Rafael Nadal Fans

PHOTOS: Rafael Nadal joined by friends on holiday in Spain

Rafael Nadal took advantage of the lull in the season, returning to Spain for a relaxing trip on his yacht Beethoven. The Daily Mail posted paparazzi shots of our champ who was joined by his friends in Ibiza.

34 comments

  1. Tomas Berdych has pulled out of the hard-court season due to a lingering back injury. Wishing him all the best.

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    • Roger has pulled out of Toronto.
      After Wimbledon he said he would most likely not play both Toronto and Cincy before the US Open.

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  2. Toronto 2018 – Rogers Cup – 17 More Days To August 6

    Entry List [Pasted and Copied]

    1. Rafael NADAL
    2. Roger FEDERER
    3. Alexander ZVEREV
    4. Juan Martin DEL POTRO
    5. Marin CILIC
    6. Grigor DIMITROV
    7. Dominic THIEM
    8. Kevin ANDERSON
    9. David GOFFIN
    10. John ISNER

    11. Diego SCHWARTZMAN
    12. Pablo CARRENO BUSTA
    13. Sam QUERREY
    14. Roberto BAUTISTA AGUT
    15. Jack SOCK
    16. Fabio FOGNINI
    17. Novak DJOKOVIC
    18. Kyle EDMUND
    19. Nick KYRGIOS
    20. Lucas POUILLE

    21. Borna CORIC
    22. Hyeon CHUNG
    23. Tomas BERDYCH
    24. Adrian MANNARINO
    25. Philipp KOHLSCHREIBER
    26. Denis SHAPOVALOV
    27. Kei NISHIKORI
    28. Filip KRAJINOVIC
    29. Richard GASQUET
    30. Damir DZUMHUR

    31. Marco CECCHINATO
    32. Milos RAONIC
    33. Fernando VERDASCO
    34. Andrey RUBLEV
    35. Stefanos TSITSIPAS
    36. Leonardo MAYER
    37. Albert RAMOS-VINOLAS
    38. David FERRER
    39. Peter GOJOWCZYK
    40. Karen KHACHANOV

    41. Gael MONFILS
    42. Steve JOHNSON
    43. Andreas SEPPI
    44. Robin HAASE
    45. Andy MURRAY (WC) GBR

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  3. I was surprised to read a fan’s comment that Rafa congratulated Novak after his Wimby title. Can’t find it. Nor can I find the fan’s comment here, among hundreds of comments, or I would have responded directly. My comment is not meant as a criticism.

    I don’t remember where on the Net I saw a brief clip. It was during this past clay season. It showed Rafa facing a wall and packing his bag after practice as Novak walked toward Rafa to greet him. Rafa turned around, greeted Novak ever so briefly and just as quickly turned his back to Novak and resumed packing his bag, Novak still standing behind Rafa. It’s possible Rafa was in a rush for whatever reason but I think he was in a rush to get out of there with Novak present. 😂😂😂😂

    I don’t believe Rafa congratulated Nole on his Wimby match as far as I can tell. AND I AM HAPPY HE DIDN’T!!! He doesn’t deserve the respect Rafa shows him.

    All I could find were two articles by two different British tabloids with Rafa’s tweet incorrectly translated. I will stand corrected if the fan can supply the source where Rafa congratulates Novak. Did anyone else read it? Source?

    This is what Rafa actually tweeted:

    “A short message to all my followers. Thank you for the support during Wimbledon. It was not to be and now the only thing is to congratulate the champion @DjokerNole.

    I am already back home and will take a vacation before starting my preparation for the North American season.”

    Rafa is urging his “followers” to congratulate Novak.

    I didn’t win but you can congratulate the winner is how I understand it.

    I am well aware of Rafa’s gracious words and demeanor after each loss, each loss a hurt no matter to whom.

    After reading the fan’s comment I started to question my assessment about how Rafa feels toward Novak. That’s what led me on the search.

    I want Rafa to bring down Novak BIG TIME. And he will.

    RAFA ROCKS NO MATTER WHAT

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    • Margo, you’ve certainly done your research on Tweet gate. Guilty as charged! Much to my annoyance, I was misled by the Express online article entitled “Rafael Nadal sends Novak Djokovic message after Wimbledon success”. On second and closer reading yes, Rafa didn’t actually tweet Novak to congratulate him, but I can see how his words can be misinterpreted. Damn those dreaded tabloids!

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      • Rafa will definitely overcome Djokovic.

        Meanwhile I had a dream last night that Rafa beat Djokovic and won the Miami Tournament:) I’m not sure if it was the final, or if he beat Djoker and went on to win the final. Anyway, there you go. Place your bets now. You’re welcome!

        Lorna, I avoid those Express articles. I even wonder if it’s a serious news outlet, just from the ‘headlines’ (clickbait) I notice, for example just now: ‘Marian Vadja makes Rafael Nadal admission after Wimbledon..’ I don’t even waste my time finding out what their crap is about.

        Which brings me to RNF! The proper source for anything Rafael Nadal:) Thanks to whoever runs this site. There are no banners and pop up ads and such, so I wonder how they can afford it. But I’m not complaining:)Keep up the good work, and thanks very much!

