The ATP players blogs

[Mrs. Fabregas]

Last day of Tommy is out... Posted it in his blog ;D
And... He kept his promise.... He showed some pictures in it we didn't already saw ;D

[Mrs. Fabregas]

Player Name: Eric Butorac and Jamie Murray
Blogging From: Barcelona, Spain




Sunday, April 22, 2007



Hey guys! It's Booty and Stretch here blogging from Barcelona! For those of you who don't know us, we're Eric Butorac (US) and Jamie Murray (Scotland), a couple of doubles players currently ranked #9 in the ATP race....and also getting the honor of being your bloggers for the week! We decided to do our blog a little different this week and since our chat is SOOO entertaining, we thought we'd just put it down in transcript for you! Saturday we had 2 practices and then some dinner at Hard Rock in the city. Nothing too exciting there. Jamie may or may not have been meeting a female for dinner!!!

Stretch: So we arrived here on Friday night. We actually rented a car and drove Monte Carlo! Which worked out well cause some flights were cancelled, a number of players lost their bags and some players ended up driving anyway. It was a good trip though, we drove it in like six or seven hours.

Booty: Umm.....We?

S: Well, actually Booty drove the whole way. I'm still working on my license. It's a little tougher in Scotland! But at least I was a good passenger, no???

B: You were asleep before we even got out of the parking lot!!! It was a joke. This guy woke up in like Montpellier, about 4 hours after we took off!

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B: I got a good question for you...

S: Yeah, what's that?

B: How's Andy's back doing?

S: Yeah, haven't heard that one this week!

B: No joke. I've heard Jamie asked this question at least 100 times since Tues. It's been unreal.

S: I guess to answer it....cause I'm sure there's some out there who want to know!...he injured some facet joints and should be good to go for Estoril. I got a question for you Booty, can you spell your last name?

B: Ha!...yeah they're having some trouble with it here in Barca. On my badge it says Butural....but the even better one was on the practice courts sheet when it said Murray and Butrok! I loved that one. Oh to be a star in Spain!!!

--------

B: We were supposed to practice with Frystenberg/Matkowski this morning, but Matkowski still hadn't got his bags from Monte Carlo. So, they talked us into changing our schedule so we could play in the afternoon instead.

Only to cancel on us again! Come on Boys...sort it out! Luckily Jimbo T (Jim Thomas) was there to scoop us up for an afternoon practice session. Crazy Poles!!!! Wait....Jamie may or may not be meeting a Polish girl this evening! This guy is soo hot right now. Ladies if you want an evening out with Stretch, you better book it a few weeks in advance!



S: Yeah maybe, right now though we're just getting pumped for the Fed-Bomb/Rafa finale en Monte Carlo!

B: But Garcia-Lopez's coach is still blocking the t.v watching some Motocross event. Unreal. Fed-Rafa is about to start and we're watching moto-racing! I'd rather watch paint dry!

S: Johnny Mac is not happy either, he wants tennis too!

B: I was hoping to get a "You cannot be serious" out of him.

S: Would've been big from him. Anyway, Should be a great match. Any
predictions?

B: I like Rafa "sur la terre."

S: Ya....moi aussi!!!

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S: Barcelona sure is a sweet city though, you loving it Boot?

B: It's great man, one of my favorites....maybe if I had as many dates as you, it would top the bill!

S: Yeah, well you can't have it all....but the tourney is big time and we're loving the hotel...

B: How bout that shower?

S: That’s all you talk about! Boot lives for this shower!

B: Its so sweet, besides the direct downward shooting shower-head, there's six different nozzles shooting you from different directions. Its hot too! Its literally like a hot tub, a steam room and a shower all in one! I'm for sure getting one in my house some day!

S: You mean, WHEN you get a house...

B: Yeah...anyway, its sweet. I'll try to send a pic later in the week.

S: Will you be in it?

B: I don't think anyone needs to see that photo! Anyway, we're loving this city, this tournament....pretty much just living the dream huh?

S: Just boosting it.

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We got a new website now as well. Its still under construction, but check it out soon.... www.bootyandstretch.com







Monday, April 23, 2007




We got up this morning for an hour hit around at the Polo Club (doubs players get limited if any practice on site) then settled in for some lunch with Tursunov, Spadea and our coaches. No dialog of our lunch chatter will be printed as we will no longer be allowed to blog. Though I'm pretty sure Tursnov was recording it and sending fake text on his phone for his next one.

S: Then we headed straight to the gaming area of the lounge where I boosted you in some pool!

B: Boosted? What, I won game 2!

S: Then it was back to reality for game 3!

B: Well, then it was on to the exhibition I put on in Virtual Tennis!

S: Maybe choosing "Henners" on the dirt was a bad choice...but I'm sticking with my Davis Cup teammate! I mean the guy made semis of Roland Garros, surely he can hang with Nalbo!


----

B: One of the more impressive sites of the day was seeing Rafa turn up for breakfast and then head straight to the practice courts. I mean this guy is a machine!

---

S: So we took a big L today against Vliegen and Lee 6-4, 3-6, 10-7. Losing Monday is just the worst! We came out quite flat, lived the dream in the second...

B: Stretch was boosting serves...but then we folded like a 2, 7 off suit in the breaker and looked for direct flights out of there.

S: Disappointing torneo for the boys but as Bob Dylan once said "The times they are a changing" haha

S: We hit up the Sagrada Famillia...Duss (ryan dussault our coach) has been going on about it the whole time we've been here so we decided to throw him a bone and check it out.

B: If I had a nickel for every time he mentioned this place, I would have doubled my prize money for the week!...Check out the snaps.

Duss: Just trying to culture these boys!





----

S: We're off tomorrow to London to train for a few days at Roehampton the
LTA's new national centre. I am excited to get back to GB for a few days and away from the tourney environment...its been a long stretch (pun blatantly intended) on the road and I'm ready for a few days break...I'm gonna stay at Delgadinhos (Jamie Delgado another tour player) apartment and get pumped for some midweek champions league action...we're both big into Manchester United and we're hoping the boys come strong in the last few games of the season.

B: I'll take Milan.

S: You would....Name one player....

B: (silence)

B: I'll be bunking with BG (Brad Gilbert) at Roehampton as we follow NBA playoffs...and argue who will have a better season, Twins or A's. Hopefully I can get a word in.


We got a new website now as well. Its still under construction, but check it out soon.... www.bootyandstretch.com




Tuesday, April 24, 2007



Booty: So, you may have thought the blog was finished after we bombed out first round in Barcelona, but we are continuing it anyway in London!

Stretch: We're going to be the first bloggers to do multiple countries in the same blog!

B: Felt good to get out of there this morning...for some reason, as soon as you lose in a tournament, it's pretty much a race to get outta dodge asap.

S: Yep, early flight to London.

B: We did some last minute shopping this morning...Jamie picked up an unbelievable jacket.

S: I did manage to find time to produce a hugo boss jacket! It had my name written all over it!

B: This guy is always adding to his "glad rags" collection.

S: So we arrived back in London today…greatest city in the world…and went straight to roehampton to churn out some practice…gotta enhance those clay court skills! We worked with Louis Cayer and also Jamie Delgado and Diesel Grover (James Davidson) who does some travelling with us from time to time…

B: Prakky was going great until about 7:05 when Delgy and Stretch started checking their watches in between shots to see if they were going to miss kickoff!

S: No chance we're missing that. I went back with Delgy to watch Man utd v AC Milan champions league match after practice…I sat down with my Olive Garden takeaway…pretty standard procedure when staying there…and got ready for the match…unbelievable game is all I can say…tres dos para Manchester…living the dream at the theatre of dreams! To say we were
getting fired up when Rooney bombed in the winner in injury time is an understatement. I swear Delgy hit his head on the ceiling when he jumped up off the sofa!

B: Instead of some footy, I crushed the gym for a bit, trying to add to my impressive physique. Then I'll be back crashing at Roehampton, incredible place I may add. I don't know if the U.S. has a place like this and I just haven't been invited, but call me British for the week if they let me practice here!....only downer being that their many plasma t.v.s are not working yet so it was no soccer (or football as some refer to it) for me. Plus they don't have multi-nozzled showers here....missing those already!

There were some questions sent in for us.....to answer them...

1. Do we plan to continue to play together?

B: For now, of course, and at least until we stop living the dream...which is unlikely anytime soon. We're playing well together and we want to see what happens. Playing doubles is tough though, a lot of work, a lot of compromise (like me coming to London this week, when I really wanted to go
to Nice!).

S: Plus the divorce rate is pretty high!!! Nah, it's all good, we're hoping to continue our charge up the ranks!

2. Jamie, why do you use the new Dunlop?

S: Switched to it before Miami and I really like it. I figured if Dunlop works for Henners, it can work for me too!

Hope everyone enjoyed the Barcelona blog via London!

Until we write again...

Stretch and Booty....


Sorry everyone, having some issues with our camera and no pics today. (Did you notice the pic above is recycled from the Barcelona player lounge?) We promise to sort it out and come strong tomorrow!


We got a new website now as well. Its still under construction, but check it out soon.... www.bootyandstretch.com






Thursday, April 25, 2007



What's up everyone. Slightly different style of blog today. We are going to have each of our accounts of today. Morning, Day and Night....a little banter to finish it off.....enjoy!



Stretch's Morning
Breakfast involved a trip to the mini mart outside the NTC for some croissants and OJ…diet of champions eh?! Got me down when I turned up for training 30mins early only to find my partner out on the “dirt” since 9am…Eric…you officially love it!

Booty's Morning
Breakfast involved a hitting snooze a couple times before getting myself on the court with my coach around 9 to work on some things in my game. It was a struggle, but I made it out there!

Stretch's Day
Practiced twice during the day before hitting up the gym….hard! Gotta have those guns for the summer months ahead! Nothing to do with tennis of course! I even whacked on the sleeveless top just to see those muscles working! We had music blasting out of the stereo, some serious weights being thrown around and even some sly dance moves in front of the mirror…Life was good!

Booty's Day
After battling with cameras, cords and memory cards, we officially decided that we can not get our photos to work for yesterday's blog. We hit the courts 2 sessions of practice, (first one was about 2000 times better than the 2nd!) And then crushed the gym. Our coach (Diesel) was bringing unreal energy to the room and along with some Linkin Park pumping, how could you not hit up the bench press!


Stretch's Night
Took a taxi back to Delgy’s flat then cruised over to Wimbledon Village for some dinner and the Chelsea Liverpool Champions League Match…Brad was fired up to see his man Peter Crouch in action but he didn’t even start the game…a few expletives were banded around! Crouch did eventually come on but Liverpool went down 1-0…rather tamely I thought…I also witnessed for the first time two people in my company drop their dinners on the floor…not sure how its possible but it did happen…let’s just say eric and ryan will be eating a big breakfast tomoro!

