World number one Rafa Nadal held off a strong challenge from Portugal's Frederico Gil yesterday to win 7-5 6-3 and book a place in the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open.

"You can't play well every day, and today was one of these days," he said after the match. "No opponent is easy, especially if you are not playing your best tennis. So everything was more difficult today."

The 'Raging Bull' will now face Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka, who he has played 3 times in the past: At the Paris Masters Series in 2007, Sttutgart 2007, and the Australian Open in 2007 – All of them victories for the Spanish star.

Today’s match is scheduled last on Stadium Court, not before 9:00pm (local time) after the following matches:

11:00 am

[21] T Berdych (CZE) vs [3] N Djokovic (SRB) – ATP

Not before 1:00 PM

[8] S Kuznetsova (RUS) vs [13] C Wozniacki (DEN) – WTA

[5] A Roddick (USA) vs [9] G Monfils (FRA) – ATP

[Q] T Dent (USA) vs [2] R Federer (SUI) - ATP

Not before 7:00 PM

[11] V Azarenka (BLR) vs S Stosur (AUS) - WTA

Not before 9:00 PM

[1] R Nadal (ESP) vs [16] S Wawrinka (SUI) – ATP

RAFA AND SHAKIRA IN MIAMI: Colombian signer Shakira didn’t want to miss one bit of the action at the Sony Ericsson Open yesterday where she payed a visit to her favourite player as he qualified for the fourth round of the Miami Masters Series. Once Rafa was done with the match - just as Rafa presented her with a signed T-shirt as a present - Shakira asked him if he wanted her to “teach him how to sing” and in exchange maybe he would teach her “how to play”.

30th of march

Rafa Nadal will be back in action today at the Miami Masters Series event in Florida, ready to please the lovely Florida crowds with a double appearance this afternoon.

He is scheduled to play singles in the second match of the day, right after the Tipsarevic vs Juan Martin Del Potro encounter which begins at 11am (local time).

The newly crowned Indian Wells champ will play Frederico Gil, a 25 year old from Portugal who is ranked 75th in the world and who he's never played before.

Frederico, comes into the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open after beating a very tough opponent in the shape of Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 6-4, in comparison to Rafa who had an easier job sending Russian Gabashvili packing after a 6-2, 6-2 victory.

“I'm very happy. I think Gabashvili didn't play that bad", said Rafa after his singles match, "This is a very important tournament where I have played two finals and lost both, so I'd be great if I could take it all the way this time”, said the Australian Open champ.

Later in the afternoon, (after a deserved break), Rafa will jump back on court ready to play the second round of doubles with his friend Marc Lopez.

The Spanish pair beat last-minute opponents Brunstrom and Rojer in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6(5) and will now face Soares and Ullyett for a chance to make it into the third round.

The match is scheduled after the following matches:

Grandstand Court, play begins at 11:00am

[13] C Wozniacki (DEN) vs [4] E Dementieva (RUS) - WTA[10] A Radwanska (POL) vs [5] V Williams (USA) - WTA

Not before 2:00 PM

[11] D Ferrer (ESP) vs [17] M Cilic (CRO) - ATP[20]

I Andreev (RUS) vs [16] S Wawrinka (SUI) - ATP[32]

F López(ESP) vs [8] F Verdasco (ESP) - ATP

Not before 5:30 PM

[WC] M Lopez (ESP) / R Nadal (ESP) vs [6] B Soares (BRA) / K Ullyett (ZIM) - ATP

Vamos Rafa!

30th of March

World number one Rafa Nadal held off a strong challenge from Portugal's Frederico Gil on Tuesday to win 7-5 6-3 and book a place in the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open.

Rafa broke service twice in the first set and, after the determined and aggressive Gil broke early to go 2-0 up in the second, regained control to clinch victory.

The 'Raging Bull' will now face the winner of the third-round tie between Russian Igor Andreev and Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka.

The Spaniard's powerful serve was the basis of his victory - he produced five aces and won 76 percent of points on first service. Rafa, however, was not satisfied with his performance.

"You can't play well every day, and today was one of these days," he said after the match.

"No opponent is easy, especially if you are not playing your best tennis. So everything was more difficult today."

DOUBLES

Rafa and his friend Marc Lopez had a difficult challenge ligned up for today's second round of doubles against B. Soares and  K. Ullyett.

The pair had more experience than the Spaniards and at the end they prevailed in two stes, 6-3, 6-4 after and hour and 18 minutes of play.

