****Vamos Rafael****

Sunday, June 3, 2007


Hello Everybody on a special day for me. As many of you know, today is my 21st birthday.

First of all I would like to thank all the people who've sent me messages and gifts. That surprises me every time and I'm grateful about it. I know that messages have been sent from all around the world. I've seen messages from Hawaii, Argentina, Peru, Canada, Uruguay, Colombia etc. Thank you so much. You know that I cannot read all of them, but they are there and I'm grateful. I would also like to send special greetings to the people of my web team who receive all those messages as well as to the people who do the other sites. THANK YOU!!!

Today has been a “normal” day. Probably it would have been different if I was at home. Normally I would have gone out for lunch with my family and then out for dinner with my friends at night. But this is the third year in a row that I celebrate my birthday here in Paris during Roland Garros. I don't want to say that I'm not happy about that. The opposite is the case. I'm happy to celebrate it here because it means that I'm still in the tournament. Saying that, I can tell you that I did more or less the normal things of every day here in Roland Garros. In the morning I came directly to the club at 11:15 AM. I didn't have time to have breakfast because breakfast closes at 11 in the hotel on weekends. Normally I would have arrived 10:55 AM, but last night...last night...well we played the last play station game...the last game with the quartet that has been competing for a few months now. Ferru and I won one game and lost another... I imagine that you must already be tired of so much play station, I talk a lot about the play station, but let me tell you that we really had a lot of fun and we were playing with plenty of enthusiasm. Yesterday Ferru lost and today David lost, so they will leave and I will have to play together with Moyini against the others to “clean shots” as you say in terms of tennis. I'll tell you...

As I told you we went to the club to practice in the morning. Today I practiced with a Portuguese boy whose name is Gastao Elias and who plays in the junior tournament here. Francis Roig put me in contact with him from the distance and Vitto Selmi took care of coordinating the practice session together with my uncle Toni. Today we practiced on court 13, which is pretty far away from Center Court. It's just behind Suzanne Lenglen and there were lots of people during my practice session. While I was practicing they were singing Happy Birthday. Later I got to know that it was Rosana Romero's idea, the girl from TVE who follows tennis... As I told you there were a lot of people and I'm grateful for all the support they give me. Besides my uncle Toni and Rafa Maymo who are always with me during my practice sessions, there were also my father, Vitto and Benito. To reach that court there are a few small paths without people, which allows us to reach the courts quickly. If we had to walk in the middle of the people it would take us quite some time. I don't say it because of me, but because of all the people who stay in the club. It's impressive.

After practice I ran to the locker room because I wanted to see the MotoGP race. Actually I also like motorbikes a lot, all categories and I also follow all the races. I had an appointment with the media at 2:45 PM and to tell you the truth I arrived a bit late because I wanted to see the last laps of the race. The meeting with the press was a “surprise” organized by the tournament and they had a cake and champagne to celebrate the birthday. There were loads of photographers and cameras, those of you who follow the media and TV might have seen it. To tell you the truth, I don't like such actions a lot. I also told Benito because like that everything looks very artificial. I understand that we have to do it in order to have a birthday picture and I'm also grateful for all the media showing up. But I already told you that I don't like it too much because it is somewhat artificial. Well, as Moyini would say, that's how it goes. After that I went to eat quietly.

I had an appointment with TVE and together with Carlos Costa I went to their set which they have here at the tournament and we were chatting with Alex and Rosana for a while. While we were “on air” they gave me a giant ice cream which was a barrel (is this how you call it?) of cookies and cream. A detail, but I preferred not to eat more than what you saw... Without showing it on camera they also gave me a gift which I liked very much. This year TVE comes to all the most important tournaments. At the beginning of the year Rosana came to Melbourne with a camera man called Miguel (there was also somebody for the sound called Andres and I would like to say hi to him). He's a camera man at TVE who goes to all (or almost all) wars and he can tell you a thousand stories. Already in Melbourne he told us a few. He's a very nice guy and in Melbourne I was impressed about what he told us and what he had been through. Actually he didn't come to more tournaments after Melbourne and suddenly he's here again. He told me that he has been in Iraq and other places during that time and he gave me a collection of bills of Saddam Hussein which he brought from his last trip to Iraq. A detail which I liked a lot. Thousand thanks, Miguel! I hope to see you at more tournaments! Hehehe.

