Rafael Nadal was joined by his girlfriend Maria Francisca Perello, parents Ana Maria and Sebastian, sister Maria Isabel, coach Carlos Moya and the rest of team at the airport in Palma de Mallorca. Many fans and reporters were there just to see a 16-th time Grand Slam champion.
Photo: Manu Mielniezuk
Photo: Manu Mielniezuk
Photo: Manu Mielniezuk
Photo: Manu Mielniezuk
Photo: Manu Mielniezuk
Photo: Manu Mielniezuk
Photo: Manu Mielniezuk
Photo: Manu Mielniezuk
Photo: Manu Mielniezuk
Photo: Manu Mielniezuk
Photo: Manu Mielniezuk
Photo: Manu Mielniezuk
He must focused on the big picture. GS,1000 and WTF.Nothing more.He needs to be smarter with his schedule. WTF is the most important. He never won it. #1 is important. The next important thing is AO 2018. He must finally win one more there.
Descanza mi champion eres grande Vamos Rafa
After looking over Rafa’s record at the year-end tournaments I have come to the conclusion that I wish he plays Shanghai, Paris, and of course the ATP Finals. There is a good rest period between each of these tourneys.
BEIJING
2012: Withdrew due to Hoffa’s Syndrome and torn patella tendon [knee problems]. 7-month layoff
2013: Rafa made it to the final vs Nole but lost 6-3, 6-4:
2014: Lost in QF to Klizan 6-7[7], 6-4, 6-3. He was upset about the Head balls.
2015: Lost in the final to Nole 6-2, 6-2.
2016: L
ost in the QF to Dimitrov 6-2, 6-4.
He won 2005 when I believe it was a 250 tourney. It was upgraded to a 500.
HAPPY SWEET 16 RAFA
Extremely happy to see deserving Rafa succeed. He is a great human being and its rare to see such accomplished person so humble and accept wins and losses with equanimity. I have been his fan ever since he became pro. Look forward to many more success at AO, US open and even one more trophy at Wimbeldon !
Lovely family photos of Rafa’s return home
I , like many who have posted here, am concerned that Rafa will overdo things in this final part of the year, As well as his scheduled tournaments he has the Laver Cup. He needs to keep his strength up to maximize success at those tournaments where he normally does well. Fed will no doubt be very careful with his schedule. He wants the number 1 ranking and will not want injury to get in the way, Rafa will need to think the same way. I hope Moya will be the restraining influence here.
To end the year as number 1 is the desired outcome.
Rafa, I would love for you to play Basel and get that trophy you missed in 2015, losing in the final. How about getting Fed on his home turf? You would have to overcome the distractions of his home crowd AND his medical time outs. How about it champ? YES YOU CAN.
HAPPY SWEET 16 RAFA
Nadal has five tournaments remaining for this year. Beijing, Basel, Sjanghai,Paris and WTF.
If i were him i would focuss on Sjanghai, Paris and WTF and skip beijing and Basel. Sjanghai, Paris and WTF were never won by Nadal. And since Djokovic and Murray and Wawrinka are absent this is a great opportunity for nadal to run the score
Wise advice, mjus. From now until the end of the year, Rafa needs to maximise his chances and minimise the effort in being successful at the most important tournaments.
I agree. Rafa
(Oh sorry my finger was manfuctioning for a split second.)
I agree. Rafa should now focuses on the biggies only. Slams, Masters, WTF. ATP500 only when he lacks match play or needs to build confidence. It’s defnitely not the case atm.
His schedule for the indoor season:
OCTOBER:
Beijing, China (October 2 – 8)
Shanghai, China (October 8 -15)
Basel, Switzerland (October 23 – 29)
Paris, France (October 30 – November 5)
NOVEMBER:
ATP World Tour Finals, London (November 12 – 19)
I suspect Rafa will still want to play them all but Moya will convince him to drop one or two, hopefully Beijing and Basel. Should not play 2 tourneys in just 2 weeks back to back at this age, at the end of the season when he’s historically tired, on his least favourite. He has already played the most and won the most matches this year.