28th of March

The world number one has captivated the attention of the Florida crowd since his arrival at the beginning of this week and is now preparing himself for his singles debut tonight against Teimuras Gabashvili, who he has never played against before.

The Russian, came out as the winner of the match against Simon Bolleli in the first round of the American tournament, where he has reached the second round once before. He's 23 years old and is ranked 72 in the world, (reaching as high as 59 at the beginning of this year).

The match is scheduled for today, Saturday 28th of March at 8:00pm (local time) in the main Stadium. It is the first time that Rafa appears as the number 1 seed of the Miami tournament, which means there is a thought road ahead of him. Pllayers like Ivo Karlovic, David Ferrer, Fernando Verdasco, Feliciano López, Fernando Gonzáles, Richard Gasquet - amongst others - will be waiting for him.

DOUBLES

Rafa Nadal and Marc Lopez have had a successful debut in Key Biscayne after beating doubles pair: Brunstrom and Rojer , 6-2. 7-6, in an hour and a half of play in the first round of doubles of the second Master Series event of the season in Miami.

Vamos Rafa!

28th of March

Rafa Nadal took his first step toward back-to-back ATP Masters titles after cruising to victory at the Sony Ericsson Open this evening (in Miami).

The top-seeded Spaniard, who claimed the 13th Masters crown of his career last week at Indian Wells, posted a convincing 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Russia’s Teimuraz Gabashvili in second round of this Masters Series hard court event.

Rafa has yet to win a title here, but has has reached the final twice – in 2005 and last year, when he finished runner-up to Nikolay Davydenko of Russia.

The 22-year-old, who received a bye as one of the 32 seeds, has carried the momentum of his breakthrough 2008 season into this year and now will be waiting for the winner of the match between Ivo Karlovic (ranked 26th in the world) and Frederico Gil, (a qualifier) for a chance to make it into the fourth round.

Until this evening, Terimuras only knew Rafa from far away, and now, thanks to this meeting, the Russian has a better point of reference: There is still a LOT to learn to be able to match the 'Raging Bull'.

Vamos Rafa!

27th of March

The number one tennis player in the world will make his debut at the second Masters Series event of the season in Miami this afternoon in company of his friend Marc Lopez (Wildcards) in the first round of doubles.

The doubles couple from Mallorca are due to play at 6:30pm (local time) at the Grandstand Court against another Spanish pair made up by Montañés and Tommy Robredo.

In singles, Rafa will play tomorrow (Saturday 28th of March), in the second round of the event against Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili, who he has never played against before.

Rafa confirmed yesterday at a press conference that he feels motivated and extremely excited to be playing in a tournament that he’s been very close from winning in the past: The first time in 2005 (he lost against Roger Federer in the final, and then in 2008, when he played the final and lost against Nicolay Davydenko.

“I want to continue to play the way I have been in the last few weeks”, was the only goal Rafa has set for himself at this tournament. He feels it is very important to play well because “Miami has always been a very special tournament and very beautiful as well for those of us who speak Spanish. To have the Latin crowd with you is very positive when it comes to stepping out on the court”, said the Australian Open champ.

Vamos Rafa!

27th of March

Rafa Nadal and Marc Lopez have had a successful debut in Key Biscayne after beating another Spanish couple made up by Albert Montañés and Tommy Robredo, 6-2. 7-6, in an hour and a half of play in the first round of doubles of the second Master Series event of the season in Miami.

The world number one has captivated the attention of the Florida crowd since his arrival at the beginning of this week and is now preparing himself for his singles debut tomorrow against Teimuras Gabashvili, who he has never played against before.

The Russian, came out as the winner of the match against Simon Bolleli in the first round of the American tournament, where he has reached the second round once before. He's 23 years old and is ranked 72 in the world, (reaching as high as 59 at the beginning of this year).

The match is scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday 28th of March at 8:00pm (local time) in the main Stadium. It is the first time that Rafa appears as the number 1 seed of the Miami tournament, which means there is a though road ahead of him. Players like Ivo Karlovic, David Ferrer, Fernando Verdasco, Feliciano López, Fernando Gonzáles, Richard Gasquet - amongst others - will be waiting for him.

The Australian Open champ has also been real busy promoting the event, where two days ago he participated with Ana Ivanovic in a mini-golf competition and yesterday he attended the players party together with his tennis friends:Novak Djokovic and Marc Lopez. 

On an interesting note, uncle Toni has arrived in Miami, (where he hasn't been for the last two years), and has already begun training with his nephew (ahead of tomorrow's second round clash with Teimuras) with the hope that this year Rafa can win the title that he has been so close to winning in 2005, against Roger Federer, and in 2008, against Nikolay Davydenko.