Well after that I went to the hotel to relax during the afternoon. Tonight I will go out for dinner with my father, my uncle, Rafa, Carlos and I've been told that Tuts arrived as well. Tuts is the person from Nike who helps us with everything. A phenomenon! Tomorrow I will show you pictures from today. I don't have time to insert them now, because I have to go to the dinner appointment. Tomorrow I will put a few from today.

Hugs to everybody and thanks again for all the messages you sent today.

Rafa.






Saturday, June 2, 2007




Hello Everybody on another day.

Today was a day of competition, a day on which I do more or less the same thing. Actually I don't really know what to tell you today. I had breakfast in the hotel, after that I took a car to go to the tournament and warm-up.

Vittorio Selmi of the ATP found me a player to warm-up with today. I had already practiced with him in Rome and he's a pretty cool guy. After that I went to the locker room and waited for the match to start. Actually today the matches to be played before mine were pretty quick and therefore I didn't play too late. Even better. In the locker room I saw matches on the screens that we have there while I was listening to music and preparing the rackets.

But today my father surprised me. Without saying anything he appeared in Paris, he came here for the weekend. I was very happy about that. You know how many people stay with me here, but still nobody told me anything. You all know, especially if you've read the book that talks about the last few years, that I have a very good and special relationship with my father. We had very tough moments last year and he always supported me. Last year after the final it was very emotional to hug him. Well, I won't explain everything either. You already know.

Since today I don't have much to tell you either, I'll tell you that today I read more of the comments and messages about the blog. I saw that people are asking about the flavor of ice cream. I usually take three balls of vanilla with cookies. Today I had one on the way back to the hotel after dinner and before...the big game of play station. Once again it was the quartet that is due to come to its end, since Ferru lost today and will go back to Spain.

Also somebody told me to talk about the matches, but I don't think that it's correct, since the press is here in Paris to cover the tournament. As I already said I think is fair for them. In this blog I write things that usually don't interest a journalist very much. They usually don't have enough space to talk about those things.

Today I practice at noon and after that I've been told that I have a few activities with the press. Actually I would prefer to be quiet and not do many things those days. Things is a question of routine, but I know that I have to do certain things. For example tomorrow the press will come when the tournament will celebrate a players' birthday as always by bringing me a cake. I imagine that tomorrow you'll able to see that on TV or in the newspapers. They also told me that I'll do an interview for TVE tomorrow here at the tournament. Talking about birthdays here I remember that two years ago Pau Gasol came to the interview room in the middle of the press conference with a cake and a few bottles of Champagne. I knew that Pau was watching the match but I didn't expect him to come with this cake. Last year it was something more artificial because it had been prepared and I imagine that tomorrow it will be something similar. I hope that this year my uncle won't throw cake in my face as he did last year.

We'll also see if I can blow out the candles... Last year it was a show.

Well, I have to go now, I'm sorry that I don't have pictures today. I forgot the camera in the hotel... Sorry about that...

Greetings to everybody and hasta mañana.

P.S. The pictures of the stakes have been censored, so nothing, we only have to say that tonight...

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Player Name: Rafael Nadal
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Blogging From: Roland Garros
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Friday, June 1, 2007


Read Rafa's More Recent Posts

Hello everybody on another day.

Well, many of you will be waiting for the pictures and the results of the play station game of the other night. I can tell you that at the end the stake couldn't be “paid” by one of the two teams. David Nalbandian played his match today more or less at the same time as our practice session ended and our schedule didn't match David Ferrer's either. We'll see tomorrow if the winning team gets what it deserves from the losing team.

Today we went to the club at noon. Today we went in a car with a driver who spoke Spanish which I think is great, my uncle Toni, Rafa Maymo and Benito Perez-Barbadillo, my PR manager who finally managed to get up in time to come with us – because we left a bit later today he, he, he. He says that he works from the room in the morning... I don't know.

