23rd of April

BARCELONA UPDATE: David Nalbandian has pulled out of his quarter-final against Rafa at the Barcelona Open due to a hip injury, the tournament doctor Angel Ruiz-Cotorro told a news conference. This means, the World No.1 wili go straight through to the next round.

We wish David a speedy recovery!

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RAFA IS THROUGH TO BARCELONA’S QUATERFINALS

Top seed and defending champion Rafa Nadal cruised past Christophe Rochus of Belgium in straight sets, 6-2 6-0 at the Barcelona Open third round, and remains on course for his fifth straight title.

The "King of Clay" extended his unrivalled supremacy on the surface of the Catalan capital after only 56 minutes of play and set up a meeting in the quarterfinals against David Nalbandian who leads Rafa 2-1 in their head-to-head stats. The last time they played each other was in the round of 16 at the 2009 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells event (a couple of weeks ago), which Rafa won 3-6 7-6(5) 6-0 after surviving the dangerous argentine, who he had never beaten before that day. 

"He's a rival of great ability and it's going to be really difficult," Rafa said. "We'll see what happens."

THE MATCH

The flamboyant left-hander broke in the third game with a cross-court forehand.And he cruised through the second with some exquisitely precise strokes to win in under an hour.

Rafa's emphatic win was his 23rd in succession on clay and improved a phenomenal record on the surface since 2005 to 140 wins and just four defeats.

Vamos Rafa!

22nd of April

Wednesday sees the arrival of the moment the Barcelona public has been waiting for, as Rafael Nadal makes his debut at the 2009 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell. The four-time defending champion is making his first appearance at his home event as world No.1, and will be attempting to repeat his heroics in Monte Carlo last weekend, where he became the first player to win the event five years in a row.

The Barcelona Open offers tennis fans a little bit of everything, from hard-hitters to clay-court specialists, making this one of the more exciting ATP Tour 500 events of the season.

The "King of Clay" will debut today in the second round of the Barcelona Open against Frederico Gil, who beat Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun 6-2 6-1.

The two men are familiar with each other; Gil lost to Rafa in Miami in straights, though he pushed Rafa in the first set (the final score was 7-5, 6-3). Gil has amassed a tidy 11-5 match record for 2009, and he is a good clay-courter. He is not the easiest opponent Rafa could have drawn to open the tournament.

The match is schedulled third on Center Court at 2:30pm (local time).

Vamos Rafa!

22nd of April, 2009

As he has for the past five years, Rafa Nadal arrived in Barcelona fresh off a clay-court title in Monte Carlo and with the intention to end his time in the famous Spanish city with a fifth consecutive trophy under his arm as well. 

Just like the official tournament website describes it: “Rafa could not have had a better start to the clay court season, despite pressure to repeat his incredible winning streaks of recent years on the surface. Showing his trademark hardworking qualities, the world #1 arrived late last Monday at Barcelona’s El Prat airport, and was to be found on court early the next morning for a training session at the Real Club Tenis Barcelona. After the session, Rafa attended a press conference at which he spoke about his experiences in Monte Carlo and his hopes for the coming week in Barcelona.

TODAY’S MATCH

Rafa continued his historic clay-court run at the Barcelona Open today with a 6-2 6-2 second-round defeat of Frederico Gil.

The popular victory at the Real club over the Portuguese left Rafa with an enviable 139-4 five-year clay-court record and a chance to play the third round of the tournament against the winner of the match between Richard Gasquet and Christophe Rochus.

The number 1 took his predictable first step in just under 90 minutes, getting out of the only tight spot he faced as he annulled three break points for number 75 Gil to earn a 2-0 lead in the second set.After that episode, everything went smoothly on the home clay for the four-time French Open winner.

Vamos Rafa!

23rd of April

World number one Rafa Nadal remains on course for his fifth straight title in Barcelona after yesterday's confortable second round victory 6-2 6-2 over Portugal's Frederico Gil.

"Winning has not become routine for me. Tennis is also a sport of losses, someone wins every week - but not always the same player."

