Before watching the clip I was about to say: WOW, after all Nadal has blood in his veins.... but... It wasn't as bad as I thought! LOL! I think he's incapable of being angry ANGRY, McEnroe or Ferrer's style...

Nice convo the one of those guys behind you, completely understand why you've enjoyed it so much. But now I'm pretty jealous of you! I want to be there too ;)

Uncle Toni would chew him out for racket abuse --does that mean he's not around, then?

Racket abuse!!! Think of the poor rackets. Does this guy ever get mad?

Funny blog as always cheryl :D But I cant open the video so can anyone be kind enough to give a link?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyLXxDeM8tA

He does get mad, lloyd. I've seen him spit some pretty blue language in Spanish during disputes back in, say, 2005 and 2006.

But Uncle Toni apparently ground it into him early that there were people who had to spend all their time making racquets instead of playing, and people who couldn't afford to buy racquets at all, let alone use 2 or 3 or 4 a match, so he should think of those people instead of ruining a racquet just because he could.

I like it. A real man has the strength to hang onto his temper.

I forgot the only exception to the above stated rule would be Marat. :D

And Cheryl, I don't think the Djoker's shoes are robins-egg blue. Robins' eggs look lovely and delicate.
Those shoes are Smurf blue.

Hmmm. I think smurf blue was WAY more pleasant than that shoe color. Actually, it was more like Windex blue.

shame on rafa! that kind of racquet abuse warrants a spanking at the hands of uncle toni!

LOL! It's because he forgot to pull his pants! "Please, señor don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry"
Seriously, In practice he can be more relaxed. I doubt we'll ever see this during an actual match... just don't provoke him.

Uncle Toni is there

so is Uncle Miguel Angel

yep. They're both here. And Shakira. :D Or at least she was yesterday.

I've read interviews where Rafa said that Uncle Toni said those things to him too mara.

He has that focused look on court BUT, when he isn't playing well and gets frustrated, you can see that angry glare and sometimes a lip-sneer will come in. Then when he starts playing better he will start the fist-pumping to motivate himself. I have a feeling that if he ever does lose it on court, it will be written about forever--lol. Until then, we have to be content with watching him constantly lose at Playstation with his buddies.

Looking forward to more breaking news Cheryl! Sounds like you're having fun!

Wow he really does hit the racquet :o If we see fed do one too I think the world might turn upside down!

haha....if there was a video of the current fed doing that ....i think many would be chewing him out rite now .

in all fairness ...i think any player can do whatever they want during practice . heck ...we cant expect them to never get angry on court rite ...you miss a shot ...sometimes you get annoyed with urself ...and in practice ...why not let some of it out :) ..we have all been there in some level

anyways ...i dont get why its relevant whether his uncle is around or not ? you guys make him sound like a 5 year old kid that needs supervision.

It's really not that bad. We've seen so much worse from other players. I know it's just practice but I think it's kind of good for him to let all his frustrations out here while practicing coz he can't or wouldn't do such a behavior in a real live match. I admire him all the more for having such self-control though in a live match that even when he's losing or playing badly and so frustrated, you won't see him behave like this. I don't know if it's a tactic against his opponent to not show such frustration or just plain respect for the game and his fans and/or just protecting his image of being a nice guy...

I'm even more impressed now that he can control his temper when playing, knowing he does get the urge to smash his racquet.

I think players should be free to smash their racquet if they feel like it, they have to vent their anger on something. After all it does not affect anyone else, and it's their racquet.

jayhu - the blog is being sarcastic

oh....

He abused both his head and the racket in his doubles match on Monday - wacking himself in the forehead with the racket face.

So what happened in the end with your iPhone, Cheryl?

Alba, that is for this evening's blog. I had it looked at today. Sort of. :)

hahaha...actually, i found it really cute..i mean,we don't get a chance seeing him doing that on court but it's not as bad or should i say, it's not worse than others...he's like a kid holding back his tantrums..ahahaha

that was both adorable and funny. by the way, i like blue on rafa.