Vamos Rafa!

26th of March

Beautiful article written by: Steve Tignor

The last 10 days in Indian Wells were a riot of tennis, with players, fans, press, tournament workers, and myriads of other humans crisscrossing all over the grounds. Floating above them the entire time, and landing safely with the trophy between his teeth at the end, was one man.

In my own little corner of this world, the back rows of the pressroom, Rafael Nadal was a figure of fascination. I heard reporters who don't normally cover tennis say how "charming" and "hilarious" and "nice" and "amazing" he was. As a player, yes, but even more so as a person.

They're right, of course, but they're getting in a little late, don't you think? After making easy, 6-1, 6-2, work of the No. 4 player in the world today, Nadal stands at an unprecedented career peak. He's won the first Slam and Masters event of the season and dominated a Davis Cup tie for Spain. The season, as Nadal said today, is long, and at this time last year Novak Djokovic found himself in much the same position. But for now the only way I can think of to wrap up this tournament properly is to record the best of what I saw of its central character, Rafael Nadal.

—I had lunch at 1:30 or so on Sunday. The cafeteria was mostly empty. Facing away from me, toward a wall, a few feet from a TV, was Nadal. He was at a table with a hitting partner and looked smaller in his sweatshirt and vintage blue-and-yellow Nike sneakers. He was watching golf; he and his friend were analyzing how one of the golfers should hit the ball. Nadal put his hand up and moved it toward the right, indicating that it should be a slice. When the shot landed with a thunk in the sand trap, Nadal went "Ooof." He was scheduled to play the final in an hour.

Click on heading to continue reading the article>>

—It was match point for Nadal against Andy Roddick in the second-set tiebreaker of their semifinal. Roddick duffed a strange return that popped up diagonally and landed in an awkward position for Nadal, a few inches from the net on his backhand side. Nadal wanted to drill it but couldn't get there in time. You could see him adjust as he ran. When he got there, he pushed the ball lightly and at an extreme crosscourt angle. This forced Roddick well wide of the court on his pass. He got to it, gave it a rip, but couldn't bring it back into the court. Anyone who says modern tennis, or modern men's tennis, is the domain of thoughtless power needs to see that shot and the improvisatory poise that made it happen.

 —At his press conference after his quarterfinal win over Juan-Martin del Potro, Nadal shows up with two chocolate chip cookies and starts to eat them as he talks.

Q. I'm surprised to see you eating cookies. Are they chocolate chip cookies?

RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah.

Nadal says "Yeah," but his smile says, "So? What about it?"

Q. I was wondering if you have things like that quite a bit? I always think athletes have a very regimented diet and don't indulge.

RAFAEL NADAL: Not me. (Laughter.)

Long pause, Nadal flashes what you might call a s--- eating grin.

"My opinion, you can eat everything. Well, before the match maybe don't have five cookies or one steak, but my opinion, you can eat everything in the right time. If I eat right now, 20 cookies, maybe I gonna have indigestion tonight. If I eat two, three cookies, maybe it's OK.

Maybe not for the stomach, no, but for the head it's better. (Laughter.) In the end, the important thing is to be mentally okay.

Q. Better mental preparation?

RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah.

—Nadal is down a match point and for all intents and purposes out of it in the fourth round against David Nalbandian. He hits a ball with maximum force that lands on the line for a winner.

When he pulls out the second set in a tiebreaker, I can only wonder if any other great players in history have had so many emotional, dramatic, unlikely, and memorable moments as Nadal. Already this year he's been involved in two classics—Verdasco in Melbourne and Nalbandian here—and topped them both by putting his arm around Roger Federer.

—Nadal walks into his press conference after the final with his cellphone in his hand and a distracted look on his face. He looks like he's walking toward a van that’s going to take him to the airport, not to answer questions from a room full of reporters. He sits down and says, lightly, "Hel-lo."

—It's 2-2 in the second set of the men's final. The wind has kicked up and is swirling. Nadal and Andy Murray each move inside the baseline and chip balls at each other that bend and curl in the breeze. It looks like they're playing paddleball with magnetized racquets. Nadal takes a ball from Murray and slices it back low and slow and down the middle. He follows it forward. The ball curves away from Murray, who can't get his forehand up and over the net. Nadal breaks and doesn't lose another game. Ditto my comment above about his shot on match point against Roddick—improvisatory poise at its best.