“In Miami I played pretty badly against him,” said Rafa after the match. “Today I played a more serious match, without making any big changes. Last time we played I felt he could have won a set, but not today. Of course because I stayed focus. He's fighter and you need to be concentrated all the time in order to not let him get into the match and win a set. First rounds are always difficult because you need to adjust to the new conditions. It was a relatively comfortable match and I’m happy to have won without suffering too much.”

Trying to become the first player to win the Barcelona Open five straight times, Rafa will next play Christophe Rochus of Belgium, who defeated Richard Gasquet of France 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-3.

Rafa and Rochus have played only once before: At this year's Australian Open, which Rafa won 6-0 6-2 6-2.

Today's order of play:

4th MATCH ON CENTER COURT

Rafael NADAL (ESP) vs Christophe ROCHUS (BEL) not Before 4:45 PM

Vamos Rafa!

21st of April

At a press conference in Barcelona yesterday, Rafa Nadal shared with the world media his thoughts and feelings in regards to his latest achievements.

Here is what he had to say:  

“Winning Monte Carlo five times is incredible, but I feel very comfortable there and I always want to do well there, as it was the first Master Series I won. For sure I had a great run there, but it was a very difficult tournament. Even when you have five titles it’s not easy, but the first was the most complicated. But I feel very good there and that helps me.”

“I’m very happy to be in Barcelona again. Playing here is always special because it’s an opportunity to play in my club in front of friends and family, and this makes me want to perform the best I can. I’ll give my all, and although the calendar is very tough I wouldn’t want to lose this tournament as it means so much to me. If I am here it is because I feel able to win, but this means I won’t have any rest in three weeks through Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome.”

“On clay in recent years I have achieved results beyond my dreams. I had never imagined anything like this, and for me every match is equal or more difficult than the last. Although people don’t rate my results unless I win, for me reaching the semi finals of a big tournament is a great achievement and this makes me approach every match with the maximum enthusiasm.”

BARCELONA: Defending four-time champion Rafa Nadal will debut tomorrow in the second round of the Barcelona Open against Frederico Gil, who beat Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun 6-2 6-1.

Vamos Rafa!

Quotes from: Barcelona Open 

20th of April

Rafa Nadal gets right back up on that claycourt horse this week, straight off the Masters Monte Carlo title, as the top seed in his homecountry at the Barcelona Open 2009.

The defending champion beat Novak Djokovic 6-3 2-6 6-1 in Sunday's final and became the first man in history to win Monte Carlo five times in a row.

"Always is really important for me start the clay season like this, no, for the confidence," said Rafa on winning Monte Carlo and taking to the courts in Barcelona. "But the most important thing is the title more than the confidence. Win another time here is more than a dream for me."

Straight after the final, Rafa flew over to Spain looking to continue his winning streak and hopefully, win the title again for the fifth year in a row.

On Saturday, the official draw ceremony for the Spanish tournament took place and if there are no surprises, these could be Rafa’s opponents for the next week:

First up, he will have to play the winner of the match between Portugal’s Frederico Gil (71) and Taiwan’s Yen-Hsun Lu (63).

In their head-to-head stats, Rafa has never played against Lu, and holds a 1-0 advantage over Gil.

Third round: Richard Gasquet

Quarterfinal: Almagro, Ferrero, Chela, or Nalbandian.

Semifinal: Nikolay Davydenko, Feliciano López, Radek Stepanek or Stanislas Wawrinka.

Today, at 11:30am (local time), Rafa will attend the Presentation of the MAPFRE centre of Tennis Medicine – at the Village Restaurant Annex.

At the event, he will be accompanied by the RCTB President Albert Agustí, José Luis Escañuela (Spanish Tennis Federation President), Rafael Nadal and members of the Spanish Davis and Fed Cup teams.

The World No.1 will take it easy for the rest of the day before he starts training tomorrow for his debut on Wednesday.

Vamos Rafa!

19th of April

If yesterday’s Monte Carlo Masters Series semifinal showdown between Rafa Nadal and the fourth seed Andy Murray showed us glimpses of what is to come in the next couple of weeks, then my friends, we might get to see the tennis history books be re-written.