Fed really did smash a racquet :o Crazy world

Miami Day 5 - Federer channels his inner Goran

Now THAT was a proper smash. :D

I think Nadal's anger is the most frightening. He control it so much during matches. I think if he lets go of the anger, the racket will break into 5 pieces. And during a match with Berdych, he gave a sarcastic comment at the net, ' you are really bad'. I thought that if Nadal had a cowboy fight with anyone on ATP he will definitely prevail.

lol...I remember that..poor Berdy.

Poor Berdy my butt! He purposefully tried to bait Rafa (much like the media does) into doing something bad. He didn't say "You are really bad." He just said "very bad" and was referring to Berdych's actions.

he just said shush to the crowd and they were bad ..besides I was joking.I thought that was quite clear.

fan4tennis, i dont see any significance difference between 'really bad' and 'very bad'. I read Nadal's interview on his Delpo match. He said Delpo didn't play unbelievable and also he was not at his best. I think it is an unsportmanlike thing and Fed gets bashed for this all the time. Sportsmen are competitive. If they do not win, they get angry. It is just normal.

torres9-

It's really tiring that you compare Nadal to Federer all the time. Honestly, on this thread nobody said a single word about Federer but you are going back there all the time! Focus, please.......

Torres9: He also said that DelPo played a very good game and blamed himself for his loss. He just said he didn't think that DelPo played "unbelievable" tennis, and still was able to beat him. Rafa didn't blame the wind, sun or anything else but the fact that he played bad tennis as to why he lost. I suggest you read the full presser again instead of snippets the media put out to prove a point in an article they write.

Also torres9: read your own posts! There is a big difference between "you are really bad' and calling someone's actions (telling the crowd to be quiet after a win) "very bad." Those answers had NOTHING to do with the DelPo match. Just as one would expect a crowd in Switzerland to be partial to Fed, Berdy should have expected the crowd in Spain to be partial to Rafa. There was no need to insult the crowd with his gestures.

Are you even sure that he said 'very bad' instead of 'you are really bad?'. Please give an article. I'm basing it on memory and he said, 'very bad; how do you know he is referring to Berdych's action.

Read Delpo interview, he felt he played 'unbelievable' tennis to beat the world no.1. Rafa was trying to point that he lost the match rather than Delpo won it. That is unsportsmanlike to me.

fan4tennis the crowd in Switzerland may be partial but not bad..they have never booed a player.I'm not saying the crowd in Madrid is always bad.But that day it was.It was plain insulting to Berdych.He was the one playing out there and he could've been really distracted.

janhavi: Tell that to the fans who paid good money to watch them play! You act like other players haven't played where there is a partisan crowd. It happens plenty of times. And he wasn't the only one playing out there. Rafa was too. And all that you complain about could have been distracting to Rafa also and not just Berdych! Rafa was not happy being booed when he retired from Paris in 08 after being injured, but he just waved to the crowd and smiled.

"I have no excuses. Juan Martin played better than I did," Nadal said.

Even so, Nadal said the whole match was a struggle for him.

"I think I played really bad all the time," Nadal said. "When I have 3-0 in the third I played worse. It was amazing disaster."

Q. What was the problem for you? The feel of the ball or...
RAFAEL NADAL: No, you know, this maybe was the -- I didn't was all focus like usually. Yeah, it's not usually I lose a match with two breaks in the third in hardcourt.
So, yeah, I didn't play well during this tournament. A little the first day against Gabashvili, but, no, I played bad all the time. Anyway, champion in quarterfinals is a good result. That's the positive thing of the American hardcourt season.
Bad thing is I didn't adapt well to this tournament this time. Yeah, I played really bad.
Q. Mentally hard, or...
RAFAEL NADAL: You never know. Maybe. But, yeah. I started the season very well. I had a lot of the matches, very concentrate. Yeah, the last two matches wasn't really good.
But anyway, I want to congratulate for my team and Del Potro. Yeah, he started the season playing well. It's a good win for him. Yeah, congratulate him.

But anyway, you can say one thousand things about this, but in the end, the important thing is I didn't play well. I lose and he play better than me.
Q. And Del Potro again, what makes him so effective?
RAFAEL NADAL: I think he didn't play one of his best matches, no? That's what I feel. I don't know. You can ask him later maybe.
But I think he played well. His level is 7 of the world, no, so he's very good. I think he didn't play an unbelievable match, but I didn't play on my best level today.