Booty's Night
Post Gym, I was dead. Crashed out for 20 mins, bagged a shower and a coffee and I was ready for some Champions League action. Here's my dilema with Champs League. I first came to England about 3 years ago and wanted to choose a team to cheer for. I was wearing a KG Timeberwolves jersey (that's an NBA team for you Euro-readers) and a kid at the tournament traded me a Chelsea jersey for my Garnett shirt. So, I decided Chelsea was my team.

Now, over the past couple years, I've learned that Chelsea is the equivilant to the New York Yankees in Baseball. Super rich owner, buys all the best players, team based out of the biggest city in the country and pretty everyone who doesn't support them, absolutely hates them. I hate the Yankees! How can I cheer for the Yankees of English Soccer? Someone tell me what to do? Jamie loves Man U! But isn't that just like cheering for the Boston Red Sox??? I don't want to cheer for them either! Someone tell me who is the equivalent team to the Minnesota Twins....they will be my new favorite team! Anyway, Chelsea won...I should be pumped, but I'm not. I don't think I even like them. Dinner was fine. Didn't eat as much as I wanted, but whatever.

To Finish your eve... a little Strech and Booty commentary (we weren't together to write this, so this is straight off messenger).....

B: Also....to completely ruin my evening...

S: As if smashing your dinner on the floor wasn't enough???

B: You know where "living the dream" comes from?

S: Yeah. I made it up. Best phrase ever.

B: No....someone told me that the quote, "living the dream" actually comes from the moving Vanilla Sky and was not made up by us!

S: Nonsense...I made it up.

B: No, that's what I heard.

S: Vanilla Sky has no reference to us living the dream on the ATP Doubles Tour!

B: Good Point. Let's just live it anyway.


We got a new website now as well. Its still under construction, but check it out soon.... www.bootyandstretch.com




Friday, April 26, 2007



Booty:
Thursday was a rough day all around. Some days you are just "living the dream" and then there are days like Thursday. In our morning practice, about 12 minutes in, Jamie hit 8 backhands in a row in the net and just sat down. I decided he should get lunch and I'll take some serves. Can you say "mental fatigue."

Stretch:
We hit up Nobu last night…Worlds greatest sushi restaurant! We were both debuting just like our blog! Everybody has their happy place and Nobu is certainly Brads…the guy is in heaven when he walks through the doors! There was a whole clan of us…Booty-Stretch-Andy-his girlfriend Kim-Alex Bogdanovic-Delgy-Brad

I took on the sashimi some chicken teriyaki and some beef toban yaki…dreams!
There was even some scenery flying around too to keeps the boys happy! I would go back more often but I think I gotta win a few more matches…first round losses don’t pay the bills at Nobu!

Booty:
Nobu was unbelievable and I thought the day turned around for us. Then we Delgy and Stretch took off on their own and Brad and I looked for a cab back to Roehampton. It was impossible to find a cab. We were right near Picadilly Circus and it took 35 mins to get a cab. When we finally did, it was one of those dudes who waits outside clubs and gives you a ride in your own car, not a real taxi. Brad asked him if he takes American Express and the guy says, Yeah, no problem. Then we get to Roehampton and have this exchange.

Taxi Driver: 30 pounds
BG: (pulls out his AmEx)
TD: No, no. I don't take credit.
BG: You said you take American Express
TD: Ok, but no credit cards.
EB: I feel like taking crazy pills!!!

Stretch:
We hit it up today at roehampton and then boosted the gym…I’ve not really been so focused in practice this week…mentally tired…and after Estoril I will have a couple weeks off to recharge…



Booty:
So, I've been debating hard about my choosing of an official football club to support. I was advised by a good friend (Freddie Nielsen) that I should go with Newcastle. But Im a bit down on them becuase of an awful movie I saw once called "Goal." So, scratch them off the list. Can't support Chelsea, Man U or Liverpool cause that would be a complete bandwagon jump. I had finally made my decision (or so I thought) when I sat down to write this. Tottenham Hotspur! I was pumped and already researching my team when Andy came and sat next to me and completely talked me out of it, saying that they are lifetime underachievers. So....my new team will be...drumroll please....Arsenal! I've always like Henry and Andy tells me they are a fun team to watch....so that's it. Anyone who has some spare Arsenal tix and wants some company, let me know!!!

Stretch:
Were gonna go to Wimbledon Veelaj for some dinner tonight and possibly a couple drinks before heading back to Delgys to pack my bags for the flight tomorrow…

Booty:
We played a match with Delgado/Auckland today and lost 6-4, 7-6. Only thing was, we were playing for 2 butts up shots per player per set. Meaning they got 8 serves with us looking like this!!! They connected too, usually a player gets hit maybe 1 of 3 or so, but these guys hit us on 5 of
8 serves. Let's just say that Jamie may be a bit sore when sitting on the plane tomorrow!!!


We got a new website now as well. Its still under construction, but check it out soon.... www.bootyandstretch.com





Saturday, April 27, 2007



Hey everyone!

We got to Estoril this evening for the next tournament!

Stretch: So I guess our blog for the week is officially over.

Booty: Would have been nice if we lasted beyond Monday afternoon the week that we blog, but what can you do

Stretch: Next time we're blogging in the grass season or maybe indoors!!!

Booty: Blogging on dirt = bad idea! We are retiring instantly from
blogging again on clay. Ever.

Stretch: How long is this clay season anyway? Feel like we've been on it forever.

Booty: I hate it! So dirty! Get me to the grass!

Stretch: Good News today...Man U wrapped up the League!...wrapped up like a Minnesotan in January!

Booty: Haha...speaking of Minnesotans, I'd also like to wish one of my friends, Amber a Happy Birthday! She's up in Duluth where even though its spring time, there's probably still some snow on the ground! Coldest city ever!!!

Stretch: Hope everyone enjoyed our blog this week, we had a great time writing it! Many more blogs to come on our website...

Our upcoming schedule is

Estoril
Poertschach
Roland Garros
Queen's
Nottingham
Wimbledon

Come check us out and say hello!

- Booty and Stretch.....out.

We got a new website now as well. Its still under construction, but check it out soon.... www.bootyandstretch.com

[Dina]

who's blogging this week in Roma?

[jenhatter06]

dina said:

who's blogging this week in Roma?

it doesn't look like they have anybody this week, unfortunately ...

[jenhatter06]

Rafa's 2007 RG blog!

Sunday, May 27th, 2007

Hello Everybody,



I’m Rafa Nadal and I write this blog for the second year in a row from Paris. Actually I got to Paris on Thursday afternoon last week, I think it was the 24th of May and today I start the blog which I will be writing for www.rafaelnadal.com during this tournament.

I didn’t know if I would be doing it again this year, but I think that quite a few people liked it last year and that some people had fun reading what I wrote at the end of each day. It’s almost like a diary and people like reading diaries. I’ve read many of the comments people wrote about the blog. I usually have a look at the media on the internet and I also check out people’s comments. It’s unbelievable that some people almost put themselves in our position and they know what we think. Others a bit less, but that’s fine. I respect everybody and I enjoy reading the comments.

Now we are back to Roland Garros again, one year later and we’re delighted to be here. The season went well so far and I come here in a very good mood. I know that it will be very difficult to win here. In a tournament everything can happen, even more if the tournament goes over two weeks. I always try to focus on every match, knowing that every match will be difficult and that you only have to think point after point, and if you win, you start thinking about the next match. That’s the only way you can reach goals.

Since this is my first day doing the blog, I would like to tell you about what I did since I arrived in Paris, as well as talk about my week before Roland Garros. As I said before, I arrived from Mallorca on Thursday.

Before that, I left Hamburg on Monday, flying to Barcelona with an early flight, at 9:20 AM. At 7:30 AM I met in the lobby with the driver who would take myself and Alex Corretja who was on that flight as well to the airport. After a few weeks of competition I had to take part in two activities in Barcelona which my agent Carlos Costa had set up for me. One of them was a NIKE presentation. I don’t think I have to tell you more about that since the media already reported about it. The other activity was filming a spot for PlayStation 3.

I left to Manacor at 8 PM and to be honest I have to tell you that I was a bit tired. I stayed at home with my parents and my sister on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I also played some golf with my uncle Miguel Angel and some other people. This helped me a lot to refresh my mind and to make better fitness training in the afternoon and I got to Paris feeling very well after those two days of relaxing.

My uncle Toni, my trainer Rafael Maymo and myself left from Palma airport on Thursday morning, where my father took us by car. We had to stop in Barcelona where Carlos Moya and his team, as well as my manager Carlos Costa, joined us for the rest of the trip. That afternoon we had arranged for a practice session with Carlos Moya, who you know is a very good friend of mine and a great person. On the plane we talked about several things, including the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monte Carlo. Moyini (that’s how I call Carlos Moya) and myself like Formula 1 a lot and we talked to Carlos Costa to see which Grand Prix we could visit. It’s difficult because tennis is played every week and that makes it difficult to find a date on which we could go to a Grand Prix. That’s why we were looking at the calendar. We’ll see. Hugo Boss invited us and we are checking what to do.

I’ll also tell you what I did on Sunday: After having breakfast in the hotel in the morning, we went to practice with Albert Montañes from 11 AM to 1 PM. We had enough time to go slow, practice well and to sit in front of the TV to watch the start of the Grand Prix in Monaco at 2 PM. As you know it was raining quite a lot yesterday but I think that we were lucky because we could practice from 11AM to 12:45 PM. Afterwards it started raining and we had to stop. It’s ok, in the end we played an hour and 45 minutes and that’s good if you think about all the rain after that. Besides that, as I said, it gave us the opportunity to be ready to see the race which we saw and enjoyed on site.
After that we went back to the hotel.

Today was also a strange day. We got up and came here while it was raining so much that you have to change your plans. At 11:45 AM I left the hotel with Toni, Rafa Moymo and Carlos Costa. We went to Roland Garros where we had to decide whether to look for another site where we could practice. Carlos knew an indoor place where we could practise and we went there. It took us like 10, 15 minutes by car. I was practicing with Nenad Zimonjic and we went there all of us together and could practise for two hours, which is not bad at all since with all the rain today there where no matches and there was no practice either. After that we got back to Roland Garros to have lunch and then we left to the hotel.

Today I wrote the blog before going out for dinner and therefore it is a bit shorter since Moya, Rafa Maymo, my uncle and others are waiting for me downstairs. As I play tomorrow I like to have dinner a bit earlier. Tomorrow I’m the fifth match and we’ll see what happens. Besides that something happened, but I don’t want to speak about it yet…nothing serious, nothing important, but unbelievable. I’ll tell you about today’s defeat at the playstation.



Greetings to all of you.

Rafa Nadal.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007


Hello everyone. Here I am again writing the blog from Roland Garros on my web site ( www.rafaelnadal.com ). I know that El Mundo and ATPtennis.com are picking it up too.

