For the third consecutive year Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal met at the French Open finals.  I fully expected Nadal to win, but I did not expect a 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 blow-out.

With the exception of Federer’s reaching, but not capitalizing on, a break-point in the 2nd, the match was entirely Nadal’s - repeatedly breaking Federer’s serve. The Nadal-Djokovic semi-final was much more satisfying.

It was amusing to see Nadal inhibited by the opening ceremony restrictions. Normally after the pre-game photos and the coin-toss, Nadal charges from the net to the baseline to begin his warm-up. This time he had to wait (noticeably frustrated) until the huge opening ceremony flags were removed before he could make his trademark zig-zag run.

CONTINUE READING →

Tags: federer, french open, grand slam, men's final, nadal, rafael nadal, roger federer

Digg Del.icio.us 3 Comments 

I get a kick out of Rafael Nadal’s tennis shoes. As you can see below (click for larger version), at the 2009 French Open they bear three numbered insignias along the side, one each for his prior French Open wins.

On the back of the left shoe he has his trademark logo of a bull (see above pic) and on the back of the right ‘RAFA” is embossed on it.

In the past the shoe used to to say “VAMOS” on the left and “RAFA” on the right.

A couple years back an unseeded challenger ranked around 150 came out to meet rafa with his own ‘designer’ shoes. The cameras zoomed in on the challenger’s shoes to reveal that he had used safety pins to attach patches on the back of his sneakers with saying “Vamos” on the left and the challenger’s name on the right - written in ink!. I wish I could remember who that was. It was quite funny.

Tags: bull logo, designer shoes, french open, rafa, rafael nadal, safety pin, tennis shoes, vamos

Digg Del.icio.us 2 Comments