Have to say I'm not terribly impressed with his play, or any play in Monte Carlo so far. Ginge got through but not looking terribly unbeatable. Roger won but Seppi was keeping up with him two for two most of the time. And wtf was up with the Frenchies going down like flies in first round?
Eventhough Rafa didn't look very convincing today, the headlines are irritating me to no end. Yahoo says "Rafa wins, but his performance belied a bit of rust". Yeah whatever guys.
I really.
Don't.
Care.
Do you?
Oh, to you Rafiscanatics, yes, Xisca is in Monte Carlo. Along with Maribel and Rafa's mom. Will try look for pictures, but no promises.
Hey Babz! It's what we were talking about before - the "Federer treatment." Now Rafa has to play perfectly or he's "rusty" and "struggling."
ReplyDeleteHope he can deal. . .
Glad to see him playing without the knee-tape. His knees must be in good shape.
Hey Babz!!! Made the unfortunate mistake of waiting for tennis to come on T.V. today instead of streaming. Ugh, Roger instead of Rafa. Seriously, if you're only going to show one tape delayed match, makes sense to show the world's number one, instead of number 2 no???? end rant LOL
ReplyDeleteI dunno what is up with that headband, usually i figure the crazier the hair/headband, the tougher the match. 2 and 3 against Chela doesn't sound like it was that bad, and the ATP website was all over Rafa's "thunderous groundstrokes" and the "awesome display"...
Interested to hear your thoughts Babz!
Hey Neil! Even the streams were totally all over the place - I panicked and had to look for another stream. Boo hiss.
ReplyDeleteSure you wanna hear my disordered thoughts? ;)
Well Rafa was trailing 0-40 before he held in the first game, and then rattled off game by game til he was 3-0. Then Chela broke and it was 3-2, but as you know Rafa is a slow starter and he went to take the set 6-2. It's the same story on the second set, he was up 3-0 before Chela got some games. I'm inclined to think it was "pity" games lol. He does like his Argentinians.
But despite all that he did not look like, last year's RG form, so to speak. Of course this is the 1st tourney on clay, and we have to take into account that he is not wearing his knee tapes so I don't know, maybe he felt like he had to be careful in his movements. He just did not look especially like the King of Clay. That's the best I can come up with.
Then again, this tourney is like cursed or something, LOL, players who are supposed to win didn't and apparently Simone Bolleli who beat Tipsy earlier was playing lights out. And even Ginge or Fed did not look terribly great. Again, it's still very early in the clay season. By Madrid, who knows what Rafa's like.
Definitely no such things like "thunderous groundstrokes" or "awesome display". Geez, the ATP website writers are fond of hyperbole or very excitable people. Or maybe I'm the one that's hard to please. ;)
Now you know you should never invite me to share my thoughts or I'll write an essay, LOL!
He looked like he was treating it gingerly, lol. But yes, very much the Roger Treatment. Ah well. I don't think he'd care much. XD
ReplyDeleteUh...I thought I cared, but after looking at those pics I SO...don't...care...anymore...
ReplyDelete*tries to lick Rafa's treasure trail*
BTW, great to see Xisca's in town! I've been so worried for the two of them!
That's what I intended with the pics of the belly, as it gets closer and closer in focus. Glad to see you got it ;)
ReplyDeleteI know right?!? Xisca's looking great.
I'm watching the DVR'd version of today's stuff, and Rafa's not on fire, but he's not sucking out loud, either. I saw Xisca in his player's box, with Uncle Toni, so that's good. And bad. It screws with my fantasy life, to see her floating around. ;) But good for them.
ReplyDeleteHe's gotten to be a really delicious color, this spring. I think it's one of my new favorites. Yumm-O!