Today, I’m writing after dinner that’s why it is so late. I won’t talk about the match or the press conference. After each match we have a press conference, and I usually go 20 to 25 minutes after finishing the match, sometimes, not often, I go before and other times a little later. I talk to the journalists in the press conference quite frankly and tell them everything that goes through my mind. I still have to talk to them about the play-station and the defeat. I’ll get to that in a minute.


First, I want to tell you that I’m writing this blog now, after dinner, because after finishing so late (I played the 5th match) and returning from the club after dealing with the press, I took a quick shower, and we went out to dinner. There were my uncle Toni, who doesn’t always come to dinner, and who, if he comes, eats very little, Rafa Maymo, who is my trainer, as you know, and Alex Corretja. We went to a pizzeria on the Champs Élysées, and from there I went to have an ice-cream with my uncle before returning to the hotel. By now, it is 1 o’clock in the morning, and before going to bed I’m writing this blog, which will be short.

Returning to the play-station, I’m going to tell just a little and will write more some other time. It is already somewhat known on tour that we play soccer matches in each tournament. When the four of us are in the same tournament and above all at the same hotel, we usually play some matches, Carlos Moya and David Nalbandian against David Ferrer and me. The day before yesterday, we played and lost. Carlos, who is quite good and assertive, they beat us. However, yesterday’s [match] was UNBELIEVABLE! We always play the best of 5 matches, 5 sets as we call it. Whoever has three wins and whoever loses does something that we bet on like some push-ups or whatever.

In this case, Ferru (David Ferrer) and I won the first two matches and in the third one, which should have been the decisive one, we marked the golden goal… It looked like we had won. We started to jump around and all, when suddenly we saw that they cancelled our goal from the outside. Golden goal, and the referee overturned it. Unbelievable. In the end, as you might imagine, we lost the three matches. This is the story – so sad and so unfair, hahahaha. Today, we were not able to play, but we’ll see to it that we get our revenge soon. But first David has to get a new remote control, because he broke one yesterday.

As for today, I got up not too late for breakfast. I had it peacefully in my room and ate some chocolate cereal. We went to the club around noon, as warm-up was at 1 p.m. Since there were so many matches scheduled today, the courts were all full and that’s why the tournament makes more players share them. Those who play have priority in using the courts at the club for warm-up; those that are not playing that day usually go to another club to practice on those first days. Hence, I was on court warming up with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and there were also some other players.

Afterwards, I spent most of the time in the locker room waiting and watching the different matches being played on the monitors, especially the ones of the Spaniards. I only left the locker room to go eat. We went upstairs and my uncle, Maymo and I ate with Nico Lapentti and his coach Bebe Perez. Afterwards I returned to the locker room and did not leave it until they called us for the match.

As I said, you can find out about the match and the press conference in the media. Tomorrow, I will practice at 1 p.m. and then take a shower and eat before meeting with the Spanish press at 3:15 p.m. I feel relaxed with them and talk a little bit about everything. About my impressions here, how I feel. They will be here throughout the tournament and I like being with them.

By the way, I wanted to say that I never was at Djokovic’s party in Belgrade last week. Some media outlet published that I was there, while I was really in Mallorca playing golf with my uncle and others and working out in the afternoon.




Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Hello Everybody once again,

I write the blog for you and first of all I would like to thank you for all the comments you write on the sites. I haven’t had time to read all of them and I don’t know if I will, but I’ll try to see all of them. Thousand thanks.

I’ll tell you quickly about today, once again I’ve started writing the blog a bit late today. I could have written it before, but I was busy and didn’t do it. Therefore it will be a bit shorter.

Today was a day of relaxing for me. I didn’t have a match and I only practiced. Besides the tennis I also had some work to do with the press. The two pictures from today where taken when I was with them. I had agreed to meet them at 3:15 PM in the players’ restaurant and I was on time. I took a quick shower in the locker room after practise and went to eat with my uncle and Rafa Maymo once again. I had a plate of white pasta with fish. To tell you the truth, I must say that you don’t eat very well in the players’ restaurant at this tournament, but you don’t have to complain about it either. There are worse things in the world and I don’t like to complain nor criticize. This is only a comment.

So I ate as I told you and then I met with the Spanish journalists who came to this tournament. I could name everybody, but if I forget somebody he might get upset, therefore I made people take this picture to let you see all of them (or almost all of them). Usually I meet with them during tournaments before Roland Garros and we do the interviews there. This year it was difficult because of all the matches and my press officer also told me because I played doubles in Barcelona and had less time because of that. Therefore we decided to spend some time with them to talk about the tournament, how I got here, etc. I think that it’s normal to meet with them, because they make the effort to come here, hopefully for many days and that’s good for me and the other Spanish players in the draw. We have to give them some of our time. I stayed with them for about 30 minutes and we talked a bit about everything. I suppose that you’ll read in the media what we’ve talked about. It was curious that we started outside the restaurant but then I was told to go inside because there was too much noise.

Besides that it was a quiet day as I said, since I went back to the hotel a bit earlier than usually. I got back at 4:30 PM and started looking at things on the computer. I usually read the press, chat with my friends or watch a movie. That’s when I saw the messages and comments that you wrote about the blog. Talking about movies, I saw “The English Patient” which is a great movie to me, very good. I always bring movies to watch on the computer or the playstation in my room. Rafa Maymo joins me most of the time to watch them with me.

A bit later, around 7:30 PM I played the playstation with Maymo (he’s very bad hehehe) before we went to dinner. Who did I go with? With Moyini, Lobito (his coach), Pere (his trainer) and Maymo. One day I’ll talk about Lobito because he is a phenomenon. Very funny. We were laughing a lot with him in Rome and especially in Hamburg. Today he was very happy about Carlos’ win. Me too, I’m very happy for him because the match became difficult, starting with 4-0 down in the fourth set today.

Well, tomorrow I’ll get up more or less early, I’ll have breakfast and go to the club to practice and concentrate on the match against Cipolla. I play on court Suzanne Lenglen which is a bit slower than Center Court. We’ll see how it goes.

Thanks to everybody and hasta mañana.

Rafa Nadal


Thursday, May 31, 2007

Hola, everybody once again. Today I write very late, very late and from the hotel as always. Today was a day of competition and to tell you the truth I’m very happy to be in the third round. I played on court Suzanne Lenglen which is a bit slower and you never know. Carlos Moya told me that he lost five times there.

Well, today I left the hotel at 10:30 in the morning. Before that I went downstairs to have breakfast with my colleagues. There where Maymo, Lobito, Pere and Carlos Costa who came in while he was having a look at the media. I had bread with “nocilla” or Nutella, I don’t know. Or lets say bread with chocolate and a few juices.

Actually we left a bit later than 10:30 AM, around 10:40 AM because my uncle Toni came downstairs a bit later. He usually comes downstairs a bit earlier and goes for a walk in the morning. We waited downstairs in the tournament car to go to the site. There I had to warm-up and do the same as always. I actually like to do the same thing every time. I have my routine which almost everybody knows. After warming-up I usually don’t leave the locker room if I don’t go to the restaurant to eat something. Tomorrow I’ll tell you more about my routine in the locker room.

Yesterday people were talking a lot about the crowd. I told the press that besides two years ago during my match with Grosjean I’ve never had any complaints about the crowd here. They treat me well, especially in places or tournaments like Marseille. Here too. When I go to the courts to practice they are always packed with people who say hi to me, ask for autographs and show me that they like me. I really don’t have any problem.

Maybe the translation error after last year’s final had some influence. I remember that I started my speech congratulating Roger Federer, saying that I was very happy and proud to have beaten him and that he might be the best tennis player of all times. The translator (which we know well because he’s also in Monte-Carlo and at some others tournaments) didn’t understand well what I said and translated the opposite, which would mean that I was the best player of all times, etc. Afterwards he came to the locker room and said that he was sorry about the mistake. He didn’t have his best day. That happens to all of us. The case is that maybe the crowd still remembers that, but well, I don’t think that it’s a big deal.

Talking about today again, tonight a few of us we went for dinner and I’ll show you a few pictures we took. We went to a pizzeria again and had some ice cream afterwards. I had my typical gambas, which I love; olives, which I also like a lot and a plate of pasta, which only I eat (because it’s white with butter or oil). On the pictures you see Albert Costa who coaches Feli Lopez (Fidgiano), Carlos Costa, Rafa Maymo, my uncle Toni and Francis Roig who stays in a club outside Paris with a few pupils who play in a satellite tournament not far away from here. He comes whenever he can and we also talk over the phone quite often. You also know that he comes with me to some tournaments and to practise when my uncle Toni doesn’t come.

[Boys' Night Out! ]


Today we ate pretty fast and went back quickly at 11 PM, because we had another “meeting”. You’ll already know what I’m talking about… A playstation match!!! The legendary Ferru (David Ferrer) and myself against our tough opponents Moyini (Carlos Moya) and David Nalbandian. A match of five again and something at stake… I’ll tell you tomorrow and I hope that I’ll have photos… If I can tell you that David Nalbandian broke a joystick again. A new joystick, which we bought yesterday. This one I offered to him, but the one from tomorrow he will pay for… You can inagine who the winners were…I don’t say anything…you’ll see the pictures tomorrow…:-) Of course we played as pros.

At the end of today’s press conference they asked me about those games. I don’t know if Ferru or Moyini talked about what is at stake… I don’t and it’s better because all of us lose at some point… Finally. Actually we were laughing a lot in the press conference.

I would also like to comment a bit about what I told you in yesterday’s blog. I usually don’t talk about matches here, about how I feel and also those more technical things because the press who comes to Roland Garros tells you about that. Here I tell you about the little things which I don’t think are very interesting to write about in the newspapers or talk about on the radio or on TV.

Well, as it’s so late I’ll go to sleep. I’m sorry that it’s so short again. Tomorrow I’ll tell you more and lets hope that it won’t be only about the playstation.

Greetings to everybody and thanks for all your support messages. Today I didn’t have time to see many of them.

Rafa Nadal


Friday, June 1, 2007

Hello everybody on another day.

Well, many of you will be waiting for the pictures and the results of the play station game of the other night. I can tell you that at the end the stake couldn’t be “paid” by one of the two teams. David Nalbandian played his match today more or less at the same time as our practice session ended and our schedule didn’t match David Ferrer’s either. We’ll see tomorrow if the winning team gets what it deserves from the losing team.

Today we went to the club at noon. Today we went in a car with a driver who spoke Spanish which I think is great, my uncle Toni, Rafa Maymo and Benito Perez-Barbadillo, my PR manager who finally managed to get up in time to come with us – because we left a bit later today he, he, he. He says that he works from the room in the morning… I don’t know.

