There have been rumours going around the net that Rafael Nadal is in trouble with his tax. However, all these reports are false and this has been confirmed by Rafael on his website.
Basically, Rafael hired an accounting firm to create a new company to take advantage of a Rasque region tax break, which means he would pay a lot less tax on his image rights. It seems like the Basque tax authorities are investigating, but it all seems above board.
Novak Djokovic had an amazing Australian Open 2012 and it was capped off with a win in the final over Rafael Nadal 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-7 7-5. Novak is again the top of the world and has now won the last three Grand Slam titles in a row.
Unlike other tennis news sources Im not going to give you a big run down of the final. Instead you can head to: Bleacher Report | BBC
I would much rather show you some private Novak Djokovic photos after the win.
Poor old Rafael Nadal broke down to tears when he injured his knee before the Australian Open 2012. Its amazing what a few weeks can do and a shit load of pain killers!
“I explained that after my match on the first, what happened the Sunday before on my knee, something very strange,” he said. ”But that’s why, because Sunday afternoon, 24 hours to play my first match, I was in my room crying because I believe I didn’t had the chance to play Melbourne. So it was a very, very tough situation for me, these hours. Two weeks later I am here in the finals, so is a dream for me because having very bad expectations 24 hours before the first match, and now two weeks later I am playing well.”
Rafael Nadal has a strong win in the first round of the Australian Open 2012, but he did suffer a knee injury. Nadal played with a heavy strap on his knee. He said an MRI revealed no damage.
“I am really confident that having the worst feeling that I ever had in my knee yesterday and today was able to play,” he said. “I have fantastic hope that gonna happen the same for after tomorrow.”
Rafael is taking a huge amount of anti-inflammatory medication and is hoping to be fit to play the second round match. However, I wouldnt place a bet on him to win the title if I was you!
Rafael Nadal is going to be a contender for the Australian Open 2012 title. Here is Rafael’s Nike outfit he will be wearing at the Australian Open 2012.
Current number one Novak Djokovic has made not only big waves on the tour this year, but also in prize money rankings.
He has earned a record $12.6 million just during this season not including endorsements. This is an all-time record for a single season, surpassing the $10.1 million record that was shared by Roger Federer for his 2007 season and Rafael Nadal’s 2010 season.
Djokovic won 10 titles this year, including 3 Grand Slams at Wimbledon, US Open and the Australian Open. This record is truly impressive for someone so young and we hope to see some great tennis from him in 2012. Will Novak reach the legendary status of Federer and Nadal if he continues to play the way he played this year?
On Tuesday, world number four Roger Federer, holder of 16 grand slams, provided the tennis world with a true masterclass. Unquestionably, Federer’s 6-3 6-0 victory over Spain’s Rafael Nadal was the most lopsided victory the Swiss has had over his longstanding nemesis. I was not particular shocked that Federer was able to come out with the victory in this match, but I was astonished that Nadal was unable to put up any semblance of resistance. Barring the initial five games, this type of unblemished, unprecedented dominance over his arch rival was a breath of fresh air for all Federer fans.
There were several key points from a strategical basis to note. Federer was playing super-aggressive, first strike tennis, looking to vary pace, spin and open up the court. The 02 arena is playing rather slow which allowed Federer to run around his backhand and dictate with his forehand. Balls usually played around shoulder level Federer was able to get on top of and cause havoc for Nadal. Federer was also serving at an extremely high percentage, preventing Nadal from gaining any advantage off the return. One effective serve that Federer was using was the slider out wide on the deuce court. Nadal was either missing these returns entirely or generating very little pace with which provided Federer ample opportunity to take the initiative.
Despite the fact that Federer was on his game, I can only describe the way Nadal played using the word “nothingness.” He seemed extremely lethargic, uneasy, and fatigued. This is in total contrast to the fiery, intense, never say die Nadal we all know. After losing the first set, I expected a shift in tactics from the Spaniard, which as you can tell from the bagel posted in the second set, simply did not occur. He appeared content with simply playing a defensive minded game which clearly was not yielding results.
Overall, while this was a great match for the Swiss, I wouldn’t be too concerned if you are a Nadal fan. The guy hasn’t played a match since Shanghai and is probably just spent after an extremely vigorous season having played 79 matches, the most on the tour this year just ahead of Janko Tipsarevic. In addition, this type of court is not conducive to the type of game Nadal would like to play against Federer as he was unable to execute his typical strategy of directing the ball to Federer’s backhand. To make the situation even less auspicous for Nadal, Federer has won two straight tournaments displaying fantastic form and appears well on his way to take down London.
We have reached the last tournament of the ATP season featuring the 8 best players of the year competing for the ultimate honor in men’s tennis. Let’s take a look at the two groups and who will feature in each one.
Group A:
1. Novak Djokovic
3. Andy Murray
5. David Ferrer
7. Tomas Berdych
Group B:
2. Rafael Nadal
4. Roger Federer
6. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
8. Mardy Fish
Play is due to start on Sunday November 20, 2011 at 7 am Eastern time with coverage being streamed on the Tennis Channel in the US. First up is Group B with Federer vs Tsonga and later on Nadal vs Fish. There should be some very good tennis up on display during the week and it will be exciting to see which of the Top 4 will hold up best, or if a dark horse should emerge from the shadows to claim the title at this year’s year-ending championships. Stay tuned!
