I thought Rafa looked pretty good in his first round match against Gabashvili. His ground strokes were deep, he went for his backhand and his serve was impressive.

Hopefully another good match will boost his confidence and improve his game some more. This should bode well for a peak in the second week and ultimately a USO title to complete the set.

... and damm he looks good in black!!!

....and damn he looks very very good in black!!!

Vamos....

Yes Rafa does look very good in black. He looks so trim, fit and his bronze colored skin against the black outfit makes him looks stunningly beautiful and handsome. The guy is growing more and more gorgeous by the day. Still, I prefer the Rafa of the 'wild boy from Mallorca' version. Maybe back then the boy is fresh faced, sweet and carefree; now he is a bit world wary, can't help when one has to grow up.

Vamoooooooooooooooooooooooooooos!

Yes, Rafa is gorgerous in his black outfit.
The black shirt and the solar-red one Rafa wore in Toronto & Cincinnati are almost of the same design. This design emphasizes his perfectly proportioned body.
Rafa had his hair cut before the first round. And it seemed he had a shave before the first match. The shorter haircut and clean face made him look younger than he looked in two previous tournaments. :)

Costume talk during the tennis talk :-)

....and damn he looks very very good in black!!!

Vamos....

arwen , 9/3/10 8:00 AM


Stunning!


VAMOS!

Tennis costume talk actually. Also tennis player's look talk also. All about tennis and tennis player, so still on topic I think.

These are very, very important issues! I think most people mourn the passing of the pirate look but this is the business and by far the best look Nike have come up with since the make-over.
Augustina08 Younger but more sophisticated, not to mention sexy :D :D :D

Where are the moderators?

The thunderstorms predicted have not materialised but there is still a high risk of rain delays. Hope Rafa gets to play his match tonight, if not he will face high winds if he plays on Saturday.

The pirate look was good on him when he was 18 to 20 years old. Though he still looked good with the pirate look at age 21-22, I'm glad now that he has grown older, they changed the image for him, a more sophisticated look now.

I hope Venus finishes her match fast so that Rafa's match does not get delayed. Hopefully the weather co-operates too!

You really think it will take four sets, Kelli? I think Rafa has proven enough times that he gets better in majors as rounds progress. There are exceptions, sure, every player has them, but overall, his record points to a straight sets win.

I watched Rafa's match with Istomin at Queens this morning, and Rafa was just doing enough to keep him at bay.

Although the Istomin serve should make the score fairly close, Rafa will be dominant. These men are night and day in terms of athleticism and quickness.

I don't understand why some seem to think Nadal is vulnerable because of the Gabashvili match. Gabashvili played outstanding tennis and still couldn't win a set, impressive clutch performance from Rafa.

This is the 2nd night match Rafa is playing, last year he played all his matches at night, as far as I can remember. Federer has only played 1 night match, and he is the acting defending champion, and the 'most popular' player in America.

Apparently, the TV companies have control of the schedule, and they put the players with the biggest draw on late, obviously, except Federer.

It's highly likely that Rafa will have to play his match tomorrow, because rain is forecast from midnight.

That would be a relief - might be able to catch up on some sleep :-)

If you are diehard Rafa fan, you cannot miss this piece:
Nadal to Go Romanian Ill-Nasty at Federer at US Open Final: A Vampire Tale

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/449233-nadal-poised-to-go-r omanian-ill-nasty-at-federer-a-vampire-tale

rafa is impressing me , i have never seen him serve THIS BIG! i mean a serve was let but it was clocked at 133mph and he is continually crossing that 200kmh mark !

he is hitting the groundies with good aggression too, deep and relatively flat , so tactically rafa is surely on the right path.

He says since the balls are lighter they move faster. But he is serving well. :)

Just beautiful! VAMOS RAFA!!!

yes smr but just compare his 1st serves with fed and muzz for instance. in his last match fed's fastest serve was 132 mph and muzz's was 134..rafa has clocked 133mph twice in the first set and he is serving at an average 123 mph so far !!!!!! muzz and roger served at an average of 117 mph !!! this is hard to believe really...

signs are great, plus he is playing SUPER-aggressive with the forehand and making hardly any mistakes..very impressive so far..keep it up boy !!vamoss

RAFA is playing Very well..
He is on FIRE !!!
His serving is also too biggg and Working very well..:D:D:D

VAMOSSSSSSSSSS!!!

Heh vamosrafa ... didn't he say he was going to bring the 135 mph serve?

lol,i bet he is gona bring it real soon :P

I like it. I like it a lot!!! Keep it up Rafa.