There are his words torres9!!!! He says DelPo played better than him. He doesn't have to make it sound like DelPo landed on the moon. But at least he admits that it's his own fault for playing badly and losing. He doesn't try to say he "handed" the match to DelPo at all!

fan4tennis-you display double standards.You cant stand to hear a word against your darling boy. so please ..its a request..do not go all out on other players.Berdych and Rafa are different.Not better,not worse,just different.So is every other player and Rafa.You have to suck that up and stop measuring everything by Rafa's standards.Kudos to Rafa for handling the crowd so well.Nevertheless Berdy could be more of the sensitive type.He felt insulted and he had every right to react.

janhavi: I do not go "all out" on other players. Your fellow fan, torres9, is the one who brought Berdych into this. I quoted Rafa's presser so he could actually see what Rafa said instead of the snippets he is obviously relying on. How is that a double standard? You have always been very quick to post "what Fed really said" and advising people to beware of the context in which Fed said something. I think YOU are the one guilty of the double standard!

I wasnt talking about that damn presser in the first place.And no I do not display double standards-my policy is simple.I dont go out of my way to criticise other players and i dont accept trashing of my favourite player.Also I am just trying to explain things Berdy's view point.I didnt say either player was right or wrong.
About torres-I dont agree with him many a times(unless he's trolling..lol) .But he can accept criticism..heck he himself crticises Fed.I dont see double standard there.

just to settle one part of this argument. Berdych shushed the Madrid crowd AFTER he'd won...at which point, they began booing him quite loudly. When they met at the net Nadal told him "You are a very bad man". There are no hard feelings between them any more and they've made nice with each other.

all rafa said was.."very bad" nt "u r a very bad man"!!!!!...he is an emotinal guy who ws playing wid alot of passion in front of his home crowd..he had sweet memories from his 05 victory over ljubicic and he luved the crowd dearly so he might have disliked berd's action....thsi is no big issue!!! and rafa did appreciate juan martin...he even said that if he had won then it wud have been unfair wid delpotro coz he ws better that day!!! he ws just trying to hilite the fact that the way he succumbed two brks of serve ws so unusual...he had the mtch in control and suddenly a barrage of errors erased his lead.

Thank you vamosrafa! Torres9 pulled up those comments from Berdych match (from HOW LONG ago????)and then added DelPo into the mix to try to say that Rafa is unsportsmanlike. And just like you janhavi, "I dont go out of my way to criticise other players and i dont accept trashing of my favourite player."

I neva posted that Nadal said, 'you are a really bad man', I posted nadal said, 'You are really bad'. Does it really matter if he said 'veryy bad' instead of 'really bad'? You guys are just being silly.

What Nadal did is unsportsmanlike and if Fed said the same thing, you guys will make a big deal about it. Apparently, vamosrafa, Delpo didn't appreciate Nadal saying Delpo didn't play 'unbelieavable' suggesting that he would have won if he played in his normal form. That is unsportsmanlike however you put it. You are calling me stubborn and yet you are just doing what I do.

thank you CM for clearing that up...wasnt Berdy in tears after that?..or was it the next match? ( I'm not sure about this at all..just what I've read on other forums) .And yes, I dont think there's any hard feelings at all.

Just to clarify, I saw that match and Nadal shook his head when they were shaking hands and said "very bad'; Berdych then said something and waved Rafa away which just got the crowed more angry and noisier.

I think we have to stop making mountains out of molehills for every action a player takes on and off court. These guys see each other day in day out on the tour and obviously manage to stay civil if not friends.
Re: Rafa's comments after the Del Potro match, I interpreted that vey differently. I thought he was saying that " all players have different reasons for laying badly and that it's personal to each player". It never ocurred to me that he was saying it's personal for him ie. personal reason until I heard all the media hoo-ha later.

Puts a different perspective on the comment, for sure. Food for thought!!

I dont know any player on tour currently who makes more excuses for losing a match than the great Roger Federer!!!

It's not mono any more....so now its the wind......unbelievable!!!!.....but yet he slams Djokovic for retiring after a sore throat!!!

Federer just needs to get a COACH like he needed to get married, which he did.....so i hope thats saying something!!!!