Category Archives: King of Clay

A Long Way To Go For Rafael Nadal

Posted on February 16, 2013 by admin| Leave a comment

Anyone who thinks two finals in two weeks means that Rafa Nadal is close to his normal form is delusional or not watching carefully.

Nadal, ignoring the tennis, seems currently to be deprived of one of his greatest gifts – his ferocious focus and intensity. He simply seems like a flat version of himself.

Sure this one legged (to say he has two functioning legs is a stretch) version of the Spaniard is still winning and making finals but he’s got nothing on the King of Clay he used to be and it seems to be finding Rafa a long time to get in touch with that person. Read more »

Posted in Brasil, David Nalbandian, Injury, King of Clay, Martin Alund, Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal Claims Seventh Roland Garros Title

Posted on June 11, 2012 by admin| 1 Comment

Rafael Nadal has now won more Roland Garros titles, more Grand Slam titles at one tournament, than any other player in history. Nadal claimed his seventh French Open title 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 and wept in elation and disbelief as he finally conquered an unhindered Novak Djokovic.

The final restarted with Nadal ahead but with Novak making a very strong comeback and a 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 1-2 scoreline. Read more »

Posted in King of Clay, Novak Djokovic, Pau Gasol, Rafael Nadal, Roland Garros, Toni Nadal

Enraged Rafa Battles To Overcome Conditions

Posted on June 10, 2012 by admin| 1 Comment

In their rain delayed and controversial  mens final, defending champion Rafael Nadal leads 6-4, 6-3,2-6, 1-2 against Novak Djokovic.

In the cool and heavy conditions Rafa ripped his forehand from the first point, quickly finding  triple break point. On his fourth break point Nadal converted. Vicious forehand down the line winners gave Rafa two more break points in the third game and ultimately a 3-0 lead as Djokovic repeatedly miss-fired off both wings. Read more »

Posted in Carlos Moya, King of Clay, Match Report, Novak Djokovic, Pau Gasol, Rafael Nadal, Robin Soderling, Roland Garros

Nadal V Djokovic: A Fight For History

Posted on June 10, 2012 by admin| 2 Comments

So much is on the line today. Nadal is playing his fifth consecutive Grand Slam final and hunting for his seventh Roland Garros crown in an attempt to over take Bjorn Borg in the history books. Djokovic is looking to defeat the King of Clay on his home turf and in doing so complete a career Grand Slam and a Novak Slam – holding all four Slams at the same time (but not in one calender year).

Nadal has been in top form leading into the final, repeatedly bageling opponents, and consistently winning in straight sets. Physically Nadal should have the advantage after Novak was pushed to five sets twice but as we saw in Australia, Novak has a knack for recovering and rising to the occasion  against Rafa. Read more »

Posted in Australian Open, Bjorn Borg, King of Clay, Media, Monte Carlo, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Rod Laver, Roger Federer, Roland Garros

Nadal Dominates Ferrer For Seventh Roland Garros Final

Posted on June 8, 2012 by admin| 2 Comments

It was never going to be easy for David Ferrer to beat Rafael Nadal with Rafa giving up just 13 sets over the last 8 years with a 50-1 win-loss record in Paris. Unfortunately for David, Rafa was not in a giving mood. Nadal was impressive as he claimed his spot in the Roland Garros finals for the seventh time with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 win in one hour 47 minutes.

It was one of those matches you couldn’t not watch. One of those matches you couldn’t understand why the Parisian crowd weren’t salivating over it. It was also a match where you felt the odds were stacked against Ferrer. Read more »

Posted in David Ferrer, King of Clay, Match Report, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Roland Garros

Nadal Delivers The Final Blow For Spain

Posted on December 5, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

The King of Clay and Golden Child of Spain, Rafael Nadal has clawed his way back after a dismal first set to beat Juan Martin del Potro 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 and hand Spain the Davis Cup final. Having missed the 2008 final due to injury, also against Argentina, Nadal was delighted to play such a pivotal role in claiming the huge Cup. Read more »

Posted in David Ferrer, Davis Cup, Fernando Verdasco, Injury, Juan Martin Del Potro, King of Clay, Olympics, Rafael Nadal

Argentina Stay Alive In Davis Cup Final

Posted on December 4, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

David Nalbandian is one of the most motivated Davis Cup players in the history  of tennis. He has played through painful injuries including a hernia to give Argentina hope such is his sense of national pride and so it was no surprise that the famous Argentine was pumped up for his doubles rubber with Eduardo Schwank against the Spaniards most famous pretty boys Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco.

With the Spaniards leading the final 2-0 it was a must win rubber for the Argentines who got the job done 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. Read more »

Posted in David Ferrer, David Nalbandian, Davis Cup, Eduardo Schwank, Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Verdasco, Injury, Juan Martin Del Potro, King of Clay, Rafael Nadal

Nadal Disarms Isner In Five Set Thriller

Posted on May 24, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

On paper the first round match between defending champion Rafael Nadal and John Isner was the match most likely to be problematic for a top seed in the draw. Nadal’s concern over the danger posed by the huge serving John Isner, ranked 39 in the world, proved to be well founded as the American had Nadal under serious threat of a first round defeat on his ‘home’ turf.

Nadal had never played a five set match at Roland Garros prior to today. Nadal had never lost a set in his first round matches in Paris before today. John Isner has changed that but it was Nadal who eventually disarmed Isner 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 after four hours of play. Read more »

Posted in John Isner, King of Clay, Match Report, Rafael Nadal, Robin Soderling, Roland Garros

Roland Garros Draw Analysis – Can Nadal Do It Again?

Posted on May 21, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

This years men’s Roland Garros draw has the potential to produce a great tournament with some really interesting match ups if the seeds perform. The fluctuating recent form of the top male players doesn’t give me much hope of this happening but lets look at the draw anyway.

The really interesting first round matches are: Read more »

Posted in Alexandr Dolgopolov, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Arnaud Clement, ATP, Benjamin Becker, Bernard Tomic, Clay courts, David Ferrer, Estoril, Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Verdasco, Frederico Gil, Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Injury, Ivo Karlovic, John Isner, Juan Martin Del Potro, Julien Benneteau, Jurgen Melzer, King of Clay, Marcos Baghdatis, Milos Raonic, Nicolas Almagro, Nicolas Mahut, Novak Djokovic, Radek Stepanek, Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet, Robin Soderling, Roger Federer, Roland Garros, Thomaz Bellucci, Tomas Berdych, Tommy Haas.

Kvitova Surprises Azarenka In Madrid

Posted on May 9, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

Victoria Azarenka has been in great form winning two singles titles, one doubles title, and including Madrid, she has made one final and a quarterfinal. Vika was the favourite coming into her match against 18th seed Petra Kvitova today but it was Kvitova who won her first clay title and moved inside the top ten with her 7-6, 6-4 win. Read more »

Posted in King of Clay, Madrid, Novak Djokovic, Petra Kvitova, Rafael Nadal, Victoria Azarenka