Rafael Nadal

[lau]

OK, I think he deserves a threat. I´m not a GREAT Nadal fan, but he´s definitely a great player with a lot of future. And it seems he´s got lots of fans around here..
Today he defeated Ferrero with an incredible score in Valencia´s first round match (62 61)!!! Well done Rafael!! ;D



Ferrero Blown Away by Dominant Nadal
(Reuters) Wed Apr 6, 2005 12:40 PM ET

VALENCIA, Spain (Reuters) - Rafael Nadal crushed fellow Spaniard and former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-1 in the first round of the Valencia Open on Wednesday.
Ferrero, whose career took a nose dive last year after a bout of chicken pox and niggling injuries, was blown off court by the in-form teenager in what was the first competitive meeting between the two players.

Nadal showed no lingering effects from his five-set defeat by world number one Roger Federer in the Nasdaq-100 Open on Sunday, breaking serve five times on his way to victory in just 57 minutes.

The 19-year-old Nadal has been one of the hottest players on the Tour this year, culminating in his performance last week when he threatened to snap Federer's record of 17 straight final victories by grabbing the first two sets.

Another former French Open champion, Albert Costa, had more luck than Ferrero, progressing to the quarter-finals with an authoritative 6-4, 6-2 victory over Austria's Stefan Koubek.

Second seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile also booked his place in the last eight with a confident 6-4, 6-1 win over Spain's Felix Mantilla.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.


Oh!! BTW, there are 2 Guga Kuerten´s threats!! I realized of that while I was watching if there was a Nadal´s threat. From now on I´ll post in them Guga´s news.

[SAFINNO1]

I was shocked he destroyed JCF on clay but ferrero said he was uncomfartable so i dont think he will mind losing to Nadal, who is playing magnificently.

C,mon Guga

[annie]

hey, Rafa lost to Igor Andreev 7-5, 6-2...

[SAFINNO1]

atleast he lost to a russian and battered JFC, i guess he must have been worn out.

[alysha]

he probably had no gas left, hes been doing soo incredibly well lately

[annie]

ok, this is Rafa's thread but just an update on the tourney...

I. Andreev (RUS) (7) d. D. Ferrer (ESP) (5) 6-3 5-7 6-3

[SAFINNO1]

Okay back to Nadal he beat fellow youngster Monfils 6-3 6-2, good win

[alysha]

R Nadal (ESP) d O Rochus (BEL) 61 62
wow nadal is kickin his game up a notch...vamos

[SAFINNO1]

Okay lets continue where he keeps winning bit.
Oh yeah he just whooped the RG champion straight sets and 6-0 in 2nd.

[tall_one]

Clay master - Teen Nadal holds off Coria for Monte Carlo title

Rafael Nadal became the first teenager to win the Monte Carlo Masters since Andrei Medvedev in 1994.
Michael Steele/Getty Images

MONTE CARLO, Monaco (AP) -- Rafael Nadal won the Monte Carlo Masters on Sunday, beating defending champion Guillermo Coria 6-3, 6-1, 0-6, 7-5 for a big clay-court victory and his first Masters title.

The 18-year-old Spaniard became the first teenager in more than a decade to win at Monte Carlo and denied Coria his first ATP title this season.

"This is my first very important tournament win," Nadal said. "I was happy to win the Davis Cup, now this is incredible."

Coria complained that overcast conditions made the balls "very heavy" and stopped him from playing his normal game in this key tuneup for the French Open.

"It was a very hard final against a great player," Coria said. "I didn't know where to put the ball. He was very strong physically."

Coria made a good comeback in the last two sets, but Nadal held on for his fourth career title. The last teenager to win Monte Carlo was Andrei Medvedev in 1994. Nadal's other titles this year, in Brazil and Mexico, were also on clay.

Coria, seeded sixth, was appearing in his third consecutive Monte Carlo final after losing to Juan Carlos Ferrero in 2003 and defeating Rainer Schuettler last year.

The Argentine made plenty of unforced errors in the opening two sets, trying to find ways to get to Nadal. The 11th-seeded Spaniard then won 11 of 12 games and produced a love service game to take the second set.

Coria crouched forward in his chair and shook his head as the players waited to start the third set. He responded well, winning the set in 32 minutes. Nadal decided to ease up midway through the third set to conserve energy.

"I'm not made for five sets on clay, and when it was 2-0, 3-0 in the set I stopped playing for the last few games," he said.

An excellent lob by Nadal in a tense fifth game of the third set helped put him ahead 4-1, but Coria clawed back.

"I was a little bit scared because it was like Miami," Nadal said. "And I was too tired for a fifth set. I knew after losing to Federer that I had to win here."