First I wanted to practice with Toni from 12:30 PM on, but since there was plenty of traffic from the hotel to Roland Garros it took us more time than usually. In the car we were talking a bit about history, my uncle knows history very well. He never stops talking about those things and today we were talking about North American presidents because we drove through Roosevelt Avenue. We also listened to the radio in the car and heard one of the best songs of the year. The problem is that I don't know its name and I cannot tell you which one it is nor download it from the Internet. I might try to find it tomorrow.

As I said we arrived a bit later than usually because of traffic. At the beginning we had planned the practice session with my uncle. As we arrived we saw that Carlos Moya went to practice on the ground courts next to Roland Garros and I asked him if he wanted to practice with us. I know that Lobito was already prepared to practice and warmed-up. I came directly from the hotel with the tape on my ankles and ready to practice, therefore I just went to the locker room to get the rackets and then I went to practice. The practice went pretty well today and we were laughing a lot. Before starting we talked about the play station game of the night before and Moyini told me that he had read in the blog that I was going to show the pictures of the stake. He told me “no way” – “nanai” so I won't be able to show anything once again. You'll already know who won that game... David N destroying joysticks, Moyini vetoing pictures in the blog... :-) I don't have to say anything else.

Coming back to today's practice session I tell you that we played three “Eleven” after warming-up. That means that we play to eleven points and you have to win with a two-point difference. We do it without serve and you cannot play return winners. We laugh a lot despite playing seriously, because it seemed that some balls “were stolen”. Actually I have the picture of a ball, which Charly told me was out and you can see that it was good. They also took a picture of us while we were discussing and there you can see Lobito laughing and covering his eyes in order to say that he hasn't seen the ball, as well as Toni and Moyini who laugh like crazy. In the other pictures you see me discussing the ball, which was in for me, but they told me it was out he, he, he. We try to keep a great atmosphere at these tournaments.

Hugs to everybody and gracias.

Rafa.






Thursday, May 31, 2007


Hola, everybody once again. Today I write very late, very late and from the hotel as always. Today was a day of competition and to tell you the truth I'm very happy to be in the third round. I played on court Suzanne Lenglen which is a bit slower and you never know. Carlos Moya told me that he lost five times there.

Well, today I left the hotel at 10:30 in the morning. Before that I went downstairs to have breakfast with my colleagues. There where Maymo, Lobito, Pere and Carlos Costa who came in while he was having a look at the media. I had bread with “nocilla” or Nutella, I don't know. Or lets say bread with chocolate and a few juices.

Actually we left a bit later than 10:30 AM, around 10:40 AM because my uncle Toni came downstairs a bit later. He usually comes downstairs a bit earlier and goes for a walk in the morning. We waited downstairs in the tournament car to go to the site. There I had to warm-up and do the same as always. I actually like to do the same thing every time. I have my routine which almost everybody knows. After warming-up I usually don't leave the locker room if I don't go to the restaurant to eat something. Tomorrow I'll tell you more about my routine in the locker room.

Yesterday people were talking a lot about the crowd. I told the press that besides two years ago during my match with Grosjean I've never had any complaints about the crowd here. They treat me well, especially in places or tournaments like Marseille. Here too. When I go to the courts to practice they are always packed with people who say hi to me, ask for autographs and show me that they like me. I really don't have any problem.

Maybe the translation error after last year's final had some influence. I remember that I started my speech congratulating Roger Federer, saying that I was very happy and proud to have beaten him and that he might be the best tennis player of all times. The translator (which we know well because he's also in Monte-Carlo and at some others tournaments) didn't understand well what I said and translated the opposite, which would mean that I was the best player of all times, etc. Afterwards he came to the locker room and said that he was sorry about the mistake. He didn't have his best day. That happens to all of us. The case is that maybe the crowd still remembers that, but well, I don't think that it's a big deal.

