsessing quietly about tennis.

The US Open is nearly upon us. Rafa's going to be at Arthur Ashe kids day again, along with Novak, Mandy Murray, Serena and Maria Sharapova.

I'm sorry, Mandy. Andy. I'm sure you hate being called that. Andy says he feels no pressure to win his first slam. He points out it took Roger 17 tries to win his first, and that Andy is now on his fifteenth attempt.

17 is an exceptionally large number of attempts, I think, and seems perculiar to Roger's relatively slow development as a player. Novak won the AO on his eighth slam attempt, Rafa won the French Open on his sixth attempt at a slam, Sampras won the US Open after his eighth. I'm sure there are similar figures for other players if I could be bothered to track them down, and I saw this exact discussion once, somewhere. I think, yeah, 17 attempts is quite a lot.

I don't honestly know how significant this sort of speculation is, but Mandy does seem to be made in the same mould as Roger as a player, even down to the attempts to control their negative emotions on court. Mandy Murray - late developer who's going to dominate tennis for years to come, or someone who's never going to quite make it?

I want Rafa to win the US Open and get a career slam. That's my ideal outcome in my perfect world of awesome. After that, I want Roger to win his sixth, because that kind of thing is addictive. After that... well, okay Mandy! It's your turn.

Um. Here's a relevant picture to go with all this.

Pic taken by Cinci - vamosbrigade.com

Rafa's physical preparation

Excuse me while I watch this over and over again.

I just need to win the French Open

Roger's Rome interview for Tennis TV is interesting. He sounds a lot more wary than usual about his chances, aware that his confidence has taken a hit, but he also sounds like he's being realistic, and maybe a tiny bit hopeful that this is the point where he starts to get back some form. Rafaesque, he says he's not looking past the first round at the moment.

It's clear that he doesn't know really yet where his game is. He's lost it somewhere, in the last year, and from what he says I guess he doesn't think it's come back yet. He's been working on his forehand and 'working to get his serve back'. I must say I'm glad to hear that he's being so realistic and focussed about what he needs to do with his game.

Another interesting thing is that he admits that recent losses have not only dented his confidence but that they have confused him, leaving him unsure of what areas of his game to work on.  I remember him saying recently that he doesn't work on his weaknesses. But here, he says that his losses have propelled him to work maybe on the wrong things, strengths instead of weaknesses. 

This seems important and it strikes me that, like many people have pointed out, Roger cuts a bit of a lonely figure. He's confused, and who's there to help him wade through all this confusion and focus on the things he needs to work on most? Most importantly, someone to help him work out what he does want from this part of his career. 

I sometimes wonder if it would help him mentally to be 'on message' about what he wants, and cut down on the contradictions:

"I don't necessarily need to get to No. 1; I just need to win the French Open," Federer said. "That's what my goal is.

Compared with: 

"If you're not No. 1 then it's about winning titles and getting back No. 1. That's the position I'm in now."

Interview is here.

 

Beige and peach Rafa

I look at this picture and imagine Rafa in ten years time, presenting the Olympics from a sofa on Spanish TV. But no, would he be able to sit still for long enough? 

The book is apparently inspired by Rafa's career, by Jordi Sierre i Fabra. 

Pic via rafaelnadal.com

The unbearable sweetness of Rafa

pics via zimbio

Hot pink Rafa

I'm pretty excited about the tennis today. Honestly, I'm hankering for Rafa v Stan in the final. Okay, let that be my prediction.  And Rafa to win, as most of you voted in the last poll.

If Mandy beats Rafa today on clay, I'll eat my RF brand hat.  Rafa extended his winning streak at Monte Carlo to 25, as of yesterday. 

On a different note, I literally cannot wait for Rafa to strut out onto court Philippe Chatrier dressed in hot pink.

Thanks to vamosbrigade for the link!

Male tennis players and their taste in films

I found these throwaway ATP films actually pretty revealing. Ivan Ljubicic, thanks for upholding the intellectual side of things with your love of depressing Russian films.  Rafa can't pick a favourite because he likes so many, A Rod gets sucked in every time by Shawshank (but hey, who doesn't?), Gilles Simon loves Troy. Nole thought Slumdog Millionaire was brilliant.  Gonzo always wants a comedy so he can relax and not have to think too hard.

Apart from this, these men LOVE Gladiator. Clearly it resonates with something deep in a tennis player's soul. Swords, sandals, oiled thighs. Ah yes, Gladiator, I love it. Braveheart comes up a few times too, which I find completely inexplicable. 

Roger's favourite films are "action films" such as Rambo, James Bond, Top Gun... and Dirty Dancing. 

Jamie and Andy

Everything about this picture makes me laugh.  Also, Jamie looks likes he's wearing an Alice band.

