rafael Page 12 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Roger Federer Wins Australian Open For First Grand Slam Title In Five Years
Thirty-five-year old Roger Federer took down old rival Rafael Nadal in five sets to win the Australian Open—his 18th Grand Slam title, but his first in five years. ...
Roger Federer And Rafael Nadal Will Face Off In A Throwback Australian Open Final
This photo’s from 2005—they were about to meet in a Grand Slam for the first time, the 2005 French Open, a semifinal match Rafael Nadal won before claiming the title, his first of many. They’d then spend about a decade at the top of the game, sucking up all the available oxygen, dominating all major...
Now It's Just Rafael Nadal And A Bunch Of Gorgeous One-Handers
Rafael Nadal dug around and exploited two glitches in the Milos Raonic serving machine—two successfully converted break points, that is—to win his Australian Open quarterfinal 6-4, 7-6 (7), 6-4. And now he’s surveying a field full of the prettiest one-handed backhands in all the land. Roger Federer’...
Rafael Nadal Turned Off The Gael Monfils Show
Rafael Nadal put up a sweat-saturated 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 performance to end Gael Monfils’s run at the fourth round of the Australian Open. Through the first two sets it looked like old-school Nadal dominance. Both sixth seed Monfils and ninth seed Nadal are rangy scramblers who cover every inch of t...
Just Rafael Nadal Holding A Koala
One of the under-looked perks of tennis stardom is that you’re often being handed marsupials. Rafael Nadal got to hold this koala at the start of the Brisbane International. His grin and the bear’s claws appear to be saying very different things....
Roger Federer And Rafael Nadal Are Not In The Top Four For The First Time Since 2003<em></em><em></em>
Scroll through the ranking histories of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, skim over the mind-numbing string of No. 1's during Federer’s untouchable 2004-2008 run, and you might notice that you need to dig back to June 2003 to find a moment when neither Fed nor Rafa was among the top four players in th...
Rafael Nadal Halts Play While Mother Seeks Her Lost, Weeping Child
When will parents learn the consequences of minding their children? First, the death of the handsome silverback Harambe. Now, the brief interruption of an obscure exhibition doubles match pitting Rafael Nadal and teen Simon Solbas against old guys Carlos Moyá and John McEnroe, out in Nadal’s home is...
Del Potro Holds Off Nadal Surge To Win Stunner, Reach Gold Medal Match
Juan Martin del Potro has missed most of the past two years due to injuries. The Rio Olympics have marked an incredible comeback for the Argentine, with him defeating world #1 Novak Djokovic and, now, Rafael Nadal in a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) semi-final thriller today....
Get A Load Of This Spatially Ambitious Rafael Nadal Shot
Rafael Nadal is doing some doubles work at the BNP Paribas Open with Fernando Verdasco, and he hit one of the cooler shots I’ve seen in a while. The two Spaniards lost to Bob and Mike Bryan last night, but not before Nadal hit a series of increasingly difficult backwards lobs to eventually take this...
José Aldo Should Obviously Get An Immediate Rematch With Conor McGregor
A month and a half after getting flatlined by Conor McGregor with the first punch landed in the biggest fight of the year, former UFC featherweight titleholder José Aldo broke his silence last week, demanding that his next fight be for the featherweight strap and/or a rematch against McGregor. It’s ...
The UFC Is Putting Conor McGregor And Holly Holm On The Same Card And Oh My God
Here is some very good MMA news:...
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....
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?...
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...