      • Lorna, you’re so right. I too was deceived by them. When I first joined RNF I used to quote from them. They have gotten worse in the few years since I’ve been here.

        The nonsense about Rafa being too lazy to throw away his own garbage is another example. The tabloids simply repeated the social media insults about Rafa to make up something to print and call it journalism..

        If they had reviewed the video showing Rafa “asking” the ballboy to dispose of his wrapper they would have realized that Rafa was 100% focused on supplying his body with needed nutrients to continue playing. He was seated, hands were being used to squeeze supplement from a tube into his mouth and as he is doing this he briefly beckons to the ballboy with one hand. The ballboy reaches Rafa just as the supplement is finished, then Rafa hands the ballboy the wrapper to dispose of.

        The trash bin is behind Rafa to his left, his bag which contains his his edibles is to his right. Rafa may not have known the bin was behind him. With every second counting during a match, does he have time to start looking for a garbage bin? NOT! I did read other articles about garbage-gate that gave Rafa the benefit of the doubt and not that one-sided view.

        I am hoping for a great hard-court season for Rafa.

        RAFA WILL ROCK HARD COURT

      • As well as congratulating him at the net he also copied his tweet to the @djokernole address so he did indeed send it to him.

      • Rafa is ALWAYS gracious at the net after a match, win or lose.

        Tweetgate was about the Express’s false statement “Rafa posted a message on Twitter to congratulate the former world No. 1.” It wasn’t about whether or not Novak was sent a cc.

    • Thanks Margo and Mac. I should have learned my lesson about the Express and such like long ago. I’ll ignore their crap in future!

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    • Both The Express and Daily Mail are known for being very hostile publications in the UK. They have traditionally been owned by unsavoury figures pushing their own agendas, and have perpetrated numerous scandals. Insinuating things about athletes is the very mildest example of the sort of trouble they have caused over the years. I think the UK tabloids are acknowledged to be some of the most savage. These papers have a large circulation, but also a lot of opposition. I would totally ignore them if I were you 😉 After all, if you click on their stories, you give them advertising revenue.

      Reply

      • We here in the US have our share of tabloids. Perhaps there should be a journalistic version of the Hippocratic Oath if one does not exist. I believe journalists have an OBLIGATION to be impartial and should scrupulously check before something goes into print. Errors are one thing, but to PURPOSELY mislead the reading public is &((;;3566&”&(??, [can’t write the translation of that].

        RAFA WILL WIN, NO DOUBTS

  4. Rafa has invited his fans to visit the beaches of Spain. He made a video in Cala Falcó called “un rincón preciosos de las Balearás.”

    Rafa is on vacation having double fun promoting the beaches of Spain. I do know the beaches of Mallorca ranked 2 or 3 on the list of best international beaches in the world. [Don’t recall article. I believe it was in TIME Magazine within the last few months]

    I wonder if he and Roger met up with each other. After Wimbledon, Fed was spotted in Ibiza with his family. It would be really something if they can console each other on their loss and hatch a “master plan” against you-know-who. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂LOL JOKING (((maybe))).

    Rafa’s videos can be found at diariodemallorca.es

    There is also a short clip of Rafa doing a back flip dive from a yacht (could be Beethoven)

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  6. I hope Rafa didn’t see the following. Is it any wonder why he doesn’t trust the English-language press?

    “And both players agreed that they wanted the roof to be closed when the contest restarted.”
    [Source: thesun.co.uk, Jim Sheridan, July 14, 2018, Updated July 15, 2018]

    According to Wikipedia, this tabloid [read yellow journalism] has a circulation figure of 1,481,876 as of March 2018.

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  7. Thanks for the translation, Margo. Like you, i feel that it just doesn’t add up. Rafa is right to feel aggrieved. Why play under lights when it’s a outdoor tournament? No one knows if it would have changed the outcome of the match if they had played in the open air, but at least it would have been the fairest thing to do. I don’t trust Novak’s version of the dialogue he had with the organisers. I think he asked them to keep the roof closed, but he didn’t want to appear devisive, so he claimed that he was asked his “opinion” after the decision was made. Rubbish! I blame the organisers for being weak and wishy washy in not exercising commonsense. Maybe somewhere down the line we will get to know from the organisers the full content of discussions and sequence of events.

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    • Lorna you’re welcome. I thought I was over this but right now I am just so upset. Not so much because the roof was closed Friday and then again on Saturday but because of the seemingly SNEAKY way it appears to have come about. Nothing makes sense. It’s just one lame excuse on top of another starting from Friday.

      I am a warrior 💪💪😡👊 for Rafa if I think he is being treated unfairly. I consider this the most egregious behavior I have ever witnessed perpetrated by a tournament since I’ve been a Rafan. Behavior beyond the pale.

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  8. I found a Spanish-language article that covers much of, but not all of Rafa’s Wimbledon post-semifinal interview .

    So that there is no confusion about who said what, I will indicate on the left side margin the party doing the talking. This is a verbatim translation.