Deuce and Nadline: did you stay up to watch this?

So if Rafa wins tonight (:) he would play Simon. Haven't seen that in a while.

@ed, hi there...it is 7.25 am in the morning an di have not slept yet !!! waiting for rafa to finish the job ASAP ! lol

What do you mean 'if' smr? I dont think there is any IF in this match. btw: AO last year to be exact.

Lol ed ... didn't want to jinx anyone.

Bad play by nadal in 2nd settt :(:(
too many UE..:(::(

Rafa made some uncharacteristic errors in that last game.

Whooopsadaisy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Amazing point by Isto at 4:1

what a comeback from the champion, oopsi got lucky there but thoroughly deserved it 5-5 now... i dont have any doubts now that nadal is one of the best volleyrs in the game now!

heyy smr , did u see that? a 134 mph serve !! LOL 1mph needed :P :P MASSIVE SERVING, SEVEN points i a row .OMG brilliant rafa !! :D :D :D

You have to feel for Isto losing that TB.
Go Rafa......

WOW!!! Love you Rafa!!! You are the best!!!

Amazing come backkkk By KING!!
2nd set in the bagg...7-6
VAMOSSSSSSSS...

He is very close now vamosrafa ;) . Impressive.
ed, funnily enough I didn't really feel that badly for Istomin. ;)

Anyone watching this match who says Rafa is not a favourite to win the USO must be crazy .... he is playing so aggressive.

I'm lovin' this hard court Rafa :)

well I did, just a tweeny tweeny bit: for a nano-second:-)

We Rafa fans have to be as ruthless as he is. We can be nice to Istomin after Rafa has demolished his game.

My theory is he is living dangerously to improve his record for BPs saved :D

I almost not breathing with that 2nd set 5-1 (istomen) tie breaker.

I can't believe Rafa able to win 6 straight big big big big big big points.

This is our guy treat us on court (with heart attack) haha!

VAMOS !!!

Unbelievable! What a giant mental strength from Rafa and great aggressive play on break points! Amazing! Vamos Rafa!!!

Again, not an easy win ... but done in striaght sets. Vamos.

6-2 7-6 7-5
King winss...:):)

Lil bit shaky after 1st sett , but overall very well playedd :D:D

VAMOSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

Thanks Rafa for finishing in straight sets - it's 6 o'clock in the morning so now I can go to bed. And thanks too, to Isto for making it such an exciting match to watch.

Rafa is not yet in his peak and still continues to improve with each match. I wonder if Ricky now has doubts about his certainty that "Rafa will not win the US Open this year". :-)

It was a nerve-cracking match! But its result - Rafa's win - made me happy! Vamos, Rafa !

Rafa will win the US Open. Fed, Nadal and Murray are joint favourites but Rafa will win it at the end.

The final frontier will be conquered. Vamos!!

What great play by Rafa especially in the first set. If he can keep that sort of intensity up I don't think anyone will be able to beat him.

Also, seems to me that the Nadal camp has been working on a lot of shots behind closed doors. I have to admit, I didn't see those 130+mph serves comming, wonder what else is in his arsenal that we haven't seen yet? I'm thinking that there may be a few players out there who are getting a little bit nervous .....

The semis between Rafa and AndyM will be the finals of the US Open this year!

I ckickened out again last night..........nerves, too much in the early hours of the morning, so I decided to watch the recording this morning, and hoped to wake up to a pleasant surprise.

Just started watching the match, by all accounts above, Rafa did us proud.


VAMOS!

Yes one more good win in the bag! We all know this Istomin guy can play, and on any surfaces too. He played well and reached the semi of Eastbourne this year, reached the QF, I think, at Hamburg this year. So he is good on grass, clay and now on hard court.

Rafa is such a champion that he didn't panick when 1-5 down in the tie break and managed to snatch a victory out of a near defeat in the second set. So proud of him, though not to be complacent, there's still work to be done, especially on his ROS and break point creation and conversion. I'm confiedent though that he can get better. Vamos Rafa, go get the Chamipon's Trophy!

luckystar,

I loved the points you made in your second paragraph from your post @ 7:46 am! Maybe Rafa didn't panic, but I was a nervous wreck in that tiebreak! That's why I have nicknamed Rafa "Houdini"! How he pulled that out, I don't know. Nerves of steel! I saw a closeup of him when he was down 5-1 and his eyes had this look of steely determination, as though he was thinking - no way am I letting this guy take a set off me!