First I wanted to practice with Toni from 12:30 PM on, but since there was plenty of traffic from the hotel to Roland Garros it took us more time than usually. In the car we were talking a bit about history, my uncle knows history very well. He never stops talking about those things and today we were talking about North American presidents because we drove through Roosevelt Avenue. We also listened to the radio in the car and heard one of the best songs of the year. The problem is that I don’t know its name and I cannot tell you which one it is nor download it from the Internet. I might try to find it tomorrow.

As I said we arrived a bit later than usually because of traffic. At the beginning we had planned the practice session with my uncle. As we arrived we saw that Carlos Moya went to practice on the ground courts next to Roland Garros and I asked him if he wanted to practice with us. I know that Lobito was already prepared to practice and warmed-up. I came directly from the hotel with the tape on my ankles and ready to practice, therefore I just went to the locker room to get the rackets and then I went to practice. The practice went pretty well today and we were laughing a lot. Before starting we talked about the play station game of the night before and Moyini told me that he had read in the blog that I was going to show the pictures of the stake. He told me “no way” – “nanai” so I won’t be able to show anything once again. You’ll already know who won that game… David N destroying joysticks, Moyini vetoing pictures in the blog… :-) I don’t have to say anything else.

Coming back to today’s practice session I tell you that we played three “Eleven” after warming-up. That means that we play to eleven points and you have to win with a two-point difference. We do it without serve and you cannot play return winners. We laugh a lot despite playing seriously, because it seemed that some balls “were stolen”. Actually I have the picture of a ball, which Charly told me was out and you can see that it was good. They also took a picture of us while we were discussing and there you can see Lobito laughing and covering his eyes in order to say that he hasn’t seen the ball, as well as Toni and Moyini who laugh like crazy. In the other pictures you see me discussing the ball, which was in for me, but they told me it was out he, he, he. We try to keep a great atmosphere at these tournaments.





Hugs to everybody and gracias.

Rafa.


Saturday, June 2, 2007

Hello Everybody on another day.

Today was a day of competition, a day on which I which I do more or less the same thing. Actually I don't really know what to tell you today. I had breakfast in the hotel, after that I took a car to go to the tournament and warm-up.

Vittorio Selmi of the ATP found me a player to warm-up with today. I had already practiced with him in Rome and he's a pretty cool guy. After that I went to the locker room and waited for the match to start. Actually today the matches to be played before mine were pretty quick and therefore I didn't play too late. Even better. In the locker room I saw matches on the screens that we have there while I was listening to music and preparing the rackets.


But today my father surprised me. Without saying anything he appeared in Paris, he came here for the weekend. I was very happy about that. You know how many people stay with me here, but still nobody told me anything. You all know, especially if you've read the book that talks about the last few years, that I have a very good and special relationship with my father. We had very tough moments last year and he always supported me. Last year after the final it was very emotional to hug him. Well, I won't explain everything either. You already know.

Since today I don't have much to tell you either, I'll tell you that today I read more of the comments and messages about the blog. I saw that people are asking about the flavor of ice cream. I usually take three balls of vanilla with cookies. Today I had one on the way back to the hotel after dinner and before...the big game of play station. Once again it was the quartet that is due to come to its end, since Ferru lost today and will go back to Spain.

Also somebody told me to talk about the matches, but I don't think that it's correct, since the press is here in Paris to cover the tournament. As I already said I think is fair for them. In this blog I write things that usually don't interest a journalist very much. They usually don't have enough space to talk about those things.

Today I practice at noon and after that I've been told that I have a few activities with the press. Actually I would prefer to be quiet and not do many things those days. Things is a question of routine, but I know that I have to do certain things. For example tomorrow the press will come when the tournament will celebrate a players' birthday as always by bringing me a cake. I imagine that tomorrow you'll able to see that on TV or in the newspapers. They also told me that I'll do an interview for TVE tomorrow here at the tournament. Talking about birthdays here I remember that two years ago Pau Gasol came to the interview room in the middle of the press conference with a cake and a few bottles of Champagne. I knew that Pau was watching the match but I didn't expect him to come with this cake. Last year it was something more artificial because it had been prepared and I imagine that tomorrow it will be something similar. I hope that this year my uncle won't throw cake in my face as he did last year.

We'll also see if I can blow out the candles... Last year it was a show.

Well, I have to go now, I'm sorry that I don't have pictures today. I forgot the camera in the hotel... Sorry about that...

Greetings to everybody and hasta mañana.

[jenhatter06]

Rafa RG Part 2 ... kicking off with the birthday blog ;D

Sunday, June 3, 2007



Hello Everybody on a special day for me. As many of you know, today is my 21st birthday.

First of all I would like to thank all the people who've sent me messages and gifts. That surprises me every time and I’m grateful about it. I know that messages have been sent from all around the world. I’ve seen messages from Hawaii, Argentina, Peru, Canada, Uruguay, Colombia etc. Thank you so much. You know that I cannot read all of them, but they are there and I’m grateful. I would also like to send special greetings to the people of my web team who receive all those messages as well as to the people who do the other sites. THANK YOU!!!

Today has been a “normal” day. Probably it would have been different if I was at home. Normally I would have gone out for lunch with my family and then out for dinner with my friends at night. But this is the third year in a row that I celebrate my birthday here in Paris during Roland Garros. I don’t want to say that I’m not happy about that. The opposite is the case. I’m happy to celebrate it here because it means that I’m still in the tournament. Saying that, I can tell you that I did more or less the normal things of every day here in Roland Garros. In the morning I came directly to the club at 11:15 AM. I didn’t have time to have breakfast because breakfast closes at 11 in the hotel on weekends. Normally I would have arrived 10:55 AM, but last night…last night…well we played the last play station game…the last game with the quartet that has been competing for a few months now. Ferru and I won one game and lost another… I imagine that you must already be tired of so much play station, I talk a lot about the play station, but let me tell you that we really had a lot of fun and we were playing with plenty of enthusiasm. Yesterday Ferru lost and today David lost, so they will leave and I will have to play together with Moyini against the others to “clean shots” as you say in terms of tennis. I’ll tell you…

As I told you we went to the club to practice in the morning. Today I practiced with a Portuguese boy whose name is Gastao Elias and who plays in the junior tournament here. Francis Roig put me in contact with him from the distance and Vitto Selmi took care of coordinating the practice session together with my uncle Toni. Today we practiced on court 13, which is pretty far away from Center Court. It’s just behind Suzanne Lenglen and there were lots of people during my practice session. While I was practicing they were singing Happy Birthday. Later I got to know that it was Rosana Romero’s idea, the girl from TVE who follows tennis… As I told you there were a lot of people and I’m grateful for all the support they give me. Besides my uncle Toni and Rafa Maymo who are always with me during my practice sessions, there were also my father, Vitto and Benito. To reach that court there are a few small paths without people, which allows us to reach the courts quickly. If we had to walk in the middle of the people it would take us quite some time. I don’t say it because of me, but because of all the people who stay in the club. It’s impressive.

After practice I ran to the locker room because I wanted to see the MotoGP race. Actually I also like motorbikes a lot, all categories and I also follow all the races. I had an appointment with the media at 2:45 PM and to tell you the truth I arrived a bit late because I wanted to see the last laps of the race. The meeting with the press was a “surprise” organized by the tournament and they had a cake and champagne to celebrate the birthday. There were loads of photographers and cameras, those of you who follow the media and TV might have seen it. To tell you the truth, I don’t like such actions a lot. I also told Benito because like that everything looks very artificial. I understand that we have to do it in order to have a birthday picture and I’m also grateful for all the media showing up. But I already told you that I don’t like it too much because it is somewhat artificial. Well, as Moyini would say, that’s how it goes. After that I went to eat quietly.

I had an appointment with TVE and together with Carlos Costa I went to their set which they have here at the tournament and we were chatting with Alex and Rosana for a while. While we were “on air” they gave me a giant ice cream which was a barrel (is this how you call it?) of cookies and cream. A detail, but I preferred not to eat more than what you saw… Without showing it on camera they also gave me a gift which I liked very much. This year TVE comes to all the most important tournaments. At the beginning of the year Rosana came to Melbourne with a camera man called Miguel (there was also somebody for the sound called Andres and I would like to say hi to him). He’s a camera man at TVE who goes to all (or almost all) wars and he can tell you a thousand stories. Already in Melbourne he told us a few. He’s a very nice guy and in Melbourne I was impressed about what he told us and what he had been through. Actually he didn’t come to more tournaments after Melbourne and suddenly he’s here again. He told me that he has been in Iraq and other places during that time and he gave me a collection of bills of Saddam Hussein which he brought from his last trip to Iraq. A detail which I liked a lot. Thousand thanks, Miguel! I hope to see you at more tournaments! Hehehe.

Well after that I went to the hotel to relax during the afternoon. Tonight I will go out for dinner with my father, my uncle, Rafa, Carlos and I’ve been told that Tuts arrived as well. Tuts is the person from Nike who helps us with everything. A phenomenon! Tomorrow I will show you pictures from today. I don’t have time to insert them now, because I have to go to the dinner appointment. Tomorrow I will put a few from today.

Hugs to everybody and thanks again for all the messages you sent today.

Rafa.


Monday, June 4, 2007

Hello Everybody on another day. Once again I would like to thank you for all the messages and gifts I got yesterday for my birthday. I continue getting a lot of messages over the internet. I’ve seen a few that are published on the website (www.rafaelnadal.com).

Many of you ask me what goes through my mind before and after the matches. I don’t know it depends very much on the match and the situation. If I’ve played well or not changes a lot. If I’ve played bad I quickly see the match in my mind and try to analyze the mistakes I did in order to try to improve. If I’ve played well I’m happy but I still try to improve.

Today before playing against Hewitt I already knew that I would play against Moyini if I win. Well in my case, I don’t think about that but about the match I have to play point by point. I don’t think about who I would play if I win, even if I’m asked about that very often. I only think about the player who stands on the other side or who will be standing on the other side. Once the match was over I did think, well now I have to play against Charly. You all know that he’s my friend. The person which helped me when I got started, a great person. What goes through my mind? What do we think? How to play against a friend? I think that I answered all those questions for the press today.

You would like to know what we did today? Knowing that we’ll be rivals Wednesday… We went out almost every night, went to have dinner almost every night… Well we did the usual thing, we went for dinner all together to an Italian restaurant which isn’t far away from the hotel and was recommended to us by Giorgio di Palermo, an Italian who works for the ATP as a Tour Manager and who is a very nice guy. At the end there were plenty of people from the world of tennis because Vitto invited also some people who work for the ATP. Since we were so many they sat us at different tables. At my table there were my father, Rafa Maymo, Albert Molina, Tuts, a friend of Tuts and myself. At the table next to us there was Moyini with his girlfriend Flavia, his physio Pere, Alex Corretja and Charly a friend of Moya’s. At another big table there were many ATP people: Vitto (who organized the convention), Zeljko Franulovic, the tournament director of Monte-Carlo, Nanette, Simon, Nicola, Stéphane, Fabrizio, the umpires Cedric and Mohamed and a Greek called Peter who doesn’t work for the ATP but comes to many tournaments and is a professional tennis spectator as we say. At another table there was Lobito with a few Argentine friends and the former tennis player Karim Alami. Today when we came back from the club in the car with my uncle Toni, Rafa Maymo, my father, Benito and Lobito we were actually talking about Alami. They told me that he was a very popular player on the circuit and that he now works as a commentator for an Arabic TV channel. Well there he was having dinner.

