Rafael Nadal, New World Number One Male Tennis Player

Rafael Nadal Parera (born June 3, 1986 in Manacor, Majorca) is a Spanish professional tennis player who has been ranked World No. 1 since 18 August 2008.

Nadal has won five Grand Slam singles titles and the 2008 Olympic gold medal. He captured four consecutive French Open from 2005 through 2008 and Wimbledon in 2008. He is the only man other than Bjorn Borg to have won four consecutive French Open titles, one of only three men in the open era who won both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same calendar year, only the second male Spaniard to have won Wimbledon, and the only top-five ranked man to have won an Olympic gold medal in singles.

For much of his career, Nadal has had a rivalry with Roger Federer. He was ranked World No. 2 behind Federer for a record 160 weeks before earning the top spot. Nadal has won 12 of their 18 singles matches, including four of their six Grand Slam finals.

Nadal has been especially successful on clay courts. He has a 22–1 record in clay court tournament finals and is undefeated in over 40 best-of-five-set matches on clay. In each of the last four years, he has won both the French Open and two clay court Master series tournaments. He also owns the longest single-surface winning streak in the open era, having won 81 consecutive matches on clay from April 2005 to May 2007. As a result, some tennis critics and top players already regard him as the greatest clay-court player ever.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org

Nadal Wins First Wimbledon Title

Rafael Nadal described his first Wimbledon title as a "dream" after beating Roger Federer in an epic final.

The 22-year-old won 6-4 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-7 (8-10) 9-7 to become the first Spaniard since Manuel Santana in 1966 to win a Wimbledon singles title.

French Open champion Nadal had lost to Federer in the last two finals.

"It's impossible to describe. I'm just very happy. It's unbelievable for me to have the title here at Wimbledon," said the Majorcan.

"It's a dream. Always, as a kid, I dreamed of playing here.

"For any Spanish player to win here is unbelievable - for any player - but especially Spanish because we don't have a lot of titles here."

Nadal is the the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon back to back, and now has five Grand Slam titles. Read more..

Ferrero Snaps Nadal's Streak

By Richard Evans
Rafael Nadal did not want to repeat himself after he had lost the Italian title he had held for three successive years. He did not want to appear a sore loser but, in reality, there was no chance of that.

Nadal, who lost here today to compatriot Juan Carlo Ferrero 7-5, 6-1, has been saying it loud and clear ever since the Miami, before the compressed and impossibly tough European clay court season ever started. He has been saying that the calendar during this part of the year is ridiculous for any top clay court player trying to grab all the ranking points he can on his favored surface. He told us after winning Monte Carlo two weeks ago; he told us again after winning Barcelona on Sunday.

And when he woke up after that last victory and was unable to put his blistered feet on the carpeted floor of his hotel room, he knew he had been right. But, of course, he was asked his opinion on the matter anyway and, in answer to whether he would try once more to talk to ATP boss Etienne de Villiers, he said, "I have nothing more to say to this man. We spoke to him last year, trying to understand why he is doing these things but it is impossible; it is a waste of time. But when I lose I do not want to talk about these things. I want to congratulate Juan Carlos. He is a fine player and a nice person and this was an important win for him."

Nadal, whether winning or losing, is a credit to this sport and it was sad to see him so obviously hobbled by his condition against Ferrero. He had the trainer on at the end of the first set to tear great strips of taping off his feet and apply more antisceptic cream but it was no good.

"I could only put my foot down like this, at an angle, because of the pain, no?" he explained after his 17-match Rome winning streak came to an end. "I try to try my best but it was impossible."

In the end, Ferrero just had to put the ball out of Nadal’s reach and the man who has covered acres of court these past few weeks, reaching balls that no one else would even contemplate chasing, could only stand and stare balefully at the ball as it sped away from him.

This unexpected defeat has ruined the chance of another Nadal final against Roger Federer which is sad for the tournament; sad for tennis and very bad for the image of the ATP. To be fair to those who try to make sense of the highly complicated calendar, finding a solution to the problem that Nadal and other clay courters feel so strongly about is far from easy, especially when Miami is played a week later. Next year, of course, the situation will be exacerbated by Madrid moving into May from October with a ten day men’s and women’s event to take the place of Hamburg which is being pushed into a slot after Wimbledon. However, even that is dependent on the ATP successfully defending the lawsuit, slated for Delaware in July, against the German Federation who are furious at the treatment they have received from the men’s governing body.