Defending champ, Rafa Nadal beat Andy Murray of Scotland 6-2, 7-6(4) in a shade over two hours to book his place in Sunday's final against Djokovic who got the better of Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in a tough three setter, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Playing his first semi-final on the ­surface, Andy refused to view the situation as impossible, but, as the ­opening set rushed by, quickly realized the improbability of defying this Spanish force of nature.

It was not that ­Murray's improvement on the surface had ­suddenly deserted him, NO! - It had more to do with the fact that playing against Rafa on clay needs you to bring more than you’re A-game to the table.

In an interview after the match, Andy declared to the world media that he had faced "probably the greatest clay-court player ever," and considering that since the beginning of 2005 Rafa's win-loss ratio on the surface is 137-4, he may be right. 

THE MATCH

Rafa  broke the Murray serve in the Scot's very first service game, but some uncharacteristic unforced errors from the champion allowed Andy to break straight back for 1-2. Rafa however not to be undone but together a run of four straight points to once again pull ahead; 3-1. Andy dropped his serve once again, as Rafael wrapped up the opening set quite comfortably 6-2.

Trailing at 5-3 in the second, U.S. Open finalist Murray broke Rafa in the ninth game before he forced a tiebreak. However, Rafa proved too strong an opponent and took the tiebreak 7-4 to finish the match.

HEAD- TO HEAD:

Rafa and Novak have played a total of 15 times before, with the 'Spanish Bull' winning 11 of those matches. The last time they played each other was a few weeks back at the Spain vs. Serbia Davis Cup tie played in Benidorn (which Rafa won) and the last time Novak beat Rafa was at the Cincinnati Masters Series in 2008.

Speaking ahead of the final, Rafa said, "Always is a very tough, tough match. He's a good player. I think he's playing well. He is having a very good tournament. Sure, I have to play my best tennis if I want to have chances to win. So I'm going to try to play aggressively and try my best. I know it's going to be tough, but I expect to play like today or a little bit better."

The World No.1 goes into the match with a remarkable 22-1 record in clay-court finals. His only loss came to Roger Federer at Hamburg in 2007. Amongst a group of clay-court greats still ahead of him, is another left-handed genius Austrian Tomas Muster, who won 40 titles on the red clay.

ORDER OF PLAY:

COURT CENTRAL

Play starts at 2:00 pm?(local time)

[1] R Nadal (ESP) vs [3] N Djokovic (SRB) 

Vamos Rafa!

19th of April, 2009

The stats will overwhelm you: 29 victories and just 1 defeat in 6 years playing at the Montecarlo Masters Series tournament is simply impressive. Rafa Nadal not only is the World’s best tennis player, but after today, he’s also a legend in the principality of Monaco after becoming the first man in history to ever win this tournament 5 times in a row.

In a match that will go down in the history books, the strapping World No.1 showed us again that on clay, has no peer.

He's full of energy, bouncing on the balls of his feet during the pre-match coin toss, sprinting to the baseline for the warm-up. And then he really gets going. No matter the surface, but especially on clay, Rafa gets to nearly every shot, making opponents hit four, five, six terrific strokes to win a single point. It's quite demoralizing for them, sort of like hitting against a wall.

It happened against Chela, Lapentti, Ljubicic, Murray and today, against Novak Djokovic, a very talented player who was fighting for a fourth title on the terre battue, and who in spite of his huge potential and amazing skills, couldn’t stop Rafa from claiming a piece of history.

Two hours and 43 minutes took Rafa to beat Novak 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 and hold that precious trophy that he deserves so much!

"Confidence was important, I had to fight all the time and put the balls inside the lines," said Rafa after the match.

"I needed to play aggressively without mistakes. I was very focused on the moment, that's why I was able to win."

"It is very emotional for me here, winning five in a row. I'm very, very happy."

THE MATCH

Rafa took the first set after trailing 3-1, running off five straight games, but he struggled with his service in the second set with the tide apparently turning to Djokovic.

The key to the match was Rafa’s opening service game in the third set as Djokovic wasted three break points and was never ahead.

Trailing 2-0 he did break Rafa again, but in an echo of the opening set lost the next four games to slide to defeat.

BARCELONA: After today’s final in Monte Carlo, Rafa will fly over to Barcelona where he will take part in the ‘Open Banco Sabadell’ tournament.

