Kin9 Of Clay

There have been so many memorable moments over Rafa's career. 14 Grand slam titles, 64 titles, 27 masters titles and an olympic gold medal. There's a lot to choose from. There's one tournament that sticks out of course, Roland Garros. Rafa's record in Paris is 67-1. In 10 years, Rafa's only lost one match at the French Open. Damn you Robin Soderling…! Let's take a trip right back to where it started, starting with Roland Garros 2005.


2005

Rafa won his first grand slam title, beating Roger Federer in the semi finals, and Mariano Puerta in the final.

6-7 6-3 6-1 7-5

2006

Rafa won his second grand slam title, this time beating Roger Federer in the final. He became the only person to do so in a grand slam final. 

1-6 6-1 6-4 7-6

2007

French Open number 3, and guess who he beat in the final? Yep, Roger.

6-3 4-6 6-3 6-4

2008

Just before winning Wimbledon for the first time, Rafa picked up his 4th Roland Garros. He thrashed Roger Federer again in the final, bagelling him. He became the fifth man in the Open Era to win a grand slam title without losing a set. 

6-1 6-3 6-0

2010

A year after losing to Soderling, Rafa got his revenge to win his 7th grand slam. He regained the number 1 spot, and won the tournament without losing a set for the second time.

6-4 6-2 6-4

2011

Rafa became the most successful player along with Bjorn Borg in the history of the French Open, winning his 6th title. Again, he beat Roger Federer in the final.

7-5 7-6 5-7 6-1

2012

After a dramatic two day 3 hour 50 minute final due to rain delays, Rafa defeated Djokovic to win a 7th French Open title. He defined himself as the greatest clay court player in history, winning the most Roland Garros titles EVER.

6-4 6-3 2-6  7-5

2013

After an emotional 7 month injury break, Rafa was back. His dominance at Roland Garros was still very much intact! After a marathon semi final defeating Djokovic, he beat David Ferrer in the final for an 8th title! Hist8ry!

6-3 6-2 6-3 

2014

Saving the best until last, this year. I was living and breathing the French Open for those 2 weeks. They were the most stressful two weeks of my life. He did it though… all doubts were swept aside. It was the most emotional win, and Rafa beat Djokovic to win his 9th title. I was Dreamin9.

3-6 7-5 6-2 6-4

That certainly brought back memories! 9 titles over the last 10 years. 

Let's make that ten. 

@rafanadaladdict

I Wanted to Talk- Rafa's Return

So. Here we are. Almost 3 months have passed, and it's time for Rafa to come home.

It's been an incredibly tough summer for me, my life has felt an unnecessary gap. It got to the point where I couldn't take it any more, and I was just spiralling into sadness. Every day I needed him back. I needed to see him, watch him. I needed the guidance and the support, as Rafa is what keeps me happiest. I wasn't getting that.

I've pulled though, I've still had a good summer, just not a great summer. If Rafa was playing, my summer would have been perfect. I spent all of my school holidays without him, which meant lonely, long days at home thinking about his absence. I wasn't distracted.

The darkest 60 seconds for me were on the day Rafa announced his Toronto and Cincinnati withdrawals. I was happy, listening to some music, when i clicked onto twitter. My timeline was filled will news of wrist injury, and withdrawals. I was gobsmacked. I didn't let myself believe it. It was just a day of lots and lots of tears. He has gone through too much injury, and i couldn't believe it was happening again.

When it came to September, I was back at school and kept busy again. I had my friends to make me laugh, make me smile. A gap closed up, for sure.

I've sat on the edge of my bed, hovering over my laptop reading bad news all summer long. There were constant tweets about Rafa's withdrawals, the pain, the splint. Constant. There was no break from it. It really dragged me down.

It was only in the last couple of weeks that clouds started to clear. Good news started to emerge, and the almost unimaginable happened. News that Rafa will return. I started to convince myself that this injury was serious, as its always hard to stay positive. I took many deep breaths, and started to come to terms with it.

We would get Rafa back. My world would suddenly become a lot brighter. I cried, a lot. It was happening.

I just wanted to talk, I guess.

I can't explain how excited I am to see Rafa playing tennis again. I am counting down the hours, the moments until he steps back onto that court, running to the baseline and positioning his water bottles once again.



We've all been through this together, and its been hard for us all. This is just my take on it. Read if you want, i just wrote this because I want to talk. This was hard for me to write, but I just wanted to express my feelings. Thanks x

RAFA'S RETURN!

Attention all tennis fans! I'm sure you've noticed a huge gap in our sport for the last 3 months… Rafa. It's been almost 12 weeks without him, and a lot's happened since. Tsonga won Toronto, Li Na retired, and Marin Cilic won a grand slam. Some crazy stuff's happened.

Every day of the summer I've been keeping my fingers crossed for good news. There's been bad news, potential good news, rumours and all, but I can now confidently say: Rafa's coming home.

I'm absolutely ecstatic. It's been an emotional few weeks.


On 15th September, Toni Nadal said that 'Rafa's backhand is on 80%. He will be ready for Astana, Beijing and Shanghai. The rest of the season will stay as planned' It happened to be my birthday on that day, and you know what? Best birthday present EVER.

(I've waited a few days before I released this news just to make sure it's reliable and official. What Toni announces is normally accurate, but I didn't want to give anyone false hope.)

Rafa's been hitting an increasing number of powerful 2 handed back hands, and it's been a while since he's been seen with the splint. The recovery obviously took longer than we expected, but this is Rafa remember, his body doesn't like to recover quickly…!

First Rafa will play an exhibition match in Astana, Kazakhstan against Tsonga on 25th September at 7pm. That's 2pm GMT.

