rafael-nadal Page 5 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Daniil Medvedev Nearly Ushered In The Future, But Rafael Nadal Shut The Door
Daniil Medvedev’s run at the U.S. Open, the most absorbing of any men’s non-winner in recent memory, could have ended earlier—well before his final Sunday against Rafael Nadal had a chance to transform from old hat to modern classic. As late as the third set, the 23-year-old Russian was straight-up ...
CNN Wonders If Smartphones Are Why The Tennis Youth Can't Beat Roger Federer
An article over at CNN today formally advances a claim dropped casually by commentators, coaches, fans, and any crank with a taste for caricaturing a whole generation. Here goes: Smartphones are hampering tennis’s young players, which is why they can’t stop the Big Three in the men’s game, who enjo...
Rafael Nadal Played Some Heroic Points Before Roger Federer Wrapped It Up
The match was glowing white-hot for hours, but in the fourth set, the Wimbledon semifinal between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal began to cool off. Federer got an early break to go up 2-1, and a sense of the inevitable washed over the lawn as both players traded holds, Nadal’s traction on the match ...
Eleven Years After The Greatest Match Ever: A Federer-Nadal Wimbledon Liveblog
Novak Djokovic awaits in the final. Either Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal will join him after today’s semifinal. GOATs are grazing everywhere the eye can see. Roger has mastered the grass and Wimbledon is historically his home turf, but Rafa has beaten him here before—famously, in their 2008 final, t...
Nick Kyrgios Executes Perfect Underarm Serve Against Rafael Nadal
The second round of Wimbledon offered Nick Kyrgios the opportunity to do what he loves best, which is to try to beat Rafael Nadal. Though he failed in that quest, falling in four sets in yesterday’s match, Kyrgios was able to realize his other great love, which is to try to annoy Rafael Nadal. No mo...
Dominic Thiem Got Closer, But Rafael Nadal Still Stepped On Him
Last year, in the first major final of his life, Dominic Thiem just seemed happy to be there. Flattened by a Rafael Nadal charging toward his 11th French Open title? That builds character. A dusty tennis great heartlessly roasting you at the trophy ceremony? Whatever, no shame in being outmatched....
Rafael Nadal Is Tennis Jail
“If you want to do or achieve something on the clay, inevitably, at some stage, you will go through Rafa,” Roger Federer said after his French Open quarterfinal, “because he’s that strong, and he will be there.”...
Stefanos Tsitsipas Became One Of The Few To Take Out Rafael Nadal On Clay
He’d won over Federer on fast hard court at a major, and he’d won over Djokovic on slow hard court at a masters. Saturday brought an even thornier test for Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Greek had lost all seven sets he’d previously played against Rafael Nadal, five of them on hard court. The last time the...
Fabio Fognini Is One Slippery Noodle
When a tennis shot is shanked, shallow, spinless, or otherwise borked, the culprit is often a too-tight arm. The more an amateur tries to muscle the ball, the less they’ll actually accomplish. Power comes from relaxed muscles working in unison. There might not exist a material in the tennis universe...
Nick Kyrgios Got Under Rafael Nadal's Skin In Front Of A Jeering Crowd<em></em>
First it was the upset stomach, then it was the wrapped knee, then it was the taped-up back. Ordinarily just one of these is a sufficient reason for Nick Kyrgios to pack it in and retire from a match, especially if it’s some rando across the net who doesn’t fully capture his fickle attention. But ag...
Nick Kyrgios Got Under Rafael Nadal's Skin In Front Of A Jeering Crowd<em></em>
First it was the upset stomach, then it was the wrapped knee, then it was the taped-up back. Ordinarily just one of these is a sufficient reason for Nick Kyrgios to pack it in and retire from a match, especially if it’s some rando across the net who doesn’t fully capture his fickle attention. But ag...
Right Now There Is No Answer To Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic heaped pre-match praise on his final Australian Open opponent, because it was a deeply familiar one. “Nadal has historically throughout my life and career been the greatest rival that I ever played against on all the surfaces,” he said of their 52-match tug-of-war, which had split 27-...
It's Happening Again
Rafael Nadal had booked his room in the final, with two whole days to ready himself for it. He drained the blood out of Stefanos Tsitsipas, just as he did to the last two kids trying to prematurely usher in the future. All Novak Djokovic had to do was wrap up one last errand today, and he didn’t daw...
All Hail The Rafael Nadal Banana Shot
Rafael Nadal gored YouTuber Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 today. Their Australian Open semifinal match took just 1:46, but in that span the winner erected a monument to one of tennis’s historic shots: the Rafa banana forehand. Above is as pristine a specimen as has ever appeared in nature....
Frances Tiafoe Breaks Down In Tears After Advancing To Australian Open Quarterfinals On His 21st Birthday<em></em>
After beating No. 20 seed Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (1), 7-5 on Sunday, College Park, Md. native Frances Tiafoe celebrated advancing to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal the same way he did just one round earlier: ripping his shirt off, slapping his biceps and chest, and using all the energy...
Q&A: Author Rowan Ricardo Phillips On The Future Of Men's Tennis And Why Race Is Still The Game's Third Rail
In the bleak winter days of mid-January 2017, Rowan Ricardo Phillips rose before dawn. The Australian Open was underway, and he was hellbent on watching every televised ATP men’s match over the course of the year. Phillips’s obsession with the game turned into total spectator immersion, starting Dow...
Novak Djokovic Says His Saudi Arabia Exhibition Match Against Rafael Nadal Is Off<em></em>
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were widely criticized for their scheduled participation in a reputation-laundering exhibition match in Saudi Arabia, amid the kingdom’s war in Yemen, the ongoing inquiry into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and the usual slew of human rights abuses. The mat...
What More Details Do Rafael Nadal And Novak Djokovic Need To Cancel Their Saudi Arabia Exhibition?
As of now, world No. 1 Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Novak Djokovic are still slated to play in a December exhibition in Saudi Arabia, and have yet to decline the invitation even as details about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi continue to emerge. Nadal and Djokovic cited the duration of their com...
Rafael Nadal And Novak Djokovic Look Forward To Being Pawns In Saudi Arabia's Shameless Image Rehab
On Oct. 7, one day after Reuters first reported the alleged murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who Turkish officials later said was tortured and dismembered by Saudi agents in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Head of Saudi Arabia’s General Sport Authority Turki Al-Alshaikh announce...