I mentioned all those people also because they were witnesses as the stake of the play station game from the other day was “paid”. Actually I made Moyini pay for the game by doing ten trunk flexions in the middle of the restaurant. There are no pictures and there won’t be any (even if there was a camera which immortalized the moment), but he did it… He paid the stake. Moyini did ten trunk flexions in the middle of the restaurant!!! What a laugh…!!! I was laughing so much and I tell you that I didn't laugh because of malicious joy, but because two years ago, exactly two years ago, I had to do the same thing. In the middle of the Champs Elysées with two hundred people staring I had to do ten flexions in the middle of the street on the zebra crossing. The owner of the restaurant was staring a bit as well but has was laughing quite a lot. I have been looking on my computer for the picture they took of me two years ago, but I couldn’t find it. I swear that I’ll show it in the blog if I find it.

For dinner I had a pizza with shrimps and anchovies and some pasta (spaghetti) with shrimp and mushrooms. It had to be quick because we had an appointment at the hotel to do some TV.

Tomorrow I practice at 1 PM, which means that I’ll go to the club around 11:30 AM to practice and after having lunch I will come to the hotel in order to relax. I’m sorry for not having photos today either but I cannot find the camera. I will look for it in the room or maybe in the locker room to see if I can find it.

A hug to everybody and hasta mañana.

Rafa


Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Hello Everybody.

Another day here in Paris during the second week of Roland Garros. I don’t know but it seems like we arrived in Paris yesterday but it’s also true that we’ve been here for many days, thinking about the fact that we’ve almost been here for two weeks now.

Today was also a rather normal day. We went to the club at 11:30 AM and practiced around 1 PM on court 11. Today Vitto had organized for practice with a 16 year-old junior who of course plays the junior tournament and whose name is Vladimir Ignatik. He’s from Belarus like Max Mirnyi who came to practice on the same court with his partner Björkman as we finished. After that I ate at the club, having the typical spaghetti with fish and butter. I ate with my father, Maymo, Tuts and Carlos Costa. Everything was good. I saw that Charly ate before us and said hi to him. Juan Amador, a journalist from Mallorca who is here covering the tournament took a picture of us and said hi.

Carlos Costa, Rafa Maymo, Toni, Benito, Pepote Ballester and Tito Tous who came from Mallorca today went to play football. In theory they were my team (because they played with my colours) against Nalbandian’s team. They lost like 14-3. A disaster. And they came back telling me that they won… Actually I stayed in my room when they went to play, relaxing and preparing for tomorrow’s match against Carlos. Before that Rafa gave me a massage in order to relax and stretch well.

After that I only played the play station in my room before going to dinner. When there are no matches because players are missing (Ferru went already back to Spain), I use to play the Master Liga. Today I got Tevez for my team and I’m playing as Manchester. I did a great match against Zaragoza…. Lobito talks about him a lot and so I decided to buy him and to see how he is.

The other day I told you that I didn’t find the camera, I think it was yesterday and today I finally found it on the table J I put you a few pictures here and I’ll comment them: This is a picture which was taken the day of my birthday during the action the tournament had organized for me. The picture which you see in the press is the one those photographers are taking with the cameras you can see. Lets say this is what you don’t see in the press.





The other one is with my father and Carlos Costa, having dinner at my birthday which I already told you. The other shows Tuts from Nike, about who I already told you, he had arrived that day, Carlos Costa my manager, Vitto from the ATP and myself.

And the last picture was sent to me by Benito today and he told me that Rosana sent it today. It’s the picture they took with the huge ice cream that TVE gave to me for my birthday on Sunday.



The question is: What did I do with the nine and a half liters? Well I took them to the hotel and told them to put it in the freezer. Every afternoon since Sunday and also every night after dinner there’s a small ice cream ‘degustation’ in the lobby of the hotel. There is everybody who almost doesn’t fit the pants having ice cream hehehe. We still have more than half of it.

The last picture has been taken during the practice session on Sunday. There’s a lot of people at practice and that’s really nice. You feel very good with the people and they show you that they like you.



Well I imagine that you want me to tell you about tomorrow’s match (today’s when you are reading the blog). As I said I know that it will be a very difficult match. Carlos is playing at a great level. He already did it in Hamburg when he beat three Top 10 players during the week and got close to beat Federer. We know each others very well and have played and practiced many times. I know that he’s the person I care less about losing against but it’s clear that I’ll do everything I can in order not to lose. It’s a pity that we play against each others but it’s also good to know that one of us will advance. I don’t know, it’s a strange sensation, but that’s how sports and tennis are. On court we’ll show the highest respect for each others but there we will be rivals and we’ll have to forget about our friendship. Five minutes before and five minutes after we’ll again be the friends we are.

Bona sort! (this means good luck in Catalan).

Hasta mañana,

Rafa


Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Hello Everybody,

Honestly I don’t know what to write today. Now that I’m starting I don’t have an idea about what to tell you. I still don’t want to write about things that the press covers nor things that I think that other people don’t need to know. I imagine that you’ll tell me that this is what you want to know. I’m very sorry about that but I’m a very reserved person in such things and I keep them for me. My parents tell me that every now and then. I keep everything for me and end up bursting almost… Well in this case I’ll keep it for me and I’ll tell you about sensations besides what the press at the tournament told you today.

Today I went to the club pretty early. I say early because a few of you know that I played the second match after Noon. Actually Djokovic played Andreev first and then we played. Andreev also stays in our hotel and in case you don’t know it, he speaks perfect Spanish. He’s a very nice guy as well.

At 10:15 AM we left to the club with my uncle Toni, my father, Rafa Maymo, Carlos Costa and Tuts. As we arrived I went directly to the locker room to pick-up my rackets and go to practice. The locker room is very good here in Roland Garros and I always leave plenty of things in my locker. It’s not one of the tournaments where we have to take everything back from the club and bring it back the other day. This locker room is very good and the lockers are huge. I got the same as last year. I was warming-up and after that I did the typical thing, I went back to the locker room before the match. I ate something and didn’t leave the locker room anymore.

As I said before I’m not going to talk a lot about the match. The press already did it and everything is said and written there. They asked me many questions in the post-match press conference about my feelings after winning against a friend.

Everybody knows what I think. Charly is a phenomenon, my friend and when we play against each others we give everything. That’s professional and that’s how you should do it. We played for a place in the semifinals of Roland Garros. I’ll say again that Carlos is the person it hurts less losing against. I’ve also been asked about the shake hands at the end. For a few people it was cold, but I have my relationship with him and there’s so much confidence that we don’t have to show things in public. I’ll say it again here, but I don’t think it’s important. We don’t need to hug on the court in order to know that we are friends. The real relationship is the one in which you don’t have to act nor feign anything. It wasn’t a match in which everything is decided at the end of the 5th set with both playing an unbelievable match. I don’t think that a hug at the end would have been sincere.

Well this is it. Tomorrow I’ll go to the club to practice at 11:30 AM since I have a court at 1 PM. I don’t know yet who I’m going to practice with, but they’ll tell me when I arrive there. Tomorrow will be a day on which I’ll try not to do anything besides the normal things.

Hasta mañana.

Rafa


Thursday, June 7, 2007


Thursday was a waiting day. Relaxing and waiting for Friday’s match. A difficult match, since we are in the semifinals and everything becomes more complicated. Everybody is here to win the title and the last four are the ones who want to win it most you can say. Djokovic is a young player who is one year younger than me and already third in the ranking of the year which we call “Race”. This means that he has been playing very well and that he’s up there. We’ll see. Actually he’s a very young player, he’s one year younger than me but still it seems that I’m older. Maybe because I’ve been on the circuit for four or almost five years, which are a few years already… I think that he’s been there for about two years which is a lot as well and now he has very good results. I think that he might be a future number 1.

Today I’ll try to live my normal life. Another day between matches. Get up, relax, breakfast, trip to the tournament and practice. I knew that I was practicing at the same time as Djokovic but of course on a different court. I wanted to practice at 11 AM as I said last night and I finally practiced at 11:15 AM.

After that I didn’t do a lot because I wanted to have a quick lunch at the club and run back to the hotel. Today I spent less time in the club because I wanted to go back quickly and relax and do something afterwards. That’s why I went back to hotel early as I said.

During the afternoon Carlos Costa called me in the room telling me that he was going out for a walk with my uncle Toni. I don’t usually go for walks in the afternoon because normally I stay at the club, but today I felt like going and I took advantage of the opportunity. I knew that they were going for some shopping and I joined them. The three of us went for a walk on the Champs Elysées together with my father and we bought some things in the Hugo Boss shop there. They told me that it’s the biggest in Europe and they really have everything there. We’ve been there for a while and I picked-up a few things I needed. I don’t go for shopping very often but I think that it was good to stay with the family, get some fresh air and do something different.

As I got back to the hotel David Nalbandian called me on the phone to see if I wanted to … play a play station game. David is still in Paris practicing and he will be leaving to Halle tomorrow. Of course I wanted to play! Moyini went back to Palma after yesterday’s match and Ferru, as you know, went back a few days ago and therefore the level went down a lot. The rivals? Benito who is worse every day (all the other way round) and a special guest who knows about football: Esteban Cambiasso. Cuchu (that’s how they call him) likes tennis a lot and he came here after the match he played in Barcelona with Argentina to see the quarters and the semis and since he also stays in our hotel, he plays with us. David and myself beat him 2-0, better for him that nothing was at stake… I imagine that Chuchu would have to team-up with somebody else in order to see if he can beat us. He plays very well. Who knows, he might look for Crespo to see if they can score some goals… The night before we also played a few games but it was Benito and me against them, you’ll know who won and who lost… I don’t say anything else. Only that it’s better not to play with Benito… We went down to the Third Division and we started playing in the Champions League…



Of course I’ve seen comments asking about what we talked in our conversation with Antonio Banderas. I don’t know if I can tell you because those are private conversations even if we didn’t speak about how to save the world from wars or something similar I still think that they have to remain private, right? Actually he seemed to be a very very nice guy. A great person. We talked about many things and he talked to us about shootings, how they are done, how they film dangerous scenes and that some people got really hurt doing it and how much time you need to do a movie etc. It’s unbelievable how many days they film. We talked about many things and the conversation was very entertaining. My uncle Toni also took advantage of the situation to ask him many questions. And he also asked us many questions about tennis. You can see that he likes it quite a lot. A very nice guy as I already said.