The defending Champion arrives in Spain looking to continue his winning streak and hopefully, win the title again for the fifth year in a row.

Yesterday, the official draw ceremony took place and if there are no surprises, these could be Rafa’s opponents for the next week:

First up, he will have to play the winner of the match between a qualifier and Yen-Shun Lu.

Third round: Richard Gasquet

Quarterfinal: Almagro, Ferrero, Chela, or Nalbandian.

Semifinal: Nikolay Davydenko, Feliciano López, Radek Stepanek or Stanislas Wawrinka.

Congratulations to Rafa for a great tournament and thanks to all the fans who were there to support him!

18th of April

Defending champion Rafa Nadal was one of four players who had to play cath-up on Friday, after a rainstorm forced the Monte Carlo Masters Series Tournament organizers to cancel play on Thursday.

Rafael cruised through his double workload on Friday with a 6-3 6-0 win over Nicolas Lapentti followed up by an equally imposing 6-3 6-3 victory over Croatia's Ljubicic to reach the last four.

After the 3-hour ordeal, Rafa said at his press conference that: "The first match [of the day] I started badly, but I finished it better,” and against  Ljubicic, he felt that "Maybe [he made] a lot of mistakes. But the feeling was better. [The] important thing [is that] I finished the day better than I started [it]."

The important thing for the World Number 1 is that he has “to play a little bit more inside [the baseline], make less mistakes [and] serve a little bit better," then he continued "I think all aspects of the game I have to improve. But I hope tomorrow [will] be better."

Rafa will next look to improve his impressive 136-4 five-year clay-court record against World No. 4 Andy Murray of Scotland, who he leads 6-2 in their head-to-head stats,. The last time they played on clay was in the round of 16 at the 2008 Hamburg Master Series event, which Rafa won in straight sets, 6-3 6-2.

About he’s next opponent, Rafa said that: “Every player is dangerous. We are talking about the No. 4, with chances to be third because he [doesn’t] have to defend a lot [of points] in the next weeks. So, yeah, always is a really tough match. The first thing, no, you can't be in [the] semifinals of [a] big tournament like Monte Carlo and have an easy match. That's impossible”.

Rafa’s semifinal match is scheduled third on Court Central after the following matches:

PLAY STARTS AT 11:30 am(Local time)

B Bryan / M Bryan vs L Dlouhy /L Paes

Not Before 1:30 PM

[3] N Djokovic (SRB) vs [13] S Wawrinka (SUI) 

[1] R Nadal (ESP) vs [4] A Murray (GBR)

Vamos Rafa!

18th of April

Top-ranked Rafa Nadal stretched his unbelievable winning streak at the Monte Carlo Masters Series event to 26 matches by beating World No.4 Andy Murray today, and moved one step closer to a fifth consecutive title.

The World No.1 needed just over 2 hours of play to beat the 21-year-old Scottish player (who had never been past the third round of a clay court tournament before) in straight sets, 6-2 7-6 and is happy to know that he continues to maintain an amazing 137-4 five-year clay-court record.

In Sunday's final, the defending champion will face world number three Novak Djokovic, who survived an intense three-set-battle (6-4, 6-1, 6-3.) against Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka.

Rafa and Novak have played a total of 15 times before, with the 'Spanish Bull' winning 11 of those matches. The last time they played each other was a few weeks back at the Spain vs. Serbia Davis Cup tie played in Benidorn (which Rafa won) and the last time Novak beat Rafa was at the Cincinnati Masters Series in 2008.

If Rafa wins the final tomorrow, not only would he have managed an incredible 5-in-a-row, never-done-before kind of feat, but also, he would be one title away from equalling Reggie Doherty’s 6 titles won from 1897-99 and 1902-04.

ATP’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD:

ATP’s official website informed the world today that they have presented Rafa Nadal with the 2008 ATP Player of the Year Award during La Grande Nuit du Tennis of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Friday night.

“The prestigious award was bestowed on the 22-year-old after an exceptional 2008 season. He is the first Spaniard to be crowned ATP World Tour champion after becoming the first left-hander to finish No. 1 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings since John McEnroe”.

Congratulations Rafa!