Seeing as – dare I say it – Christmas is approaching, and you may be looking for a little something to put in a tennis fan’s stocking? Well I thought I’d offer up a review of “Rafa – My Story”, the collaborated autobiography between Rafael Nadal and John Carlin.
First and fore-most I have to say that I enjoyed it. I think as a piece of writing its well crafted and well put together. Whilst its Rafa’s “autobiography”, there are several voices in there. His own (re-counting largely the tennis match memories), John Carlin’s (re-counting his interpretation of Rafa’s other thoughts and memories) and that of some of his team, friends and family (with one notable exception). Its central theme is the Wimbledon final of 2008, and the match flows through the whole book whilst it picks up and intersperses on other aspects of Rafa’s life along the way. Because of this, its like structured story telling, but without the standard start-middle-end aspect of say Rafa’s young years, then teenage boy, to tennis champ rolling through each season from 2005 to 2010. And for that, I liked it.
In keeping with biographies, largely they bring you a mixture of what you already know, along with some new revelations. But this is Rafa – not Andre Agassi – so the revelations aren’t of a shocking or controversial nature. But once you’ve got past that Rafa doesn’t like the dark, and that he doesn’t like dogs; that Mallorca, his family and his friends are central to him and to who he is; that he has to have his off and on-court rituals; that he likes fishing and football, we move onto the revelations, the first being something I knew about, but as it turns out, I didn’t really know about … Rafa’s real Achilles Heel. No, its not the knees, its his foot.
The book reveals that he has a congenital problem and a very rare disease in his tarsal scaphoid (look it up). Essentially this bone in Rafa’s foot failed to harden and ossify in childhood and has become deformed, bigger than it should be, and is therefore liable to splinter. As it did in 2006. It is managed by specially constructed insoles within his shoes to help take away the stress from that area and to this day, they are still working on getting them absolutely right to take away the pain. And the by-product? The price of angling his foot with an insole means that it puts stress on other parts of his body, and whilst the book talks about his calves and his back and doesn’t specifically cite his knees … I think it alludes enough to it that they have suffered as a result.
But the stand out revelation in this book and what I found both shocking and illuminating … is Rafa’s relationship with Toni.
Before I start giving my opinion, I do believe that they are the sum of two parts, intrinsically linked with the other. And Rafa points out he loves him – several times – and that he credits his success to him. But I found him to be a bully.
I find his methods excessive, shocking even, to a young boy – and even to a young man. Its strange that he seems to have this mercurial standing in the family … but is the black sheep, the outsider, just ever so removed from them all. And I truly believe that if he had been anything other than family, then they would have taken Rafa straight away from his charge. And yet whatever they thought, (and even though some family members did think Toni’s treatment of Rafa was too much at times), they allowed it to continue because family trust over-rode everything else. But when Rafa talks of the slap downs, the lack of praise, being picked out especially for criticism … I fail to see where this is character building and just believe it to be, well … abusive. Rafa seems to have been told over and over that others are better than him, how so much about his tennis just wasn’t good enough, next to no praise but a heap load of criticism. I found it painful reading that Toni called Rafa a “Mummy’s boy” … and yet in the book you have a statement from his mother where she says it pains her for the world to think that someone else brought up her own son.
And the one character within the Nadals that I didn’t particularly care for before reading this book, was Papa … Sebastian. But I’ve changed my opinion simply because he has been so central in Rafa’s life by being the balancing out figure from whatever Toni was applying and so very important to him.
And I’m sure that people will say that without each other, they would not have been who they are today. Now for Toni, I feel that is particularly true. His “Mallorquin-ess” would have left him a simple tennis coach on the island, probably never making anyone a world champion, but mostly I believe that no parent would have allowed what he meted out to Rafa to happen to their child. But for Rafa himself … I’m biased, maybe. But I believe he would have made himself into some sort of sports champion regardless … whether as a tennis player, or he may have even found that calling as a footballer. There just seems something inherent within him that isn’t put in there by Toni, his parents or anyone, that just makes him want to be competitive in sport and to succeed … a Champion.
I read that Toni has claimed not to have read Rafa’s book, and that’s probably true. But there is a part within it where Rafa seems to be teeming tale, after tale after tale of incidents where he has had to suppress himself, put up and shut up, or just subjugate himself to Toni … and I get the feeling now that as a 25-year-old man, Rafa’s wanting to battle back, be his own man. But one incident in the book during “Rafa’s Rant” is how, during the US Open 2010 after the Istomin match, they had a tumultuous row where Toni yelled at Rafa for not wearing his “Face”, and that he was too easily expressing his frustrations during the match … and Rafa fought back believing Toni to be so wrong in his judgement that it resulted in Toni stating that he would quit. They obviously patched it up (and its not revealed how), but you do have to ask yourself as to the merit of that kind of coaching at this stage in his career … now that Rafa is the man, and a multi-Slam winning champion. Rafa recalls that if he expresses doubt in himself, Toni will yell at him for his lack of confidence. Yet he is the product of Toni’s DNA because if he ever expressed himself as better than his opponent, then Toni would have admonished him for that too.