Now winning one Masters and the WTF, or just the WTF, would be the best in every term imho.
If not, then it will still be okay. AO next year is still more important.
Hopefully the Laver Cup will not tire him out and only inspire him to play more relax.
Can’t wait. Only 8 more days to go. 🙂
I was double checking my comment about what I wish Rafa will play and noted you have commented already. I am basing my choices on his last five-year records and, as you point out, he needs time to get/keep his body in top form in order to win.
Paris 2012, 2014 and 2016 were all withdrawals due to injury. In 2013 Rafa made it to the SF but lost to Ferrer.
In 2015 he lost QF to Stan.
Basel 2012, 2013, 2016 injury withdrawals. 2014 he lost to Coric in QF.
Made it to the final in 2015 but who could forget Rafa’s time check during Roger’s trophy acceptance speech. Rafa’s facial expressions were priceless. He forgot cameras also were on him.
2016 Withdrawal
Yes, I know it’s far ahead for the AO but thanks for posting that. Agree about its importance.
HAPPY SWEET 16 RAFA
I was going for Shanghai, Paris and the ATP World Tour Finals. Possibly too many? And the competition?
RAFA ROCKED THE US OPEN BIG TIME
Laver Cup is Sept. 22-24. Should be ok, no? Just three days.
HAPPY SWEET 16 RAFA
Hi Margo. A lot of replies from you. 🙂
Yeah, Laver Cup should be totally fine. I’ve been looking forward to that exo ever since it was announced last year. Mostly I want to see Fed and Rafa finally in the same team after quite many exos over the year and play doubles together (Rafa asked Fed to play doubles with him in 2006-2007 but he said no :D).
Now thinking about how many were writing them off last year at the time of the announcement and now they’re being no1 and no2 in the world coming into Laver Cup, winning all the slams of the year – how wonderful is that?
I think both the fans and the LC organisers couldn’t be any happier. 🙂
As for his indoor schedule, I think we’ll have to wait to see if he plays Beijing or not first. If he skips it, I think it’s the sign that he will only focus on the biggies. Moya extremely cares about keeping Rafa from injuries, so finger crossed. 🙂
Sorry about all the replies. I just got so discombobulated after seeing your almost identical choices for the rest of the season. I didn’t know what to write so I just posted what “research” I had already done on those tournaments.
You are the guilty one. Your comments are so thorough🤗.
Guess I’m still excited about SIXTEEN and his chances for the rest of the season. Now it’s a waiting game re his schedule.
RAFA ROCKED 10, 10, 10, AND 16
Buenos días Rafa, vuelve, vuelve a casa antes de Navidad, me alegro mucho, por el Triunfo conseguido y el reencuentro con la familia en el aeropuerto de Palma, toca descansar y reponerse del estrés y la tensión. Recibe desde Canarias mi reconocimiento y afecto. C. Javier
Benvenida, 😀 espero ir a Mallorca la semana proxima. La familia y su equipo era con él en US, no han tomado el mismo avion ? Fiona en Paris
Nice photos of a lovely family.
