I so hope Rafa solves his problems with his game in 2012. By many players standards he had a great year, ending at No 2, with 1 GS but by Rafa's standards, that wasn't good at all. Not only losing to Nole 6 times but also losing to the likes of Dodig and the German whose name escapes me.

Vamos Rafa

"German whose name escapes me" Florian Mayer. Played a great match by the way.

Thanks, bleck. I couldn't think of his name.

Oh, of course he played a great match, how else could he beat Rafa.

1 slam, a DC championship, 2 other slam finals, umpteen masters' finals. What he/we should be hoping for is another year that good! Rafa's been running on fumes since the USO though and may not really be up to full speed until after his Feb break.

I don't think Rafa had a forgettable year at all even though I understand his disappointment. His year was great. Had it not been for Nole, he would have been one with two extra Slams and a few more masters' shields. Those six finals he lost to Djokovic would have probably been his trophies. He played great like always. The problem was that Nole finally found himself, matured a bit and started fulfilling his potential. We'll see what happens in 2012.

On BBC red button it's saying that Rafa will take Feb off because his shoulder still ain't right. Do you guys know anything about this?

deuce, excuses for past and possible future loses.

Rafa is not making excuses for anything. I suspect he is just fending off any attempts from Rotterdam or Dubai to pressurise him to play.

There are no tournaments in February that Rafa would normally play anyway. He's already said he won't play DC next year and he hasn't played Rotterdam, Dubai, Sao Paulo, San Hose, Marseille, Memphis, Argentina or Delray Beach for years, some of them he's never played.

Why the hell would he play an exho and a 250 tournament if he had a small injury?!
If he damages it further it could compromise any chances for the AO.
Why not take a couple weeks off and try to recover from it?

Bleck, because he can play whenever where ever he wants and likes to and also to give idiots like you something to bitch about!

@bleck , 12/30/11 1:19 PM

Why the hell did Roger play when he had mono. It would have been better for him to be fully recovered instead of blaming every loss on the fact that he was ill.

Cheryl and/or Ricky please take care of liketennisalot.
He clearly only has one objective which is to troll.
He might like tennis but he sure can't discuss it.

"Why the hell did Roger play when he had mono. It would have been better for him to be fully recovered instead of blaming every loss on the fact that he was ill."

Nadline, Roger skipped Kooyong because of mono. I have said before when players have small injuries it is only normal that htey still try to play the slams because the slams are the most important tournaments.

My point completly goes with what orger did in 2008. He skipped an exho and tried his best to recover for the AO.

"...blaming every loss on the fact that he was ill." I think you're confusing Roger with a spanish player.

That's right, Bleck is only good for bitching about Nadal. Unfortunately for these blind worshippers, the hatred and bitterness will never go away.

Bleck has obviously forgotten the excuses Fed gave after losing to Berdych at Wimbledon (back, foot, ass injury, etc etc) or to Rafa and RG (It's when I don't play well that's when he wins) and of course we all remeber ALL of the excuses he gave in the past when he lost big matches. Bleck, open your eyes - it's YOUR idol who is the EXPERT at giving excuses for ALL losses!

Rafa needs no excuses for his losses. If he's injured he's injured, if he's not he's not. He lost matches when he's injured or not injured. He lost to Murray at Tokyo and Mayer at Shanghai but he wasn't injured then. Why do the non fans make up excuses for Rafa's losses?? They're the ones building up excuses for Rafa's losses, not the Rafa fans!

if u read rafa recent interview about 6 losses to nole then he has explained excuse for almost each match.

for IW match rafa said that he was in control for the Whole match ..really ??

I don't think he said the whole match. He did have his chances until the mid of the second set and Nole was battling hard to hold his serve in the last service game of the second set before winning it. He didn't say he's in control of his matches at Madrid and Rome but he did have his chances to level the match both times but failed to do so. He didn't say that he's in control at Wimbledon and USO either.

I don't think he's giving excuses. In fact what he had analyzed right now was exactly what some of us had observed during his matches against Nole. Now that after the season is over why should he find excuses now for losses as far back as March/April?

"I failed in our first match, in Indian Wells, which I should have won because the match depended on me at every moment, "

"In Miami, I had heatstroke and in spite of that I fought till the end. I was very close to winning."

"The final that hurts is the one in Rome. What did I do badly? Not to go that extra bit."