Talking about today again, tonight a few of us we went for dinner and I'll show you a few pictures we took. We went to a pizzeria again and had some ice cream afterwards. I had my typical gambas, which I love; olives, which I also like a lot and a plate of pasta, which only I eat (because it's white with butter or oil). On the pictures you see Albert Costa who coaches Feli Lopez (Fidgiano), Carlos Costa, Rafa Maymo, my uncle Toni and Francis Roig who stays in a club outside Paris with a few pupils who play in a satellite tournament not far away from here. He comes whenever he can and we also talk over the phone quite often. You also know that he comes with me to some tournaments and to practise when my uncle Toni doesn't come.

Today we ate pretty fast and went back quickly at 11 PM, because we had another “meeting”. You'll already know what I'm talking about... A playstation match!!! The legendary Ferru (David Ferrer) and myself against our tough opponents Moyini (Carlos Moya) and David Nalbandian. A match of five again and something at stake... I'll tell you tomorrow and I hope that I'll have photos... If I can tell you that David Nalbandian broke a joystick again. A new joystick, which we bought yesterday. This one I offered to him, but the one from tomorrow he will pay for... You can inagine who the winners were...I don't say anything...you'll see the pictures tomorrow...:-) Of course we played as pros.

At the end of today's press conference they asked me about those games. I don't know if Ferru or Moyini talked about what is at stake... I don't and it's better because all of us lose at some point... Finally. Actually we were laughing a lot in the press conference.

I would also like to comment a bit about what I told you in yesterday's blog. I usually don't talk about matches here, about how I feel and also those more technical things because the press who comes to Roland Garros tells you about that. Here I tell you about the little things which I don't think are very interesting to write about in the newspapers or talk about on the radio or on TV.

Well, as it's so late I'll go to sleep. I'm sorry that it's so short again. Tomorrow I'll tell you more and lets hope that it won't be only about the playstation.

Greetings to everybody and thanks for all your support messages. Today I didn't have time to see many of them.

Rafa Nadal






Wednesday, May 30, 2007


Hello Everybody once again,

I write the blog for you and first of all I would like to thank you for all the comments you write on the sites. I haven't had time to read all of them and I don't know if I will, but I'll try to see all of them. Thousand thanks.

I'll tell you quickly about today, once again I've started writing the blog a bit late today. I could have written it before, but I was busy and didn't do it. Therefore it will be a bit shorter.

Today was a day of relaxing for me. I didn't have a match and I only practiced. Besides the tennis I also had some work to do with the press. The two pictures from today where taken when I was with them. I had agreed to meet them at 3:15 PM in the players' restaurant and I was on time. I took a quick shower in the locker room after practise and went to eat with my uncle and Rafa Maymo once again. I had a plate of white pasta with fish. To tell you the truth, I must say that you don't eat very well in the players' restaurant at this tournament, but you don't have to complain about it either. There are worse things in the world and I don't like to complain nor criticize. This is only a comment.

So I ate as I told you and then I met with the Spanish journalists who came to this tournament. I could name everybody, but if I forget somebody he might get upset, therefore I made people take this picture to let you see all of them (or almost all of them). Usually I meet with them during tournaments before Roland Garros and we do the interviews there. This year it was difficult because of all the matches and my press officer also told me because I played doubles in Barcelona and had less time because of that. Therefore we decided to spend some time with them to talk about the tournament, how I got here, etc. I think that it's normal to meet with them, because they make the effort to come here, hopefully for many days and that's good for me and the other Spanish players in the draw. We have to give them some of our time. I stayed with them for about 30 minutes and we talked a bit about everything. I suppose that you'll read in the media what we've talked about. It was curious that we started outside the restaurant but then I was told to go inside because there was too much noise.

Besides that it was a quiet day as I said, since I went back to the hotel a bit earlier than usually. I got back at 4:30 PM and started looking at things on the computer. I usually read the press, chat with my friends or watch a movie. That's when I saw the messages and comments that you wrote about the blog. Talking about movies, I saw “The English Patient” which is a great movie to me, very good. I always bring movies to watch on the computer or the playstation in my room. Rafa Maymo joins me most of the time to watch them with me.

A bit later, around 7:30 PM I played the playstation with Maymo (he's very bad hehehe) before we went to dinner. Who did I go with? With Moyini, Lobito (his coach), Pere (his trainer) and Maymo. One day I'll talk about Lobito because he is a phenomenon. Very funny. We were laughing a lot with him in Rome and especially in Hamburg. Today he was very happy about Carlos' win. Me too, I'm very happy for him because the match became difficult, starting with 4-0 down in the fourth set today.