Can’t stop looking at the beautiful photos Rafa. Such a lovely natural photo of you playing with Carlo’s little girl’s beautiful long golden locks! The Nadals appear to be a close, unassuming n loving Clan. Your GF Maria seems to be the epitome of sweetness. You Rafa are my self-adopted grandson for the last 16 years, n I am so proud of you as I am of my own 4 grandchildren. Vamos Rafa in Shanghai. In the meantime, relax, enjoy n stay healthy. God bless you. Your Aussie Abuela Nan-Shirley. xx❤️🐂🏆👑⛵️🏌👯😀😇😊
Me too, Shirley. I was smiling nonstop like an idiot (still hanging over, I guess). Everyone looks so relaxed and happy. Rafa looks great in navy (his shirt for the indoor season will be navy too), pushing his own luggage cart as usual. Especially love the photo in which Rafa’s playing with Moya’s daughter’s beautiful hair. 🙂
Closely knit family held Rafa a great bit. Great human being so it’s s double celebration for his fans – over 5 billion of us . Wow Rafa
Just too too too good . Rafa was just bouncing around & playing a rare surreal tennis . Thrilled to bits . Wow
Superman Rafa
Brilliant !! Absolutely brilliant . Delighted & ecstatic at Rafa’s wonderful win. Cheers to the champ
Happy to see my idol with Maria & the rest of the family. & ohh so glad Rafa has many Maria in his life ( Maria his Gf, Maria his mom & Maria his sister… whoaaa!). Congrats champ! Enjoy to the fullest your winning moments. You have so many fans here in the Philippines (young & old), so hope we can see you AGAIN here on December if there will be IPTL. Cheers!!!!
Happy to see you back home Rafa for some R&R. Enjoy your stay and take time to savor your US Open win.
I can’t believe how quickly this year is passing by. Already it is time for the inaugural Rod Laver Cup competition.
Waiting excitedly to see the rest of your 2017 calendar.
HAPPY SWEET 16 RAFA
“I can’t believe how quickly this year is passing by.”
Me too, Margo. In one way I want this year to pass as slowly as possible. And in another way I can’t wait for Rafa’ next and next tournaments and get so excited to think about next year with many uncertainties. 🙂
As you said, hopefully Moyá will prevail in finalizing Rafa’s schedule. Of course Rafa would love to play them all. Not practical.
Rafa made the SF at Shanghai in 2013 and ’15. Lost in opening match in 2014, and second round in 2016.
All I can say is maybe we will see some consistency now that he is healthy. He said he will work on his body language during matches and if he can do that I think it could help him immensely.
Regarding these last five tournaments it is difficult for me to say which ones I feel he will win. I will wait to see which ones he plays and go from there. I like your choices.
I think to be able to win consistently outside clay and medium HC, he still needs to work on his return position, especially on grass and indoor hardcourt.
Like, I guess, all of us, Moya and Toni said they wanted him to stand closer to the baseline but Rafa wanted to play his way.
In the past he varied his return position according to the surface a lot more. Now it seems he only feels comfortable returning far back from the baseline and sometimes step on 2nd serve return, depending on the score.
That worked in the past and is still working now. Well, not always, obviously. A player with a great, consistent slice serve out wide will always be able to trouble him. Think Muller as the exemplary case this year.
Also even if it works, by returning so far back like that he had and still has to work much harder. At one point he won’t be still so strong and fast anymore (his speed has already declined considerably). Adjustments are inevitable.
Sorry, a bit longwinded but as the indoor season is approaching and the no1 ranking is still on the line, plus I guess he must desperately want to win the WTF for once and all now, I guess that’s the main point for him to win this season, regardless of Fed’s or any other player’s form.
The year end no1 ranking is not in the bag yet. Fed historically does extremely well at the end of the year and of course, the WTF. Zverev is no doubt very dangerous in best of 3.
Plus what is equally important is how Rafa’s game will fare against an assumingly stronger, better field next year, and how he can stay healthy for a consecutive year for the first time since 2011.
Personally I just want him to stay healthy. With that even though he still loses here and there, big matches even, he still has chances to win anything, even Wimbledon, imho.
“Indoor courts” are what have me worried. And low balls. I was reviewing a match I think vs Nole where he was hitting the balls very low and Rafa could not hit them, he was soooo far back. I was in pain again.
RAFA ROCKS 2017
VAMOS RAFA, ALWAYS THE BEST. GOD BLESS .GO WIN SHANGHAI
K alegria d star en.casa…no hay otra cosa mejor como el hogar…y mas con un GS Us Open debajo dl brazo…Bravo Rafa!!!!…ahora a descansar y disfrutar