Look at this big crybaby again :

http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/6977441/rafael-nadal-complai ns-again-overcrowded-atp-calendar

Maybe he should opt out of those big payday exhibitions like in Colombia and the one coming in Argentina.

Numero: Will you explain to me why it's OK for Federer to critise the ATP calendar but not Nadal?

just last year while I was watching Rafa and Fed play in Madrid it was going through my mind how it was wrong for them to play those exhibition matches since it seemed to me they were clearly going for the shots and they were not playing just for fan...numero is right, not only when Rafa is concerned, but it also stands for Fed: they should not commit for those exhibitions and rather opt to have longer rest before January 1...this year Rafa is playing Nalby in Argentina...it is going to come after WTF and most likely Davis Cup finals...why would he do that to his body which has already suffered a lot this year...don't tell me it's for money as none of them are really desperate to earn some...

A lot of the exhibition matches seem to be for charity. At the end of last year Rafa went to Switzerland to play with Federer to raise money for his foundation and then Federer came to Spain to play Rafa to raise money for Rafa's foundation.

ed,

Rafa is threatening "strong action" implying a strike or legal action. That's a difference from what Roger has said in the past.

natasha,

The match Rafa and Roger played in Madrid was for charity. There's a big difference than getting a big payday that Rafa and Nole got in Colombia and the big payday Rafa is rumored to get for playing in Argentina. Surely you're not that dense to not be able to see the difference?

Also being desperate and being greedy are two different things.

Desperate or Greedy I do not know, but I know Fed also mentioned that he would like to go to South America too one of these days. Fedal are smart people, both are now looking into expanding their popularity into the Latin American market, which is now still an untapped market for them. Fed mentioned that he had not played in SA, and the last time Rafa competed in SA was in 2005. It's no coincidence that Rafa played the exho in Columbia earlier this year and he's going to Argentina end of the year. There's talk of him going to Mexico too but somehow there's no further news on that. Who knows, next we'll see Fedal playing exho matches in Mexico!

Fedal both complained about the ATP schedule, and both are looking to play exho matches, especially in some Latin American countries. It's no coincidence, for SA is the last piece of untapped market that both would like to capture while they still can make hay while the sun shines.

Back to tennis. I like the way Rafa played today. He's tired no doubt and hence he took the initiative to attack as much as possible to try to win the match asap. He should look to play like this always, no point keeps staying at the baseline and grind his way through, especially at times when he's not feeling confident. No doubt he made many errors today, I think mainly due to fatigue, his shots were more penetrating today and he's serving quite well too. He's also moving more into the court too, compared to the earlier clay season where he was standing so far behind the baseline and hardly moved into the court.

Clay is really his surface, he's like a fish back to the water, so nice to see Rafa on clay. He's beautiful to watch, especially on clay.

I am with you, lucky, on both of your above posts...I agree with your analysis of Rafa...he sure played much better yesterday than he did this spring during the whole clay court season...this is really promising...although we knew he would be tired, he still seems to be reaching the best form at this time of the year...who knows, we may see him wining more titles in the second part of the year than before...

numero,

I KNOW it was for charity, you don't need to enlighten me about it! I follow every step Rafa takes and when that was announced last year I was saying how stupid it was and how it seemed that Fed was dragging Rafa into some exhausting December activities that he was supposed not to agree on. If they want to give charity why just not write a check with many zeros on it...they can have some campaign for signing autographs together and so on, but to play two matches in two days right after the taxing season was clearly damn...Rafa did not have time to rest in Dec and we know what happened to him in January...I do hope this year he will be smarter than that...IMO, they should have no right to complain about long season if they continue playing exho matches all over the world...

^^^ Exactly! That was the point I was trying to make: no room to whine when you're taking on extra exhibitions. Sorry I was so blunt earlier.:)

huh, it looks like Fely and Nando are being destroyed by Llodra and Tsonga...no single game yet...well, we know what it means...Rafa will have to play Simon tomorrow and it can be a demanding task...Simon can run for ages and he is not tired unlike Rafa...

Numero: I was confusing Federer's comments, regarding the USO scheduling that 'stronger action' might be needed, with the resurfacing of the ongoing debate about the ATP schedule. The bottom line though is that players are being pushed to, and beyond, their limits by the demands put on them.

The top guys are not playing exhibition matches for the money: there are clearly commercial/PR forces at work as Lucky points out and I guess they are under enormous pressure from their management companies and sponsors to participate.

I dont know why Rafa and Federer played that pair of charity matches - it didnt make any sense to me either but I am sure there was a hidden agenda there too - beyond raising money that is.