Hasta mañana and thanks for the support.

Greetings to everybody,

Rafa

[jenhatter06]

more of Rafa's blog ^^ ... and he found his camera -- so there are pictures!

[jenhatter06]

Rafa RG Part 3 ...

Friday, June 8, 2007

Hello Everybody,



I don’t know, if the other day I was trapped with writing, today it’s impossible… I really don’t know what I can write nor what I should write. I’m sorry. I know that some people criticize me for that but I only tell you the truth. Today I played one of the most important matches of the year and still I’m a bit blocked for writing. I don’t know if it is because I have too many things that I could tell you or simply because I don’t think I should tell them.

The case is that we are here, happy once again to be in the Roland Garros final. I’ve already talked about it in the press conference and I imagine that you’ll get the comments since there were more journalists than ever. This happens at almost every tournament like here, since the event is bigger there are also more journalists. I think that it will be easy for you to find news about the match. I only tell you that I think that I played at a very good level and that I’m feeling well.

Before matches we warm-up. It’s a bit different from practice on a normal day when there’s no match because we do the movements we except to do on court and for example we don’t play competition points. The person who accompanies you, who helps you warm-up, knows that it’s not a useful practice session for him. Today I practiced with a Colombian boy, a junior called Alejandro Gonzalez. A very nice guy and I hope that he’ll do well here and in his career. He told me that he lost in the first round in the juniors tournament here but I’m sure that he’ll be more lucky at other tournaments because he plays pretty well. I saw what he did and I saw that he lost against the player who’s now in the final. Well, he’ll have more opportunities.

My mother, my grandmother, my uncle Rafael and his wife joined my father and the rest of the team here in Paris. They were in the club this afternoon and they came back to the hotel before me. I arrived at the hotel at 9:30 PM and we went for dinner at 9:45 PM. We went to the Italian restaurant of the other day where Moyini did the trunk flexions. Vitto had booked a table for the whole group. Giorgio was there as well and we ate pretty well once again.

To tell you the truth we do a lot of press work after the match. Today it was a bit shorter but I understand and know that it’s like that. They tell me that I have another press conference tomorrow and that’s what I don’t understand. I really don’t know anything new that I could tell them. I’ve said everything today!!! Besides that there was a funny moment when I was asked about my favorite female player and I said that it was Henin. When I said that she was it because of her tennis and only that, all journalist were laughing, thinking about the double sense. I had to make clear that I just referred to the one which seems the most complete playing tennis. NOTHING ELSE!!!

Well tomorrow I will tell you more things. I also wanted to send greetings to a “Mallorquin” who sent me a message via Carlos Costa today. His name is Jose Ramon. Thanks a lot for the email that you sent me today. I only tell you to be very enthusiastic and thanks again for the support. I hope that you continue being motivated for the tennis.

Hugs to everybody.

Rafa


Saturday, June 9, 2007

Hola!

Tonight I write to you quickly from my room before going to bed in order to relax for the so important day of tomorrow. Today was an intense day. A lot of people around me all the time, during practice, with the press, at the hotel, in my room and even at the bar where we went to see the football match.

I will be fast today, coming straight to the point. Today I practiced at 1 PM on court 3. It is a court which is close to center court and it has got stands. They play matches there during the tournament, but now that almost all competitions are finished we could practice there. There were quite a lot of people in the stands and that’s nice. I don’t know, the people support you a lot and they are really lovely.

At the beginning I didn’t have to do press today because I did quite a lot last night and I didn’t think that it was necessary. Yesterday I went for dinner after press, then directly to bed and this morning to practice. Actually the practice court was full of journalists and cameras and I was pleased to talk to them at the end of the practice session. I show a picture which was taken during today’s “improvised” press conference that Benito organized with the Spanish press. After that I had to do some international press as well upstairs in the press room, something that wasn’t planned at the beginning. Today I ate pretty late (at 3:30 PM) and at 4:15 PM I went back to the hotel to relax.





During the afternoon in the hotel I was chatting a bit over the internet with some friends and then I went downstairs for an interview with Alex Corretja and Rosana Romero from TVE. Who do I chat with? With friends from Manacor, with people I know etc. Not many, to be honest there a only a few to who I talk always. But I like to keep in touch with the them and with internet it’s much easier. Since I have a web cam in my computer they can see me and I can see them as well.

As I said I had an appointment with TVE at 7:30 PM but I went downstairs a bit later, just on time to do the interview and go out for dinner at a bar where Carlos Costa has made reservations to see the matches of the Spanish League. Yes, yes, the matches. We saw the two at a bar in the center of Paris and they were really unbelievable. I was excited because I hadn’t seen matches for quite some time and we had a lot of fun. We also ate there and afterwards I went back to the hotel to sleep early.



Many of you will be asking if I’m nervous tonight. I want to be honest with everybody. Of course I’m a bit nervous and it will cost me more than usually to go to sleep. I imagine (and I know) that it’s a normal thing. Of course it’s normal to be nervous before an important final. I’m sure that other sportsmen feel the same before playing a Champions League final or so. Tomorrow when I walk on court I will be nervous for sure and the important thing is to know how to get through that moment. That and playing well, of course. But yes, I’m a bit nervous and that’s normal.

Tomorrow I practice at 11:30 AM. Today after practice I asked Vittorio Selmi from the ATP to look for a player to warm-up. It will be a 30-minute warm-up and then I’ll go to the locker room, take a shower, eat something and I’ll focus on the match in the locker-room.

Well, we’ll see how it goes, wish me good luck.

Greetings to everybody.

Rafa

[jenhatter06]

A new blog! .... been long enough, don't ya think??



Player Name: Ivan Ljubicic
Blogging From: Masters Series Madrid

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Hi everyone from Madrid.

It's good to be back blogging for the first time since Chennai in the first week of last year.



First off, I don't have an interesting picture today so here's one of me last week in Vienna at a falconry at the Kreuzenstein Castle. I love animals so I really enjoyed seeing the falcons - they are so big they are scary.

After losing in the Vienna quarterfinals I got a flight the same day to Madrid. But when I got here I started to feel really sick and I basically spent the first night throwing up and I wasn't able to practice Saturday. I had a sandwich in the Vienna airport and that may have been the problem, but my coach ate the same thing and he's been fine. Usually it's better if it's the other way around!

The strange thing is that one year ago I picked up a virus on the eve of Madrid. I had a high fever the day before the match but I decided to play, which proved to be a big mistake. I wasn't well for the next 4-5 weeks and I was lucky to be able to make it to Masters Cup.

I tried to practice twice yesterday but there was no way. I woke this morning and have been feeling better so I had a light practice with Mikhail Youzhny. He had just arrived from Moscow so he was looking to take it pretty easy also. We hit for about an hour and then had a talk. He was telling me that after the US Open he and his girlfriend went to Croatia for a holiday. I thought that was great.

While Croatia is a beautiful country it's not one of the most popular holiday destinations for players or tourists. He went to a very popular island, Brac, which is a terrific place. I told him that the next time he goes he should call him and I'll tell him about all the other great places he should visit.

This week is obviously very important for all the players in contention for Tennis Masters Cup. One reason I'm hoping to make it is to see how I look as a terracotta warrior. In Montreal a lot of players in contention had their measurements taken. The woman doing the measurements said that my head had a very interesting shape and that she would like to do it for me. I guess you have to take that as a compliment Being bald, I have nothing to hide.

I experienced the excitement in 2005 when I qualified for the Masters Cup in my semifinal match in Bercy (Masters Series Paris). I was fighting for every match and it will be the same for everyone this year with so many guys grouped so close together all the way down to me in 14th place. And with byes for the seeds in Madrid it will be really hot from the beginning because there's 15 points for the seeds if they can win their first match. But the cut here is 44, so there are no weak players or easy matches. So it's going to be very exciting for the players and the fans.

Check back Monday for another post.

Regards, Ivan


Monday, October 15, 2007

Hello everyone,

Today I have a picture from a sponsor's visit, taken in the Mutua Madrilena lounge. I also visited the lounges of Rolex, Air Europe and Telefonica. It's something players do on a regular basis at tournaments.

Last night we had the player party but if you want to know the highlights you'll have to ask someone else. Because I'd been sick in recent days I only stayed about 30 minutes with my coach Riccardo and my fitness coach Salvador. I just chatted with Zimonjic and Nestor for 15 minutes and had some food, which was very good. I saw a lot of beautiful young people, but not so many players. I think I went too early. Here is Spain they don't even open the restaurants until 9 or 9.30.

It's somewhat strange playing an indoor tournament when the weather outside is so nice It's been 25 or 26 Celsius. Often when we play indoor events we walk outside and it's below freezing.

I'd like to use the blog today to explain to everyone about the structure of the ATP, which is an association owned 50/50 by the players and tournaments. We have an Executive Chairman and President, Etienne de Villiers, and six board members: three player representatives and three tournament representatives. The six board members vote to make decisions and if they are divided then the Chairman can come in and make the decision.

I'm going to focus today on the three player board reps., who represent the following regions: Europe (Jacco Eltingh), the Americas (Perry Rogers) and the International Region (Iggy Jovanovic). The player reps. are chosen by the 10 players on the ATP Player Council, who themselves are elected by all the players.

The Player Council advises the board reps., passing along the ideas and feelings of the players, but the board reps. still can vote against our wishes if they think it is in the best interests of the sport.

The big issue the board and Player Council have been dealing with recently has been the 2009 calendar and all the changes that are coming. We've got a new premier category of 1000s tournaments, with those eight events replacing the current nine-tournament ATP Masters Series. Then we have the 500s and the 250s.

If you win a '1000s' event you will earn 1000 points. Win a '500s' event and you win 500 points. Grand Slams will be worth 2000 points to the winner. With fewer categories of tournaments, hopefully fans will find the system easier to follow.

Beginning in 2009, players will have to play all eight 1000s, and no fewer than four of the 11 500s. So you'll see very strong fields and guys who want to boost their rankings will want to play even more than the four 500s.

The ITF, which is another federation which controls national federations and which the Grand Slams are members of, is helping us with the Davis Cup schedule. We've been trying to schedule the Davis Cup in better weeks that make it easier for the players to play, so you don't have a situation where you are playing in Europe one week and then flying across the world to play Davis Cup in Chile the following week. And in another change it looks like we'll earn points for winning Davis Cup matches.

The last 15 years nothing has really changed and the time has come to make meaningful improvements. I believe we are doing that with the 2009 calendar, and the longer-term calendar that we are planning through 2013.

So serving on the Player Council is an important and rewarding job. We don't have a lot of free time and it takes a lot of energy to talk with all the players to see what they think. I'm now in my third term on the Player Council and it's a great honor to serve as President. It shows that players believe in my ability to fill the role.