—To do this, Nadal uses a Babolat Aerodrive (or something like that), a racquet that nobody else anywhere uses. It reminds me of his cookie comment—you can eat everything, you can use anything, it doesn't matter, what matters is you.

—Late in the second set in the final, Murray runs down a lob and flicks a forehand over his head. Nadal lets it go and watches it drop two feet inside the line. When his reaction—he jumps a little, closes his eyes, raises his head, and opens his mouth to say something like, "Oh no!"—is replayed on the big screen, the audience erupts with laughter.

—Nadal practices his forehand over the first weekend of the tournament. He's working on snapping up on it with less backswing and more flick. In his next match, he seems to have it mastered, and it does look a little different and more abbreviated than I remember it. While Federer sticks with what works and maintains a deep belief in his innate ability, Nadal is about the process. He's a tinkerer who doesn't believe he was born to be the best; he concentrates on how he can improve himself enough to get there. He's there, but he's still tinkering.

—After his semifinal, Nadal is asked whether he feels like he has learned to win matches even when he's not playing his best. He says that that's something he's always had success doing.  After the final, he's asked why he thinks he handled the wind better than Murray. Nadal says that he thinks he "accepted" the conditions better than Murray, who fought them.

These two answers, about finding ways to win and accepting the conditions around him, point to what I think is, beyond his speed and spin and power, a major reason for Nadal's success. Unlike most tennis players, even the best tennis players, he doesn't play with anger or regret or frustration, the three emotions that doom most of us.

After losing the fourth set of the Wimbledon final last year, Nadal said that he sat down on the changeover and accepted that he had played horribly when he was ahead in the tiebreaker, but that otherwise he was "doing very well." If Nadal is a control freak or a perfectionist, he doesn't allow it to get the best of him. John McEnroe couldn't emotionally deal with his errors, Djokovic lets his frustration affect his play, and even Federer gets down in the mouth if things aren't going as he expects. Nadal accepts, when he walks onto a court, that he will not always be at his best. As a guy who is constantly trying to improve, he begins with the premise that he can never be perfect, and that he should not always win. Federer and Pete Sampras, by contrast, begin every match believing that no one can beat them if they go out and do what they're supposed to do.

On the one hand, Nadal's is an intelligent approach because it allows him to take pressure off himself and put his mistakes behind him—why regret what was inevitable in the first place? On the other hand, when you try to imagine actually putting this into practice in the heat of battle, you realize that it is an almost impossibly difficult psychological stance to achieve for any length of time. How does one banish these primal reactions?

Forget the biceps and the legs and the forehands and the overheads. Nadal's most important strength is the one that's the hardest for all of us to achieve. He has the strength to be honest with himself.

26th of March

Rafa's remarkable 2008 tennis season has seen him named Player of the Year in the ATP World Tour awards. He became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon titles back-to-back.

Amongst his achievements, The 'Raging Bull' (as he is famously known) also became the first left-hander to finish No. 1 since John McEnroe in 1984 and in addition, he is the first Spaniard to end the season ATP World Tour Champion as the world’s top player in the South African Airways ATP Rankings.

Rafa led the ATP World Tour season with eight titles in 10 finals, 82 match wins, most matches (93) played and a 17-6 mark against Top 10 opponents. He also helped Spain to the Davis Cup title by winning all three of his matches during the year. He advanced to the semi-finals or better in all four Grand Slam tournaments for the first time in his career.

OTHER WINNERS

The awards, announced this Wednesday at the start of the Sony Ericsson Open saw players like Roger Federer win the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship prize for a record fifth successive year as well as the fan's favorite player award. 

James Blake won the prestigious Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year award for his many charitable efforts, including several fundraising initiatives for cancer research and Rainer Schuettler was chosen comeback player of the year.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was chosen most improved, and Kei Nishikori won newcomer of the year.

Congratulations to each of the winners! - Vamos Rafa!

25th of March

Rafa Nadal and Ana Ivanovic have spent a beautiful Monday afternoon together playing golf as part of a promotional event for this week’s Masters Series tournament in Miami.

The two champs posed for the international media as Rafa tried to teach Ana how to play the sport, however, after a couple of rounds everyone could see that Anna didn’t need any help and in fact was better than she initially thought.

“It’s a pleasure to play with Rafa, he’s a great player, a great champion with a winning mentality”, said the Serbian tennis player after they finished playing.

The gold course in Cayo Vizcaíno is surrounded by 7 sat-water lagoons and has the best public green around, “To have this course next to the tennis club helps us to distract ourselves, and to tell you the truth, this place is worth it”, said Rafa to the Spanish TV channel, RTVE.es.