In a title match this month in Key Biscayne, Fla., Nadal blew a two-set lead and 5-3 advantage in the tiebreaker in a loss to top-ranked Roger Federer. On Sunday, the youngster missed two chances to break Coria and then surrendered his serve, giving the Argentine hope at 4-4.

Serving and down 6-5, Coria sliced a shot into the net, presenting Nadal with two match points. Coria slammed a forehand down the line to save one. On the following point, his mistimed drop shot gave Nadal an easy pass.

Nadal expects to play this week at Barcelona, followed by Masters tournaments at Rome and Hamburg -- both on clay. Then he would like to make an impact at the French Open.

"If I play like this I can have some good results, but I am not the favorite," he said.

Others, including Coria, think differently.

"He is the best player on clay at the moment," Coria said.

In the doubles final, Leander Paes of India and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia-Montenegro won in a walkover against American twins Bob and Mike Bryan. Mike Bryan had a shoulder injury.

"It was so bad when I woke up this morning that I could hardly lift my arm," he said

[lau]

He said it ;D ;D ;D:

"Surprisingly I won what I never proposed to win".... "My only goal is going out there and give the maximum in every match. Things are coming out well for me, but in any moment the results can change and it´s not normal that I am the second player with more victories at this point of the year" (I don´t know if this is correctly translated, I hope you understand it.. )


Spanish link: www.terra.es/deportes/articulo/html/dpo93261.htm

BTW, Coria said he is the best clay player these days

[alysha]

lau said:

He said it ;D ;D ;D:



BTW, Coria said he is the best clay player these days

and the world's just getting a small taste of his future

[alysha]

article from the atp website, idont know if its already posted but sorry if it is!!

Richard Gasquet was so tired he couldn't think.

The 18-year-old Frenchman, coming off the biggest win of his career, blew a one-set lead and wasted five break points in the final set before losing to fellow teenager Rafael Nadal 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-3 Saturday in the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters.

"Physically, I couldn't give any more,'' Gasquet said. "I'm not saying that I would have won because Nadal's a great player. But had I been physically fresh I would have had a better chance.''

Nadal, a Spaniard seeded 11th, will face defending champion Guillermo Coria of Argentina in Sunday's final. Coria beat two-time champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-2, 7-5 to reach his first ATP final of the year.

Gasquet, 15 days younger than Nadal, needed more than two hours to upset top-ranked Roger Federer in Friday's quarterfinals. His third-round victory over Nikolay Davydenko also went three sets.

But Gasquet could not finish off Nadal as he did previous opponents.

"Nadal gets everything back and then just produces shots out of nowhere,'' said Gasquet, who made 70 unforced errors in the match.

Failing to convert the five break points in the final set didn't help, either.

"I was not lucid on those points because I was so tired I couldn't think,'' Gasquet said.

Both teenagers have done well in Monte Carlo. In 2002, 15-year-old Gasquet beat Franco Squillari. A year later, Nadal eliminated French Open champion Albert Costa before losing to Coria.

This year, Nadal defeated French Open champion Gaston Gaudio 6-3, 6-0.

"This is a strange result, no?'' Nadal said. "To beat the French Open champion this way. I think it is a bigger shock than Gasquet beating Federer.''

Gasquet, who had saved three match points against Federer, had 58 winners but made more than twice as many unforced errors as Nadal's 34. Gasquet did save one match point, then sent a wild backhand into the net.

"He missed some chances and I came back,'' Nadal said. "He played some unbelievable tennis, but he was hitting the ball so hard I think this made him more tired.''

Gasquet converted only five of 14 break points; Nadal took advantage of seven of his 12 chances.

Three superb backhand winners helped Gasquet take a 2-0 lead in the second set, but Nadal won the next five games as the Frenchman received treatment for a sore back. He lost the set with an unforced error.

In the fifth game of the third set, Gasquet missed four chances to break Nadal, then needed a massage for leg cramps.

Nadal won titles this season in Mexico and Brazil and lost to Federer in the final at Key Biscayne, Fla.

Coria, seeded sixth, trailed 4-0 in the second set, but won when Ferrero netted a drop shot.

"I was playing very well for those four games, probably the best since I was at my top level on clay,'' Ferrero said. ``Maybe I relaxed too much and he started to fight again.

"But I'm happy with the way I played this week, so early in the season,'' Ferrero added.

Ferrero, a former French Open champion, was appearing in his first ATP semifinal in almost a year. In 2003, he won his second straight Monte Carlo Masters by beating Coria.

[lau]

Rafael in Barcelona




High resolution link of the image: www.gotennis.com/Photos/2005-04-19T173716Z_01_BAR16D_RTRIDSP_3_SPORT-TENNIS.jpg

[SAFINNO1]

Damn he has big muscles for an 18 year old.