Rafa's serve is scary good, even better than it was in the Gaba match! His fastest serve was clocked at 134 mph! Most of his serves were in the low 130's. The commentators were telling the speed on a lot of his serves. They were astonished! Where oh where did this serve come from! I have a feeling that Rafa and Uncle Toni have been keeping some secrets from us! :)

Yes, there is work to be done, however that backhand is connecting, the serve is unbelievable, that forehand is blasting. It's the ROS and, as you said, the ability to create break chances and convert them. I noticed that he had some break points and then he would either hit an easy shot into the net or overhit it. He missed some easy ones and that made the match tougher. I chalk it up to the fact that he is not yet in his best form. That's okay. He doesn't have to peak this week, he just has to survive and get badly needed match play. As hard on my nerves as it is watching these types of tough, hotly contested matches, I know that Rafa thrives on it and will only get stronger.

The pieced have not quite come together yet, but Rafa is getting better and honestly, I have never seen him play this well in only the second round of a slam. That serve has changed the dynamic of his game. Now he can get a some cheap points when he is down on his serve and can get an easy service game. Rafa is the one shortening the points now. He no longer has to rely on long rallies from the baseline and running his knees into the ground.

nadline,

Watch this match! Believe me, it will be a lot easier knowing the score! Watching it while it was happening was quite another experience.

Vamos, Rafa!

NNY, Just finished watching it. Rafa was awesome, he'll be well pleased with that performance. No better way to put his practise sessions to the test than to beat such a formidable opponent in Istomin. Istomin played his heart out, but it was not enough.

Step by step, Rafa will make his way through. It's all very well strolling to the SF, but it's living in a fools paradise. I'm sure that Rafa is more confident now with his game having beaten two tough opponents, than if he had played the Dabuls and Lackos of this world.

VAMOS!

Rafa is the only man out there who hasn't dropped serve in his opening two matches. But I feel sure everybody has noticed that.

VAMOSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello all rafans, got up at 5 30 to watch Rafa's match and after ogling at Venus outfit fors some time, was shown why Rafa is no 1.I thought the match would be a walk in the park after the first set but credit to Istomin who managed some unbelievable shots like the one in the TB, almost Rafa like and some amazing passing shots but the mental strength to come back after being 1-5 down in the TB and a couple of times bouncing back after being down 15-40 and 0-40 down on serve was inspiring stuff.
Win or not, for sure Rafa is playing one of his best US opens. On to the 3rd round!! Woo hoo!

goragago, Rafa also has the 2nd highest 1st serve % of the top 4:

Djokovic......................68%
Nadal........................ ..65%
Murray.........................59%
Federer.................... ....54%

Even Isner only managed 64%, and thats all he has in his tool box.


VAMOS!

cupcake..
the first test will come in the semi.

Rafael Nadal?s Hair Stolen By Salon Employees

by Verena von Pfetten | 1:17 pm, September 3rd, 2010



It?s the Friday before a long weekend marking the end of summer, which means the news today is filled with strange, albeit totally entertaining tidbits. According to the New York Post, tennis player Rafael Nadal should take more care next time he goes to the hair salon ? especially during a tournament as important as the US Open.

After Nadal stopped by the Madison Avenue salon of Julien Farel for a quick trim, a source told The Post that ?some of the young women in the salon took some of Nadal?s cut hair off the floor when no one was looking.?

And while that?s funny enough on its own, The Post upped the ante by somberly pointing out that ?locks of hair are often used by voodoo witch doctors when they cast their spells ? including love spells.?

Nadal better watch out ? those Madison Avenue salon employees-cum-witch doctors might be trying to steal his mojo!

bjawad-
cupcake???
Rafas matches so far do not fall under cupcake in the dictionary. If you read it you would see that cupcake is actually defined by the matches Fed and Murray have had to play thus far.

"the first test will come in the semi"

Of course that applies to all the top four guys right? bjawad? Please don't get us starting the cupcake talk again, and comparing who has the bigger cupcake, my goodness!!

Nadal and Murray have cupcake until the face each other.
Fed has cupcake till he meets Söderling, and Djokovic has cupcake till he faces Fish.

Dont agree bjawad. Nalby is looming large in Rafa's quarter. Don't discount any player, be it JCF, Almagro, Llodra, Nalby, Ferrer or whoever. Remember the matches have to be played.

nadline: now however did you find that hilarious bit of gossip?

ed, from Rafa's official website.

I think bjawad is having a laugh, I think Murray's run of cupcake is over from now on, Djokovic and Rafa always had a tough draw, Djokovic probably more than Rafa, but Roger seems to still be strolling into the SF. I don't trust Sod to take him out in the Qtrs.