But, in the meantime, Nadal is heading home to Mallorca for a well earned rest. "I will try to go with best feelings to Hamburg," said Nadal. Our best feelings are with him.

Ferrero will now play Stanislas Wawrinka who defeated Britain’s Andy Murray 6-2, 7-6 under the lights on Court One.

Source: http://www.tennisweek.com/news/fullstory.sps?inewsid=2134784

Rafa roars by Roger to win Monte Carlo

By Richard Evans

All the good and all the bad that have been part and parcel of Roger Federer’s performances this year were on view in the Monte Carlo sunshine — and it was the bad that condemned him to a ninth career loss to Rafael Nadal; the third in consecutive years in this very final.

Federer broke Nadal on four occasions and still lost 7-5, 7-5 after leading 4-0 in the second set. Everything seemed under control, at least as far as the set was concerned, at 4-1, 30 all when suddenly two forehands flew off his racket and way over the baseline. Then at 4-3, a forehand hit the tape and went wide to give Nadal break point and a wayward backhand handed the Spaniard the second break back to love.

Federer didn’t really have an explanation for that collapse. It will be something for Jose Higueras to ponder on the flight home to Palm Springs before the coach returns for a second spell with Roger at Roland Garros.

To this observer it all looked like opportunities lost. Federer had broken in the first game of the match, only to lose his own serve immediately and then the swap was repeated at 3-3. It is fundamental against as great a clay court player as Nadal to nail down the opportunities you carve out for yourself and this Federer obviously failed to do.

But he was not too downhearted.

"Maybe I am growing up," he said with just the faintest flicker of a smile. "I don’t take losses that bad any more. You know, I try everything I can. And when it’s not enough, it’s unfortunate. But, like I said it was good for me to play him here. I felt much more confident. Last year I felt like I was completely out of the match. So today was better. Maybe that’s why I am not that disappointed."

Federer thought his attacking game didn’t really work but is hard to see how he would have prospered had he merely sat back and tried to slug it out with the game’s greatest slugger. He had to get in and frequently it paid off — bringing cheers from the Swiss supporters, all dressed up in the red T shirts with the white cross as perfect volleys skidded away, leaving puffs of dust from the red clay. Much of the match was certainly entertaining with both men bringing off remarkable winners but as soon as Nadal got back to 4-4 in the second set, one knew the die was cast.

The whole thing was over in one hour 43 minutes, short for a clay court duel and, asked about the ATP’s decision to restrict all finals to best of three, Federer was ambivalent once again. He admitted the advantage of the rule, which is meant to ensure the top players do not grind themselves into the ground but he, like the crowd, wanted more time on court. Unlikely as it would have been on this occasion, every champion thinks he would have a chance of coming back and when Federer was asked if he thought he could have lasted five sets, his answer was cutting. "I could have played seven sets if I had to, no problem. It’s a pity, best of three set finals. They’re over so quickly. I don’t think fitness mattered at all today because what, we had six, seven hours on court throughout the week? Normally we do twenty. So this is peanuts."

Of course, Nadal didn’t quite look at it that way as he left the Centre Court, laden with yet more glassware. Snapping a title drought that stretched back to his victory in Stuttgart last July, Nadal claimed his fourth consecutive Monte Carlo championship — an Open Era record — raised his career record in Monte Carlo to 23-1 and took a 9-6 advantage in his head-to-head series with Federer, the man who ended his record 81-match clay-court winning streak in the Hamburg final last May.

For him, there had been a lot more time on court despite the fact that he did not drop a set during an impressive run of victories against some pretty impressive clay court performers — Juan Carlos Ferrero, David Ferrer and Nikolay Davydenko. For Nadal, with Tommy Robredo alongside him, had fought his way into the doubles final. The young man, it seems, cannot get enough of his clay court tennis.
He has certainly left an indelible mark on this 108 year-old tournament and will be back for more. Anthony Wilding won it five times before World War I, four of them consecutively. Five on the trot seems very do-able for Nadal who, despite those dodgy knees, remains a powerhouse on clay.

Source : http://www.tennisweek.com/news/fullstory.sps?inewsid=549821