Well, tomorrow I'll get up more or less early, I'll have breakfast and go to the club to practice and concentrate on the match against Cipolla. I play on court Suzanne Lenglen which is a bit slower than Center Court. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks to everybody and hasta mañana.

Rafa Nadal







Tuesday, May 29, 2007


Hello everyone. Here I am again writing the blog from Roland Garros on my web site ( www.rafaelnadal.com ). I know that El Mundo and ATPtennis.com are picking it up too.

Today, I'm writing after dinner that's why it is so late. I won't talk about the match or the press conference. After each match we have a press conference, and I usually go 20 to 25 minutes after finishing the match, sometimes, not often, I go before and other times a little later. I talk to the journalists in the press conference quite frankly and tell them everything that goes through my mind. I still have to talk to them about the play-station and the defeat. I'll get to that in a minute.


First, I want to tell you that I'm writing this blog now, after dinner, because after finishing so late (I played the 5th match) and returning from the club after dealing with the press, I took a quick shower, and we went out to dinner. There were my uncle Toni, who doesn't always come to dinner, and who, if he comes, eats very little, Rafa Maymo, who is my trainer, as you know, and Alex Corretja. We went to a pizzeria on the Champs Élysées, and from there I went to have an ice-cream with my uncle before returning to the hotel. By now, it is 1 o'clock in the morning, and before going to bed I'm writing this blog, which will be short.

Returning to the play-station, I'm going to tell just a little and will write more some other time. It is already somewhat known on tour that we play soccer matches in each tournament. When the four of us are in the same tournament and above all at the same hotel, we usually play some matches, Carlos Moya and David Nalbandian against David Ferrer and me. The day before yesterday, we played and lost. Carlos, who is quite good and assertive, they beat us. However, yesterday's [match] was UNBELIEVABLE! We always play the best of 5 matches, 5 sets as we call it. Whoever has three wins and whoever loses does something that we bet on like some push-ups or whatever.

In this case, Ferru (David Ferrer) and I won the first two matches and in the third one, which should have been the decisive one, we marked the golden goal... It looked like we had won. We started to jump around and all, when suddenly we saw that they had cancelled our goal for being offside. Golden goal, and the referee overturned it. Unbelievable. In the end, as you might imagine, we lost the three matches. This is the story – so sad and so unfair, hahahaha. Today, we were not able to play, but we'll see to it that we get our revenge soon. But first David has to get a new remote control, because he broke one yesterday.

As for today, I got up not too late for breakfast. I had it peacefully in my room and ate some chocolate cereal. We went to the club around noon, as warm-up was at 1 p.m. Since there were so many matches scheduled today, the courts were all full and that's why the tournament makes more players share them. Those who play have priority in using the courts at the club for warm-up; those that are not playing that day usually go to another club to practice on those first days. Hence, I was on court warming up with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and there were also some other players.

Afterwards, I spent most of the time in the locker room waiting and watching the different matches being played on the monitors, especially the ones of the Spaniards. I only left the locker room to go eat. We went upstairs and my uncle, Maymo and I ate with Nico Lapentti and his coach Bebe Perez. Afterwards I returned to the locker room and did not leave it until they called us for the match.

As I said, you can find out about the match and the press conference in the media. Tomorrow, I will practice at 1 p.m. and then take a shower and eat before meeting with the Spanish press at 3:15 p.m. I feel relaxed with them and talk a little bit about everything. About my impressions here, how I feel. They will be here throughout the tournament and I like being with them.

By the way, I wanted to say that I never was at Djokovic's party in Belgrade last week. Some media outlet published that I was there, while I was really in Mallorca playing golf with my uncle and others and working out in the afternoon.






Monday, May 28, 2007


Hello Everybody,

I'm Rafa Nadal and I write this blog for the second year in a row from Paris. Actually I got to Paris on Thursday afternoon last week, I think it was the 24th of May and today I start the blog which I will be writing for www.rafaelnadal.com during this tournament.