"I did go the extra bit in the third set of the US Open final. I went to the limit and I made him go to the limit. In fact, it was because my hamstring got really tired, where I had that cramp after the match against Nalbandian, which left me hobbling a bit all tournament... I took him to the limit. If I had been fine at the start of the fourth set, we'd have seen what would have happened. I had him to break him straight off when he served first, that would have changed the match."

^^^^^^^^ lol

mani4Tennis , 12/30/11 4:52 PM
bleck , 12/30/11 5:09 PM

You two get a life. There is more to life than Rafa, believe me.

lol?!

Hey nadline, bleck and mani4tennis know that Rafa proved that Roger is not the GOAT. So obviously they are obsessed with Rafa. I feel for these poor guys.
But they should be thankful that Fed came of age in 2003. Had he been Murray's age, he might still have been looking for his first slam.
In fact if Murray had come of age in 2003 with the likes of Roddick, Hewitt, inconsistent Safin, past prime Agassi and adolescent Rafa and Djoko to offer competition till 2007, who knows, AndyM may have had a haul of 16 slams by now.

mani4Tennis , 12/30/11 4:52 PM
bleck , 12/30/11 5:09 PM

You two get a life. There is more to life than Rafa, believe me.

ok...but hope that you also follow your own advice..you are more serious case of obsessed fan.

"Hey nadline, bleck and mani4tennis know that Rafa proved that Roger is not the GOAT. So obviously they are obsessed with Rafa. I feel for these poor guys.
But they should be thankful that Fed came of age in 2003. Had he been Murray's age, he might still have been looking for his first slam.
In fact if Murray had come of age in 2003 with the likes of Roddick, Hewitt, inconsistent Safin, past prime Agassi and adolescent Rafa and Djoko to offer competition till 2007, who knows, AndyM may have had a haul of 16 slams by now."

Wow, just wow.

I've never seen so many crap written together.

You say I'm obsessed?! Then you live for nothing else than worshiping your idol and taking down Roger (he is the GOAT) and his fans.

It is I who feel for you.

P.S.: Were you just being ironic? Who do you really believe what you've writen? Because if you do there's something really wrong inside your head.

No use dear bleck in being insulting toward me. It won't alter facts. I feel sorry for you.
It must be hard being a fan of Federer.

holdserve, you made a good point re being at the right place at the right time. Anyone who had the opposition Fed had in his heyday would have won at least 16 slams, no worries.

I agree with Rafa's analysis. In fact at IW, I felt that right up to the midst of the second set, he was playing well and broke back after his serve was broken in the previous game. He then played badly and lost serve again and failed to break nole's serve diespite a near ten minutes try. At Miami, I was the one who noticed that Rafa looked burnt during the match, which might be due to the heat. In Rome I felt that he was standing too far from the baseline and thus hitting shots that were too short and allowed Nole to step in to attack. The problem with Rafa this year was after losing serve and getting the break back, he duly lost his serve again, in IW and in Rome it's the same scenario.

At the USO, I mentioned that had Rafa played in the second set the way he played in the third, he would have a better chance against Nole, to me it's wrong strategy by Rafa. I wrote all these after each match so I'm glad Rafa's analysis was close to what I observed. So, I've no problem with what Rafa mentioned, a clear headed analysis rather than excuses which some people choose to put it.

PS Rafa and Murray had to play on three consecutive days at the USO, so having a hamstring pull wasn't surprising.

I try to give the benefit of the doubt to ALL players when it comes to injuries. Cheryl has mentioned that this is her approach and I tend to agree. The top players don't need to make excuses. They are good enough and have earned the benefit of the doubt.

The problem is that some persist in saying that Rafa is the only one who makes injury excuses. First, they are not excuses. Rafa has been very injury prone in his career, starting with that foot problem that almost ended his career in 2004. He has bouts with knee tendinitis and fortunately found a new treatment that has allowed him to keep on playing competitively.

Both Murray and Djoker have had their share of injuries. My belief is that if Fed fans wish to use the mono excuse for him in 2008, then don't go trashing Rafa and his fans when we mention his injuries.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Hope 2012 is a good year for our Rafa and that he stays fit and healthy. Let's tuck into those trophies ASAP by playing great aggressive tennis from the baseline PLEASE ...........vamos

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