After reading this book and with the gift of hind-sight in being able to see how the 2011 season worked out, Toni’s harsh, critical methods seem old hat to me now. This constant thing of Toni’s in Rafa being told he’s not good enough, others being better, always instilling the fear of the opponent in him … well, its been entirely counter-productive this year, hasn’t it? In my opinion, that relationship is at a critical point because actually its Toni that has to prove his worth now. He shouldn’t be trotting out tat about Rafa’s game face being wrong … what he should be doing is earning his coin as a coach, and developing tactical plans and tactical measures for Rafa to employ to help beat his opponents. In the book, its interesting that Rafa admits that he has no game plan against Djokovic, none. He just hopes he can be the better player than him on the day. Make of that what you will …
I think one of the most interesting things about autobiographies is the timing of their publication. There was a lot of bru-ha-ha when it was first announced that Rafa would be doing this book; you know, the usual stuff of how at his age and when he’s still mid-career, how could he possibly have a story to tell? Well, I didn’t agree then because I felt Rafa has an amazing story of his rise to professional tennis player, to be the clay court King and then develop himself into a winner across all surfaces. How in 2008 he won it all, to then lose it all in 2009, but then rise from personal and professional adversity to be the Champion and No. 1 player again in 2010 and the youngest ever to achieve the career Grand Slam. But when John Carlin left Rafa in January 2011 just before the start of the Australian Open, I think the publishers thought that before the book was released, a magnificent, final chapter could be included … the RafaSlam … Rafa holding all Grand Slam titles at the same time, the stuff of legends.
But that didn’t happen, the story didn’t have that conclusion, and a very different twist in the Rafa tale occurred with the Djokovic rise instead. But as 2012 approaches, are we to have one more final, glorious sequel in the story of Rafa Nadal? Only time will tell …
Rafa’s book is a highly entertaining read and a well written book … so if you’re a fan, an appreciator, or just a general observer of tennis … I’d say that its a “must read”. Go buy it, and enjoy …
In a message announced via the social networks of Facebook and Twitter, RafalNadal today announced his withdrawal from the Paris Masters …
“Hi all. I won’t be playing this upcoming week the tournament in Paris Bercy. It’s been a difficult decision to take but I understand that it is what I need to do right now to prepare well for the end of this season and also for 2012. I hope I can be back in 2012 to that great event in the most beautiful city in the world, and hopefully try to win it once day.”
Interesting that there is no mention of a withdrawal for physical issues, so before going on to discuss whether he has made the correct decision, there’s one question which is needed to be explored first and that is … can he?
Rafa is perhaps one of the most vocal of the top players when it comes to the length of the schedule and the mandatory nature of the number of tournaments to play. For Masters 1000 series that number totals eight, and whilst he has already participated in that number to date, the Monte Carlo Masters as an optional event counts only towards to the required number of 500 series. Rafa needed to compete in Paris to complete the statutory number. So if he’s not citing injury, how can he possibly withdraw without incurring a penalty?
The ATP rules state that a player’s Masters 1000 commitment can be reduced by one tournament if (1) they have played 600 matches following 1st January of that commitment year; (2) they have 12 years of service; or (3) they are 31 years of age following 1st January of that commitment year. Well (2) and (3) are out for Rafa, and whilst I’ve known that the 600 match mark was coming, I did believe that he would only pass that milestone next year. Not so. It seems that Rafa has benefited from a little quirk in the rulings in that from 2010 onwards, only the ATP World Tour, World Tour Finals, Grand Slams, Davis Cup and Olympics count towards this commitment, but any Challenger or Futures matches played before 2010 do still count. As Rafa played Challengers and Futures pre-2010, he exceeds his 600 tally for this commitment tour.
Au revoir Paris!
So whilst its sad for those fans who will miss out on seeing that great Champion there, is it the right decision for Rafa? All things considered, for me its a resounding “yes”. Indoor tennis on fast hardcourts has never suited Rafa’s game and he is least successful on them. After a gruelling season where unlike his counterparts, Rafa has had to face the re-juvenated NovakDjokovic six (unsuccessful) times, a bit of additional time off to rest not only his body, but his spirit is perhaps called for. In fact, it is very refreshing to to find that at this stage of the season, Rafa doesn’t have any injury woes because as he approaches his 26th year and 8th season in the top flight, keeping fit and healthy is tantamount.
With all that Rafa has achieved in tennis, I’m sure that he can rest easy perhaps never having his hands on the ever increasingly bizarre piece of sculpture that is the Paris Bercy trophy. Working hard for 2012 is perhaps the best thing to do, along with positioning himself as best as possible for the World Tour Finals and perhaps the main singular personal goal that is left for Rafa this season … lifting the Davis Cup.