I have another day off before playing my first match against Stefan Koubek on Wednesday. Check back for another post tomorrow.

Regards, Ivan


Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Today let me say a few words about my friend and countryman Ivo Karlovic, who has been playing some incredible tennis this year, winning three titles, serving more than 1,000 aces and climbing to within reach of the Top 20.

I've always said that he had the potential to be a really, really high-ranked player. His serve is by far the best in the world and arguably the best ever. Even on an average day he's still not dropping serve and he can expect to make it to a tie-break, where one or two points can change everything. He's winning 93 or 94 percent of service games and the number of tie-breaks he plays is just ridiculous.

He's already topped 1,000 aces this year and he's a good chance to finish second all-time for most aces served in a season. Goran served 1400 and something in the mid '90s but back then the courts and balls were faster and it was easier to hit aces. At 6' 10'' Ivo has a natural physical advantage and he uses it as much as he can, which he absolutely should. But he's also really improved his all-round game, and that's a big reason for his jump up the rankings.

He has 230 Race points and he's still a chance to make it to the Masters Cup. I can tell you with certainty that there is not one player in the locker room who wants to play him.

Ivo and I grew up together in Croatia. I remember at 16 we were given a wild card into the tour event in Umag and we won our first-round doubles against Berasategui and Clavet. That kicked off our careers. And in 1996 Zeljko Franulovic selected us to spend time with the Davis Cup team and experience the atmosphere.

Ivo had a good win today over Safin and with the weapon he's got, he's going to be hard to beat indoors this week.

Today in my role as Player Council President I met with ATP Chairman Etienne de Villiers and Gayle Bradshaw, who is the head of Rules and Competition. I was interested to talk with Gayle about how chair umpires are evaluated and how you know when one is really good.

I also had a deep discussion with him about Stefan Koubek, who ironically enough, I play tomorrow. Stefan was defaulted in Metz and was hit with a pretty big fine. He thought the fine was excessive and asked me, as his representative on the Player Council, to raise the issue.

I talked to Gayle, who is reviewing the Supervisor's report of the incident, and explained Stefan's point of view. Stefan will appeal the fine. Sometimes players don't know who to talk to about these issues and if I can help out I'm happy to do so. If I can write a brief email or give some support to the player and maybe help to reduce a fine, then it's worth it. Young players may not know a lot about the structure of the ATP and any of them reading this blog will hopefully now know that the Player Council is there to help them and give them a voice.

I reviewed the 2009 calendar with Etienne. He wanted to know the players' side. Overall it's good; there are just a couple of issues here and there. The new Asian swing is very important for tennis and for the players, but it does involve some extra travel.

We'll keep trying to work it out. The calendar has to be announced in Shanghai.

Thanks for reading and check back tomorrow for my post after the match with Koubek.

Regards, Ivan


Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Hi everyone,

I've just lost 7-5 in the third to Stefan Koubek. Playing so late I knew that so many of the guys in the battle for Tennis Masters Cup spots had already lost today. It was a huge opportunity for me. I could have jumped to eighth or ninth from 14th, so it's a huge disappointment, of course.

What happened today now opens the door for another group of guys ranked between 15th and 24th in the Race. It's amazing how many guys are still in contention to qualify for Shanghai this late in the season. It's impossible to talk about all the possibilities. All I know is that it's going to be fantastic for the fans to watch how things play out.

Why did so many guys in contention for Shanghai get beaten today? Could nerves have played a part? Maybe the tension played a little bit of a role, but all the guys are used to it. It's not like we've never played with pressure.

I saw a little bit of Ancic against Blake and Mario played really, really well. Berdych only lost 7-6 in the third to Nalbandian. Moya lost to a great player in Ferrero. I lost a tight one to Koubek, who had already played three matches here and was used to the conditions. The balls were flying and he broke me straight away.

For me it was a very long day, playing fifth match from 11 a.m. By 4.30 pm only two matches had finished. After an easy warm up I had a long lunch, played some pool and spent some time on the internet, checking out the European football qualifiers.

I also had time to joke around with Andrei Pavel. I keep asking him: "How long am I going to keep seeing you around? I've had enough of you." He says: "Why do you want me to retire?" I've played him so many times I feel tired whenever I see him.

There are some guys you can't joke around with, but Andrei's not one of them. He's a nice guy and doesn't mind me kidding around. In all seriousness (in case he's reading this), I wish him a long career. He's been playing really well this year so he should keep playing on.

Right now I'll go back to the hotel and talk to my coach. I'll have something to eat, but nothing as substantial as I would have eaten had I won and needed to refuel the body for a match on Thursday.

Regards, Ivan

[Dina]

the best thing they can do is give marat the blog in paris!!!!!!
thanks jenny!!!!!!

[annie]

Since he isn't going to be anywhere near Paris during the tournament (or at least i think so)...I'd say, how about AO08?

[jenhatter06]

Bob & Mike are blogging from Portland! ;D



Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Hi everyone,

It's great to be back blogging for ATPtennis.com. Mike and I will take turns each day this week as we get set for one of the biggest weeks of our career - the Davis Cup final against Russia in Portland, Oregon.



Here's a photo we took Monday night at the Portland Trailblazers' game. Along with James and Andy we got floor seats to the game and did a little promotion at halftime hitting balls into the crowd. The rest of the team had to watch the game a little higher up in one of the suites. Hope it wasn't too rough for you guys

After enjoying Thanksgiving with our extended family of about 25 we flew into Portland on Saturday night. On Sunday we practiced at the University of Portland and then the whole team went to the Portland Convention Center, where we met up with about 500 kids. We played some mini-tennis with the kids and Mike and I played James and Andy in an exhibition.

For dinner we were guests of former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula at his steakhouse. That was a great dinner! Mike and I also went to Whole Foods and loaded up on groceries for the hotel room. The hotel has a beautiful spread for breakfast each morning but Mike is so picky that he can't eat much of it. He probably spends 25 grand at Whole Foods... he should look into a sponsorship deal.

On Monday we had a practice set with Mardy and Donald Young. We're really impressed with how much Donald has improved in the past six months. He's a totally different player to the guy we saw in Winston Salem. We're also impressed with how hard Robby Ginepri is working after a disappointing year and he's committed to getting back into the Top 20.

We still haven't seen John Isner yet but we're all looking out for him - we have some major pranks in the planning stage. He played some pranks on the whole team in Sweden and rookies just can't do that. I can't divulge too much as it was pretty gross, but it had something to do with defacing my room - he messed it up pretty good.

Also Monday James and Patrick went to Nike Town for a book signing for James' book, and we all were fitted for new Hugo Boss suits - a nice little perk!

Look out for Mike's post tomorrow.

Bob



.... glad to see all the boys (Mardy, Robby, etc.) are there too -- team unite!

[SAFINNO1]

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Hey everyone, it's Mike here today.

Let me start by saying that if you haven't hit Bob and me up for tickets yet, I'm sorry but you'll have to watch the Davis Cup final on TV. We've given out 101 tickets to family and friends and we're at our limit. We got 40 comped tickets and we bought another 61. I didn't know we had so many long-lost cousins, but all the tickets have been spoken for. Pat Mac got 50 and Andy has a similar amount, so we're all bringing the whole crew!



This photo was taken Tuesday night after a great seafood dinner at Jake's Famous Crawfish restaurant. We had shrimp appetizers and then everyone had scallops.

I'm pleased to report that it didn't take too long for the team to pull a huge prank on John Isner. We got him back good for Sweden. I can't go into too many specifics other than to say that his room looks like a crime scene. While he was at practice in the morning we got an extra key to his room and James and Andy snuck in, put a 'do not disturb' sign on the door, turned up the heat in his room and then did the dirty work.

This isn't the sort of stuff for which you can call the maid to tidy up. He's been in there cleaning his room all day and, knowing that there could be more in store, I'm sure he'll be trying to change the locks. I can say, however, that Donald is probably safe. He's pretty low key and hasn't popped off.

My dad arrived Tuesday and he helped Bob, me and Mardy with an adidas clinic with about 450 kids. We also did a lot of media after that in addition to the press conference we did with the two teams at the pre-draw ceremony. Earlier in the day we practiced at the University of Portland. Bob and I played some doubles with Young and Isner for an hour and a half.

There was some talk about whether Marat Safin may make a surprise appearance in Portland and be rushed into the team to play doubles. But there's no room reservation in his name and our friends at Adidas don't think he's coming. So my guess is he won't show up, which is just fine with Bob and me because he's one of Russia's better doubles players. We believe Tursunov and Safin are their best team. They won the doubles rubber in straight sets over Calleri and Nalbandian in last year's final. But the other guys can play good doubles, too, and if we happen to play Tursunov and Youzhny then they will also be a tough team.

Thanks for reading. I'll turn it back over to Bob for the next post.

Mike

[annie]

LOL...Looks like Mike's doing a little spying/investigating about their opposition...Thanks Ily.

[jenhatter06]

the rest o' the twins' blog from Portland ...

Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - 9 p.m.

It could go down as an all-time low in the world of officiating. Fortunately, there were no genuine line judges involved. But Mike Bryan and Mardy Fish, hang your heads in shame!

At practice today, Robby played a couple of sets against James and unfortunately I have to say that a bad call probably cost Robby a set. Mike and Mardy were both calling James' baseline but screwed up an 'out' call because they were text messaging at the time. Robby hit a ball that was just a little long and James played it. The rally continued for another 10-15 shots and Robby eventually won it. But then Mike and Mardy suggested to James that the earlier ball had indeed been out. James, who didn't get a good look at the ball, ran with the idea and that gave him the break. I don't think either Mardy or Mike would get hired to call lines at Challenger level after that performance. Two of them were calling the line and they both missed it!

But Robby took it like a man. I would have broken a couple of racquets. But after calling the lines we were all ready to give credit to the real line judges. The balls really going whizzing fast out there and it's tough to make right calls all the time - even when you're not text messaging



Oh, in the photo above, that's Mike practicing to lift a giant version of the Davis Cup. If we win the Cup he'll carry it all the way back to Camarillo!

John Isner's been pretty quiet and obedient today, playing water boy and towel boy. But you've got to feel a little sorry for the big man because no-one wants to hit with him. As Andy says: "The Russians don't have any 6' 10'' goofy guys on their team, so why would we want to hit with you?" It's all said in good humor, of course.



You see the photo of Mike, Mardy and me with all the Christmas shopping bags? Well, after the Nike guys went to the Nike store yesterday and came back bragging about all the stuff they got, we called Andrea Swick from adidas and she was nice enough to hook us up with a nice-size budget at the adidas store, where we did some serious damage. We spent about an hour Christmas shopping for family and friends and also picked up a few goodies for ourselves.



Here's another photo that shows just how large our Davis Cup team is for the final. We're standing in the lobby of the hotel next to the Christmas tree. We have a masseuse, a stringer, trainer, body guard and three coaches - Jay Berger, Brian Barker and John Roddick - assisting captain Patrick McEnroe. There are two doctors - David Dines and his son Josh - three administrative people taking care of all the logistics, four practice partners and four team members.