Next it's Beijing. Starting on 29th September, the ATP 500 tournament should be a good practice before Shanghai and Paris.

Rafa has lost a lot of ranking points to widen the gap between himself and Djokovic, and Federer is very close behind. However, Rafa has very little points to defend in Asia, so if he can play to a good level, hopefully he can try to secure the end of year number 2 ranking. (Roger is number 2 in the race currently.)

Health is the most important thing. All I want right now is for Rafa to be back on tour, playing pain free, and it looks like that will happen.

I'm so incredibly excited to see him back on court very soon.

Get ready everyone, the king's returning.

Rafa- The Boy From Manacor

Rafa is a fantastic example to us, to anyone. He is human just the same as everyone else, it's not just his career that makes him a wonderful person. I think I can speak for all Rafa fans, he has changed our lives.

Whenever I'm asked why I'm a Rafa fan people assume its because of his looks. I'm not shallow, that's defiantly not the reason. (Although it's an added bonus!) His heart, thats why. He is a shy, caring and humble person. It's clear to see that Ana and Sebastian have done a fantastic job of bringing him up. Toni contributes to his attitude too, his whole family do. The family is not famous, they're not ones to hog limelight, they're just a typical Spanish family. Rafa tries to be too. He's the most humble guy I've ever had the honour to know.

You could argue that we don't know him, but truth is, we do. Any piece of media or information that is out in the big wide world, I have. He's genuine, and thats why we know him so well. Videos, pictures and interviews are Rafael, not Rafa Nadal.

"Tennis is lucky Rafa Nadal chose to play it.'

Rafa plays like he has something to prove, thats what makes him so dangerous, but thats why he's so respected. He's the greatest player of all time in my opinion, but he certainly doesn't think that. He lets us measure his success.


Rafa is respectful. He has never smashed a racket. I'm proud to say he respects every opponent, however unlikeable they may be. 

“Nadal has never broken a racquet. It would be showing a lack of 

respect to people who actually have to buy the equipment to play 

the sport"- Toni Nadal

Rafa is shy, modest and normal, and it's so admirable. He doesn't know how good he is, and he even surprises himself with some of the shots he makes. Every single time he wins Roland Garros, the emotion is still absolutely huge. 


He is a fantastic role model for all children, those that play tennis and those that don't. Out of all the tennis stars in the past and present, who would you want your child to emulate? Rafa is the obvious answer. 

Rafa needs to snap back into his laid back Spanish life the minute there's a break in the season. He always goes home, he loves it. Often in interviews he explains how Mallorca is the best place for him. He could choose from hundreds of glamorous destinations worldwide, but he chooses home. 

I love Rafael, we all do. Thank you to his family and friends, for they have shaped the beautiful person he is today. Rafa- you're perfect to me. 




@_phenomenadal_

Congratulations Marin Cilic!

After an incredible two weeks, Marin Cilic has been crowned the 2014 US Open champion.

Marin beat Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-3 6-3 in the final, a very convincing win.

He's been strong, powerful and very solid all tournament, and he truly deserves the title. He won some tough matches, and most notably beat Federer in straight sets in the semi finals.

His serves have been amazing, his game has been almost error free, and his groundstrokes are just so powerful. He's been so dominant on court.

I truly hope that this win will lead him to many other great things, instead of doing a 'Stan Wawrinka'.

You could see how much this meant to him (and all of his team), the emotion was just beautiful.

Congratulations to Marin Cilic and all his team. Thanks to Goran, for leading him to this win, and thanks to the US Open for a great fortnight.

See you next year, New York.

US Open Men's Final- Preview

Wow! Who expected that?! It's a Nishikori vs Cilic US Open final! 

For the first time in 12 years, a top 10 ranked player will not be in the final of a grand slam, and for the first time since 2005, a member of the big four will not be in the final. 

Some crazy stats, but these two have certainly deserved this opportunity. They both knocked out the top seeds in the semis. Nishikori beat Djokovic in 4 sets, and Cilic charged through Federer in 3. Both the semi finals were shocking, but highly entertaining.

It's not often that we see something like this. Also, the answer is yes, Nadal fans are very happy!

Kei came into the semi finals with tough wins, beating players such as Raonic and Wawrinka. He came through the match with Milos with a five set win over four hours. Kei's body does let him down, but it certainly didn't in that match. He's been determined all tournament, and beating Novak Djokovic 6-4 1-6 7-6 (4) 6-3 in the QFs certainly helps. 

Kei outclassed Novak, he was simply too good. Novak won the 2nd set and it seemed like he was on track to take the match, but Kei was calm, confident and managed to bring it back. A gruelling tiebreak wasn't even enough to put him off. Very impressive. 

Marin was simply outstanding. His tennis was absolutely perfect. His serves were huge,  but his returns were just as good. His forehands really dominated, and some great shots were coming off that racket. Federer didn't exactly play badly, but Marin was error free, he played the match of his life. Cilic dominated Federer 6-3 6-4 6-4. He was just so impressive, he was calm and confident, like a true professional. Almost half of the points he won were straight winners. Amazing. 



The final is obviously not what everyone expected, but it's sure to be a great match. Both are playing well, they both have determination. I think Marin had a slightly easier match, Federer wasn't playing quite as well as Djokovic, but thats because he didn't get an opportunity to. Kei really battled hard, and thats sure to give him so much confidence in the final. It comes down to a battle over power and agility. Marin's big serves and powerful groundstrokes may just overwhelm Nishikori. 

My prediction- If Cilic can display the same error free game as he did against Federer, I think he may just win his first grand slam title!