I didn't know if I would be doing it again this year, but I think that quite a few people liked it last year and that some people had fun reading what I wrote at the end of each day. It's almost like a diary and people like reading diaries. I've read many of the comments people wrote about the blog. I usually have a look at the media on the internet and I also check out people's comments. It's unbelievable that some people almost put themselves in our position and they know what we think. Others a bit less, but that's fine. I respect everybody and I enjoy reading the comments.

Now we are back to Roland Garros again, one year later and we're delighted to be here. The season went well so far and I come here in a very good mood. I know that it will be very difficult to win here. In a tournament everything can happen, even more if the tournament goes over two weeks. I always try to focus on every match, knowing that every match will be difficult and that you only have to think point after point, and if you win, you start thinking about the next match. That's the only way you can reach goals.

Since this is my first day doing the blog, I would like to tell you about what I did since I arrived in Paris, as well as talk about my week before Roland Garros. As I said before, I arrived from Mallorca on Thursday.

Before that, I left Hamburg on Monday, flying to Barcelona with an early flight, at 9:20 AM. At 7:30 AM I met in the lobby with the driver who would take myself and Alex Corretja who was on that flight as well to the airport. After a few weeks of competition I had to take part in two activities in Barcelona which my agent Carlos Costa had set up for me. One of them was a NIKE presentation. I don't think I have to tell you more about that since the media already reported about it. The other activity was filming a spot for PlayStation 3.

I left to Manacor at 8 PM and to be honest I have to tell you that I was a bit tired. I stayed at home with my parents and my sister on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I also played some golf with my uncle Miguel Angel and some other people. This helped me a lot to refresh my mind and to make better fitness training in the afternoon and I got to Paris feeling very well after those two days of relaxing.

My uncle Toni, my trainer Rafael Maymo and myself left from Palma airport on Thursday morning, where my father took us by car. We had to stop in Barcelona where Carlos Moya and his team, as well as my manager Carlos Costa, joined us for the rest of the trip. That afternoon we had arranged for a practice session with Carlos Moya, who you know is a very good friend of mine and a great person. On the plane we talked about several things, including the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monte Carlo. Moyini (that's how I call Carlos Moya) and myself like Formula 1 a lot and we talked to Carlos Costa to see which Grand Prix we could visit. It's difficult because tennis is played every week and that makes it difficult to find a date on which we could go to a Grand Prix. That's why we were looking at the calendar. We'll see. Hugo Boss invited us and we are checking what to do.

I'll also tell you what I did on Sunday: After having breakfast in the hotel in the morning, we went to practice with Albert Montañes from 11 AM to 1 PM. We had enough time to go slow, practice well and to sit in front of the TV to watch the start of the Grand Prix in Monaco at 2 PM. As you know it was raining quite a lot yesterday but I think that we were lucky because we could practice from 11AM to 12:45 PM. Afterwards it started raining and we had to stop. It's ok, in the end we played an hour and 45 minutes and that's good if you think about all the rain after that. Besides that, as I said, it gave us the opportunity to be ready to see the race which we saw and enjoyed on site.
After that we went back to the hotel.

Today was also a strange day. We got up and came here while it was raining so much that you have to change your plans. At 11:45 AM I left the hotel with Toni, Rafa Moymo and Carlos Costa. We went to Roland Garros where we had to decide whether to look for another site where we could practice. Carlos knew an indoor place where we could practise and we went there. It took us like 10, 15 minutes by car. I was practicing with Nenad Zimonjic and we went there all of us together and could practise for two hours, which is not bad at all since with all the rain today there where no matches and there was no practice either. After that we got back to Roland Garros to have lunch and then we left to the hotel.

Today I wrote the blog before going out for dinner and therefore it is a bit shorter since Moya, Rafa Maymo, my uncle and others are waiting for me downstairs. As I play tomorrow I like to have dinner a bit earlier. Tomorrow I'm the fifth match and we'll see what happens. Besides that something happened, but I don't want to speak about it yet...nothing serious, nothing important, but unbelievable. I'll tell you about today's defeat at the playstation.

