rafa Page 13 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Florentino Pérez Is What's Wrong With Real Madrid
After seeing how summarily Barcelona dispensed with Real Madrid, the temptation is to lay the blame at the feet of their first-year manager, Rafa Benítez. That seems to be the way club president Florentino Pérez is leaning. (Benítez has even received the dreaded vote of confidence! The end is nigh!)...
Rafael Palmeiro Returns To Professional Baseball, Goes 2-For-4 With An RBI
Ten years after leaving the majors amidst the haze of a steroid suspension, 50-year-old Rafael Palmeiro returned to professional baseball Friday night with the independent Sugar Land Skeeters, where the slugger hit two singles, drove in a run, scored a run, and drew a walk....
Michael Zerafa Stretchered Out Of Ring After Being Knocked Out By Peter Quillin
Peter Quillin improved his career record to 32-0-1 after a knockout of Michael Zerafa so brutal his opponent had to be stretchered out of the ring....
Novak Djokovic Just Dominated Rafael Nadal At The French Open
So, it turns out what I and others thought was going to be the greatest quarterfinal in tennis history was...umm, not even close, as Novak Djokovic handled nine-time champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, 6-1....
This Nadal-Djokovic Point Is Absurd
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are currently playing the French Open in what looked to be the greatest quarterfinal in tennis history, and points like this one only go to show that maybe—just maybe—this match is going to live up to the hype....
Novak Djokovic Tops Roger Federer In Italian Open Final
Novak Djokovic will enter the French Open undefeated on clay this year after a 6-4, 6-3 win over Roger Federer in the Italian Open final on Sunday. Djokovic is now the winner of 19 of the last 41 Masters tournaments, and has won his last 22 matches. ...
ESPN's Dan Rafael Seems Like He Could Use A Nap
ESPN boxing writer Dan Rafael is, as our own Iron Mike Gallego has long enjoyed pointing out, a stooge and a nitwit, but the run-up to the announcement of the long-delayed Floyd Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao bout has revealed something else about him: Like much of the rest of the boxing media but even m...
Rafael Nadal Withdraws From U.S. Open
Rafael Nadal will not defend his U.S. Open title when the tournament starts next week, announcing today that he will not compete as he recovers from a wrist injury....
The Trouble With Floyd Mayweather
Last week, Floyd Mayweather announced that he will fight a rematch with Marcos Maidana on Sept. 13. Their first fight, two months ago, was Mayweather’s closest challenge in years, with many in the boxing media believing that Maidana had earned the decision. And while that bout may have failed to mee...
This 19-Year-Old Just Kicked Rafael Nadal Out Of Wimbledon
Nick Kyrgios, a wild card entry to Wimbledon, just won against world number one and number two seed Rafael Nadal. Who the fuck is this guy?...
Arjen Robben Apologizes For His Dive (But Not <em>That</em> Dive)
Arjen Robben blatantly dove multiple times in the Netherlands' comeback win over Mexico. He was also fouled multiple times. These happenings were not necessarily concurrent, though on certain plays they were, and they appeared to be on the final, fatal penalty call in the box. That's an unsatisfying...
Double Fault! A Recent History Of Tennis's Most Humiliating Finish
Rafael Nadal won his ninth French Open Sunday, and he did it in the most unbecoming way possible. The decisive moment was a double fault from Novak Djokovic, provoking an awkward "fall to your knees in euphoria after winning a point literally anyone with a pulse could have won themselves" celebratio...
Stanislas Wawrinka Dominates An Injured Nadal, Wins Australian Open
Rafael Nadal hadn't dropped a set to Stanislas Wawrinka before today's Australian Open final. Wawrinka promptly changed that by winning the first set, eventually taking the match in four sets, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. But Wawrinka didn't come out on top only because of Nadal's injury. The Swiss was in ch...
Rafael Nadal's Hands Are Disgusting
Rafael Nadal will play Roger Federer on Friday (overnight for U.S. audiences) in a semifinal match at the Australian Open, but forget about that for a minute. Look how gross Rafa's hands are. ...
Here Comes The Federer-Nadal To Possibly End All Federer-Nadals
Maybe every Federer-Nadal is a Federer-Nadal for the ages, and when we look back we'll marvel at our luck that these two comets coincided for a decade. But let's say with a bit of boldness that the upcoming Federer-Nadal — in a date punched when they respectively dispatched Andy Murray and Grigor Di...
Rafael Palmeiro Was The Ideal Steroids Scapegoat
Rafael Palmeiro was going to stroll into the Hall of Fame. It's sort of unbelievable to remember this fact, as we try to gaze back over the ruptured fault line between the Steroids Era and the Steroids Recriminations Era. There wasn't really anything to argue about, back then. He was in....
The Painted Screens Of Baltimore
Rafael Alvarez has more about Elaine Eff's book in the Baltimore City Paper. ...
Rafael Nadal's Serve From Second To Second
Nadal's in London playing in the ATP World Tour Finals, where this multiple-exposure picture was taken. We now can see the shift from "okay, toss it up gently" to "NOW MURDER THAT THING!" moment to moment. Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images...
Rafael Nadal: Rockin' My Peers And Puttin' Suckas In Fear
Over at SB Nation Longform, Elizabeth Kaye has a terrific wrap-up of the U.S. Open:...
Here's What Led Rafa Nadal To His Second U.S. Open Title
The Rafa Nadal-Novak Djokovic men's final tonight was an endless highlight reel. We showed you that 54-shot rally earlier but let's show you another fantastic rally in what was an incredibly high quality tennis match. Djokovic grabbed the second set 6-3 and it looked like he had just enough headwind...