It's from a Guardian article from last year: 

Andy Murray is mid-rant. This one is not caused by an offensive line-call, or a double fault, but by Britney Spears. And the recipient of his tirade is not some unfortunate umpire, but his brother Jamie, who is trying, with gallant futility, to defend Ms Spears's honour. Andy feels she has brought her highly visible woes on herself. 'If you want to be a massive superstar like a Paris Hilton or a Britney, you end up putting so much effort into trying to become famous,' he argues.

'That'll be the headline,' Jamie observes. '"Murray slates Britney."'

Andy turns to me and deadpans: 'She's a very solid parent and a role model.'

Jamie defending Britney... Actually that makes me like him a lot. Poor Britters. More on fame:

AM There are so many great singers out there that don't get followed around because they don't do anything stupid. You have a decision, if you decide to do every single interview that anyone asks you to, going to Las Vegas... This is where our lifestyles differ...

AM To chase fame...

JM But she's not chasing fame!

AM But if you look at Elton John...

JM He's a bit fucked up as well, isn't he?

AM Not to the same extent as Britney Spears. He still has a life, doesn't he? She's shaved herself bald. What is that?

JM Elton John's bald.

A life-size chocolate Rafael Nadal

Are they implying Rafa needs to be licked all over? I am so there.

I think that white hatted patissier is very sweet, and his dedication makes me want to irrationally burst into tears. It doesn't look much like Rafa though, although it does capture something of his expression around the eyes, no?

Tennis fashions of yore

Amongst the craziness and angst that has been March tennis (just don't talk to me about Roger), Jim Courier gives us a slightly alarming insight into the death of men's tennis short shorts. It's all Pete Sampras's fault, apparently:

As Pete started rocking the long shorts on the match courts every other manufacturer got on the train and the rest is history. Rafa took it to the next level with the "low boys" but has since pulled back from the edge (of his ankles). Now and then I hear from people who mention that they miss the short shorts and would like to see them make a comeback. I am not in that camp and find it funny (and awkward) when I see clips of us playing in those days. My K-Swiss shorts these days are the perfect length, just above the knee cap. A few yrs ago Johnny Mac and I were practicing in NYC and he surprised me by pulling off his sweatpants to reveal the blue and black checker board Nike short shorts from 1984 (vintage) that he had pulled out of his closet. He fit in them perfectly (which is pretty awesome in and of itself) but even Mac was forced to admit that he looked ridiculous. 

So there you have it...a little tennis fashion history, not that you asked for it... 

The full post is here

Thank you, Jim. Now I am fixating on Rafa in a little pair of tennis hotpants. Would satin be good or bad? Why yes, my mind has many hidden shallows, thanks. While my mind's in the gutter, have some Feli Lopez: 

The many stuffed toys of Roger Federer

A different moment, a different stuffed toy. 

I'm so pleased to hear that Roger is considering working with Darren Cahill. It feels like the right moment for this to happen. I hope the collaboration leads to many more commemorative cuddly animals. 

Surprise politics

So, Douglas Robson reports that the United Arab Emirates has denied Israeli player Andy Ram a visa for the Dubai Duty Free Masters 500 tournament, which begins on 23 February.

This is the excrement hitting the fan, isn't it? If this is true, clearly the UAE isn't concerned about the media reaction to its refusal to let Shahar Peer enter the country. It has adopted a stance and the WTA and the ATP need to decide rather swiftly how they are going to address this. The top players need to decide how they're going to address this too. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer would obviously rather eat live snakes than get bogged down in a political mess like this, but if they actually don't react to this it's going to send a message to the UAE, and any other country, that as long as there is sponsorship, players will come. Even if their fellows are discriminated against. 

Players say sports shouldn't be about politics and I generally agree, except that sometimes, everything is about politics, two men hitting a green fuzzy ball over a net included, and there's no getting away from that.

From the article, it's also pretty obvious that the ATP knew this had happened to Ram last year too. It's not a new problem and hopefully the ATP has developed a strategy to deal with similar problems this year (something better than just persuading Israeli players to just not go), although the change of CEO this year can't have made strategy setting easy . Is this where we get to see what sort of stuff Adam Helfant is made of?

Rotterdam

That was a difficult match to watch - turns out Rafa has some sort of knee injury, which got steadily worse throughout the match, until by the third set it was actually dreadful to watch because he could hardly get about the court. Sad. I think he kept playing out of respect for Mandy though-- it being the final-- because it would've pretty much robbed Mandy of the win if he'd retired. 6-3 4-6 6-0 to Mand.  

In the awards ceremony Mandy was very sweet and made Rafa smile in a goofy way behind his bunch of flowers. (Youtube of the trophy ceremony) He said:  

"Sorry to Rafa, I know he hurt his leg. It shows how good a player he is - he was still managing to beat me on one leg." 

Are they descended from puppies? Too cute.

'How come I only get this little pie tin?'

Images via Getty and Elmundo