Greetings to all of you.

Rafa Nadal.

Trop fort sa tête là dessus lol

Par Christian Lacaze
lundi 4 juin 2007
Il est 15h40 quand débute la rencontre tant attendue entre Rafael Nadal (n°2) et Lleyton Hewitt (n°14). Ce match comptant pour les huitièmes de finale revêt un parfum particulier après le match accroché qui a opposé les deux hommes en demi-finales à Hambourg juste avant « Roland ». Et si l'Australien mettait fin aux 17 victoires consécutives de son adversaire sur les courts de la Porte d'Auteuil ?

16 points sur 20 pour débuter

Rafael Nadal ne se laisse pas gagner par le doute. Il commence son match de la meilleure des façons en prenant le service de Hewitt. Profitant d'une mise en jeu défaillante côté australien (seulement 48% de premières balles sur l'ensemble du set), Nadal creuse l'écart. Il rafle 16 des 20 premiers points de la rencontre pour faire le trou 4-0. L'ancien n°1 mondial met fin à l'hémorragie en remportant blanc son service.

A 5-2 contre lui, Hewitt sauve 3 balles de set à 40-0 sur le service de Nadal. Un 5e point consécutif lui permet de refaire un de ses deux breaks de retard. Le set serait-il relancé ? Dans les travées du court central Philippe-Chatrier on a envie d'y croire. Mais « Rafa » remporte logiquement la première manche pour mener 6/3 après 36 minutes de match.

La situation est mal embarquée pour le vainqueur 2002 de Wimbledon, mais ce dernier n'est pas homme à renoncer. Et pourtant, que faire face à un Nadal des très grands jours ? En tête 2 jeux à 1, il saoule Hewitt de coups gagnants pour prendre blanc le service adverse (3-1). L'Australien tente vaillamment de réagir sur le jeu suivant. Une volée « impossible » de l'Espagnol sur une balle de débreak termine d'écoeurer Lleyton.

Un silence de cathédrale plombe le Chatrier alors que l'office de « Rafa » bat son plein. 4-1. Après 1h10 de jeu, Nadal mène deux manches à zéro 6/3, 6/1. Une « stat » résume parfaitement ce set : l'Espagnol a commis autant de points gagnant (10) que l'Australien a commis de fautes directes.

Le Chatrier derrière Hewitt

Dans la troisième manche, Lleyton Hewitt se maintient à flot jusqu'à 5-5 grâce à un service plus performant (72% de premières balles). On atteint les deux heures de jeu, moment choisi par Nadal pour sonner la fin de la récréation. Il profite de la 30e faute directe de la rencontre de l'Australien pour faire le break et se placer en position de servir pour le match.

Le gaucher de Manacor n'y parvient pas. Mené 0-40, il sauve les deux premières balles de débreak mais se retrouve embarqué dans un jeu décisif. Le public parisien qui veut voir un quatrième set prend fait et cause pour l'Australien. A 5-4 en sa faveur, ce dernier met dans le filet une attaque de coup droit qui aurait pu lui offrir deux balles de set.

Sa chance vient de passer. Deux points plus tard, après 2h21 de jeu, Nadal se qualifie 6/3, 6/1, 7/6(5) pour les quarts de finale où il rencontrera son compatriote Carlos Moya, originaire comme lui de Palma de Majorque.

Cette 18e victoire consécutive de l'Espagnol à « Roland » lui permet de rejoindre des champions tels que Lendl et Pietrangeli au nombre de matches gagnés consécutivement sur la terre battue parisienne. Seuls Bruguera (19), Courier (20) et le légendaire Bjorn Borg (28) le devancent encore dans ce classement !

Si « Rafa » avait voulu envoyer un message à ses futurs adversaires pour leur dire que ce qui s'était passé à Hambourg (match accroché face à Hewitt et défaite contre Federer) n'était qu'un accident, il ne s'y serait probablement pas pris autrement. A bon entendeur...

Rafael a battu Luis Horna au 2e tour de l'us open 6/4 4/6 6/4 6/2
Trés beau match...

VAMOS RAFA!!! pour le 3e tour ;)