Our huge squad pretty much takes up two whole floors of the hotel. We have a room for training, a room for massage, a huge suite for a team room with a poker table, flat screen tv and a big eating room, which always has a well-stocked buffet. And the Russians? They have a McDonald's across the street.

Today we practiced early after leaving the hotel at 8.30 am. On the way to the courts we drove past a huge mural of the Davis Cup team on a 30-story building. To see yourself that size is amazing. Everyone here in Portland seems to recognize the team. They are pretty low-key people and it's not a busy-city atmosphere. There's lots mountain, trees and running water. It's more like a running town. But this week we've turned it into a tennis town.

Tomorrow we have the official draw ceremony at noon and then after that we'll be going into lockdown. Patrick wants us to start focusing fully on the start of play on Friday. But we'll still get word out to you through the blog. Just don't tell Patrick.

Mike will check in with you tomorrow.

Bob


Thursday, November 29, 2007 - 8 p.m. PT

Hey everyone, Mike here.



After a late night of poker, and knowing that the draw ceremony was not until noon, the team enjoyed a sleep in this morning. Things went pretty late the night before and I'm pleased to report that Bob was the big winner at the poker table, which is great for me because we share everything.

I'd like to tell you he won through skill or because he had a great poker face but in reality it was pure luck: He had two pocket aces and then got two more out of the flop to make four aces. It was a big hand: John Isner had two kings and went 'all in', and Robby Ginepri thought he was in good shape with a straight. So Bob came out the big winner. I think Andy and James ended up about even on the night.

I think it was a good draw for us to see Andy scheduled to play first tomorrow. He's just the guy to come out firing and take us to a 1-0 lead and put us on a roll. Today he and James just practiced for about 40 minutes to keep fresh. And they were goofing off for most of the session.

It was a closed practice but my dad brought a lot of kids from a high school to watch. You may find this interesting given that we passed out 100 tickets to friends and family, but neither my dad or mom will be in the stadium Saturday when we play one of the biggest matches of our lives. Mom is just too nervous and will be watching with her family in San Diego. Dad also gets nervous watching and is flying out of Portland Saturday to emcee a Pete Sampras-Todd Martin exhibition in Chicago. He'll fly back Saturday night to watch the singles on the final day.

Also, I think dad may be a little worried about jinxing us. The only Davis Cup match he's watched us play was in Carson, when we took our only loss at Davis Cup level to Ancic and Ljubicic. It's funny he won't watch because he's so fanatical. When we played in Europe during the indoor season he'd be up at 3 a.m. watching point by point on live scores on the ATP web site, checking out all the stats. When we got home we all had jet lag trying to adjust back to normal time again.



Today we also did some rehearsing with the latest member of the Bryan Brothers Band, Mardy Fish. His strength is country and we worked on a few songs today. Mardy will make some cameos with the band next year. Tonight we'll have a low-key dinner, just with the team members. We'll shut it down pretty early.

Tomorrow you'll probably only spot Bob and I cheering from the bench for the first set or so. Our normal routine is to support whomever is playing the first match for an hour and then head back to the hotel. Don't think for a minute that we don't want to cheer on Andy and James. But they know that sitting court side for six or seven hours of tennis can be tiring and make you stiff. And we want our legs fresh for the doubles on Saturday. The guys understand that and know that on Sunday we'll be there at the side of the court cheering every point.

We're all excited about Day 1 on Friday. We can't wait for it to begin.

Bob will post tomorrow night. Wish the team luck.

Mike

Friday, November 30, 2007 - 4 p.m. PT

Hey everyone, it's Bob.



After all the practice and anticipation, Friday has arrived and it's time to play ball.

During breakfast, the whole team seemed very relaxed and we all told jokes and talked football. Very seldom do we talk about tennis or the matches at hand. Everybody knows the job that they have to do and there isn't anyone on this team that has ever given less than 110% in a Davis Cup match.

Two hours before the matches this morning the stadium was already electric. It was pretty cool that people showed up early to see us warmup. During the introductions, we were greeted by a drum line and fireworks. It was impossible not to get goose bumps when our names were called and the Portland crowd roared out their support. I saw a ton of familiar faces in the crowd as I walked to the bench to join our team. From Stan Smith and his son Ramsey, to Ricky Leach, our childhood idol, the stands at Memorial Coliseum are littered with family, friends, former Davis Cup players, and legends.

Mike and I watched one set of Andy's match from the sidelines and just finished watching Andy put the first point in the books from here at the hotel. We are T-minus 20 hours until the doubles match and our feet are up and we are conserving every bit of energy so we can explode on Saturday.

Well, let's hope Jimmy B can get us up 2-0. He's been absolutely torching the ball in practice and is capable of playing some insane tennis.

Alright guys, that's all for today. I'm about to go grab a massage from our man, Cicero.

It's our turn tomorrow.

Talk to you soon, Bob


Saturday, December 1, 2007 - 8 p.m. PT

Hey everyone, Mike here...



It's been a hectic few hours! When I last looked at my phone an hour ago there were 60 new text and voice messages. They're coming in every few minutes. Agassi sent a text to all the guys, which was pretty cool, just to say 'good job' and we also heard from Todd Martin.

One person we didn't hear from via phone was dad, who normally is too nervous to watch us play. After making up a story that he was flying out to emcee an exhibition in Chicago he actually stayed in Portland and watched us, so we went into the stands to see him. The first I knew he was watching was in the first-set tie-break when he did his whistle - there's only one whistle that sounds like his. It threw my concentration for a few points, suddenly realizing that he was there. But I quickly put it out of my head and looking back now it's great to know that he could be there to watch us.

I called mom right after the match - she was crying. She had watched the match on TV with her family in San Diego.

In the locker room after the match it was like seeing a team that had just won the NBA championship. People were pouring beer over everyone and we were spraying bottles of 1999 Dom Perignon. I think there were 15 bottles all up, so it wasn't cheap! Bob, who had a bit of a queasy stomach for the past 24 hours and had taken an anti-inflammatory before the match, took a sip from the cup and puked it right back up - he couldn't hold his liquor. A food fight broke out in the end and Andy threw a piece of turkey that hit Arlen Kantarian in the eye.

We had a press conference with all eight guys from the team and then we came right back to the hotel, where we were cheered by fans in the lobby. We showered up and right now we're enjoying a pre-party in the team room with about 50 people, including some of my cousins and Andy's friends. Later tonight we'll be going out to a dance club.

I'm just hoping I don't have to front up for the dead singles rubber on Sunday. Andy says he's not playing so either Bob or I will have to step up and play on no sleep. Bob's done this three times before so I'm hoping he'll be the one. I've only played one singles match in the past five years (against Thomas Johansson at this year's World Team Cup). Bob has always been ranked higher than me, so I say we make him the sacrificial lamb

I don't always sleep well before Davis Cup so last night I made sure to knock myself out with some sleeping pills. We had dinner in the team room and then we shut it down pretty quick, getting to sleep around 10. I tried to put down some food at breakfast but it was tough to eat anything with the nerves. Bob had also picked up a 24-hour stomach flu, which a few of the guys, including myself, had battled earlier in the week.

During the match we looked over at our bench a few times and the enduring image is of Andy chewing his fingernails. He gets nervous sitting there and he was really gnawing away. But it's cool to feel all the support of the team.

Match point is a little bit of a blur. I just remember looking up and getting hit by our guys jumping over the net. The coolest part for me was serving out the last game and to see Bob hit the final shot.

As we said on court it's the realization of a lifelong dream for us. Ever since we watched - with painted faces and holding American flags - Rick Leach and Jim Pugh win the doubles tie against Mexico in La Costa in 1990, we knew that we wanted to play doubles for the U.S. And after the ups and downs of the past five years, and having tasted defeat in a Davis Cup final, it's a very sweet moment to be part of this winning team. I think it's even better than winning a Grand Slam, because we get to share it with a bunch of great guys.

Thanks for reading the blog next week. We may try to squeeze out one more post tomorrow.

Mike


Sunday, December 2, 2007 - 7.30 p.m. PT

Hi everyone, it's Bob here.

Well, this is our last night in Portland. Both teams are getting suited up to go to the champions dinner and then we all go our own separate ways in the morning. I remember it was pretty ugly in 2004 having to watch the Spanish team being toasted after we lost the final. It seemed like a very long dinner, so it's nice to be on the other side this time.

On Monday we'll scatter across the country for various charity events. James is going to Virginia. Andy and Mardy will go to Mardy's event in Vero Beach and then James will go to Boca for Andy's event. Mike and I will go to the Bahamas for Mark Knowles' event.

It was about 6 o'clock last night when Andy told me that he wouldn't be ready to play today - he'd had a few too many at the victory celebrations. Mike and I fought over who would play for about an hour before I gave in. But it's guaranteed that he'll play the next one. I got to be around 2 and woke up around 10 before going to the courts for a light hit with Patrick.

Last night, after celebrating at the courts for a couple of hours, we played some cards at the hotel and got into lots of food. There were 40-50 people in the player suite and then we met up with another 100 at a bar, McFadden's. There was lots of music and dancing and an open bar; it was a great celebration. I saw my cousin John, whom I hadn't seen for five years... and he'd never seen us play a match. And I'd never spoken to his wife. My cousin Carl also came.

It was a bit scary to find out I was playing Andreev in today's singles because he's got a massive forehand. I was happy with how I was able to compete and there were no breaks of serve in the second. And it was great for James to end the final by playing phenomenally well.

But generally speaking it's tough playing dead rubbers, particularly in a final. I think for sure we shouldn't play them in a final. But James seemed to be enjoying himself out there and was certainly relaxed - he kept asking after the New York Giants' score. Mardy and Andy were heckling him the whole time. At one point Tursunov hit a one-handed backhand pass that wrongfooted James and left him looking pretty silly. The crowd was dead silent and Andy just burst out laughing at the top of his lungs, sort of laughing in James' face. The crowd got a kick out of that.

We were all annoyed that James took the final match into a third set. There's sort of an unwritten rule that if you lose the first set in a dead rubber you go out in straight, particularly if it's the final match of the tie. But it's tough to do that at home with the crowd behind you, and James gave it all he had.





We all got trophies right after James' match: solid gold medals that will get engraved with our names and replicas of the Davis Cup trophy, which each are 40 to 50 pounds of wood and silver. They are really, really nice. We're hoping to take the real trophy on a bit of the tour of the West Coast. Maybe bring it to Camarillo or to a Lakers' game. I believe the U.S. has control of the trophy for two or three months.

Mike and I had a lot of fun bringing you some of the action behind the scenes this week, so thanks for reading. What a perfect way to end the season!

Happy holidays to all,

Bob