    AS: After his loss to Djokovic at the Wimbledon semifinals, and questioned by AS, Rafa Nadal explained in detail how the decision came about to start the match under the roof on Friday on Center Court and how it resumed Saturday also under the roof, something he is not in agreement with.

    RAFA: The referee decides that the match will start as of 19:30 under the roof because at 20:45 it ceases to be light so in this way not waste time by stopping and closing the roof, given that we would definitely have to stop playing at 23 hours [London time].

    Because the match started that way, according to them, we would have to continue under the same conditions unless the two players were in agreement to play outdoors. There, each one can decide if this is fair or not.

    What I don’t understand is why at the beginning with light we are playing indoors if we were able to play outdoors. But to save time it starts under the roof, in conditions that are not tournament conditions. Unless it rains it is an outdoors court. And on top of that, today we continue with the roof.

    AS: Nadal repeats his disagreement with what happened.

    RAFA: To me it does not seem right, I believe that the tournament is an outdoors tournament. Bad luck if the previous match lasts long. It starts without a roof, it’s for when there is no light and the following day it continues outdoors because it is that kind of tournament.

    AS: The Spaniard clarified he understood the decision to cover the court on Friday but not to continue the same way on Saturday.

    RAFA: At that moment I understood the logic,
    but I did not understand today we would play under the roof unless the both of us were in agreement to the contrary and, evidently, we were not.

    AS: The Manacori gave an account of how it affected his game under the circumstances.

    RAFA: It cost me to become adapted to the covered court; I was not seeing very good. I could not distinguish where the ball was coming from. During the night there is a kind of shadow but during the day you can see better. It is a pretty court but you don’t see very well with the roof closed.

    AS: Djokovic also made his statements with regard to the roof.

    Novak: The tournament organizers and judges said that the roof was going to be closed because we would start the match under a closed roof.

    AS: Asked if the decision was made between the players…

    Novak: They told us that we would play under a closed roof.

    There was a dialogue. I preferred the roof because that is how the match started and I wanted to play under the same conditions. I was asked my opinion after I understood that the decision had been made already.
    [Source AS.com, July 15, 2018, 00:38h CEST]

    After all this [above] I still don’t know the chain of events. Were the two players advised together on Saturday about the closed roof? Were they asked their opinions together on Saturday? When was the decision made to have a closed roof? Who made that decision? What was the reason for a closed roof on a beautiful Saturday during an outdoors tournament?

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    • What does not make sense to me is why would Novak be asked his opinion about the roof AFTER the decision had already been made to close the roof?

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      • Yeah, I think this is a bit disingenuous of Novak:
        “I was asked my opinion after I understood that the decision had been made already.”
        Err, why would they ask his opinion if the decision had already been made?

        In context of his other statements – that there was a “dialogue”, and that he expressed his “preference” – he is actually saying that he was given a choice, before the final decision was made.

        Now, should we blame Novak for choosing the conditions which would suit him better? Perhaps we shouldn’t. Perhaps Rafa would have done the same in another case. These are sportsmen, not angels.

        But, should the tournament have allowed one player the power to radically alter the nature of the conditions, for one crucial stepping stone match? And, should the rules have been so unclear that Rafa’s team had no idea what they were signing up for the night before when they agreed to start with the roof closed for expediency? In both cases, a resounding NO.

        I feel so bad for Rafa that he even agreed to start with the roof closed when there was still an hour of daylight. To me that shows a high degree of accommodation from him, not even trying to get the play started on conditions favourable to him, for the good (i.e. efficiency) of the evening overall. He would have known it would make it harder for him from the start. For them to pay back this flexibility by completely pulling the rug from under his feet the next day is just terrible.

      • Alex, I am wondering if Rafa stood up for himself when told the roof would be closed on Saturday.

        He had every right, in my opinion, to say he ONLY agreed to a closed roof on Friday to save time because that was the tournament’s explanation and as Wimbledon is an outdoors tournament, it should resume outdoors on Saturday. Who else in Rafa’s camp was involved with Friday’s roof early closure? The more I read the more upset I become. I still cannot find a statement from Wimbledon. Very aggravating because I am sure they are aware of the controversy they have caused. They are the biggest jerks across the pond!!!

        Quite frankly, I see this as another Carlos Costa [his agent] failure regardless of whomever decided on a closed roof. He is supposed to protect Rafa against such duplicitous behavior.

        According to elpais.com, regarding the roof question, “On this occasion, it was neither the lack of daylight nor rain which triggered the decision to close the roof on Friday, it is not the same as the delay caused by the very long match between Anderson and Isner.” This sums it up the best from everything I’ve read thus far.

        Also in elpais, Rafa “did not want his loss and the closed roof to be linked in any way.” He was very adamant about that. This is one part that was missing from the previous translation I did.

        I want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And I can say confidently, Rafa isn’t lying.

        If one or more conspired against Rafa, I hope they pay BIG TIME!!!

        DRUM ROLL please…….also according to elpais, it was Argentine judge Damien Steiner who was given the authority to make the decision about the roof.

      • Djoker’s actions regarding the closing of the roof have been very dubious to say the least.

        It’s a shame that an outdoor tournament ended up as an indoors for Rafa.

        But Rafa will be back. He now needs to set his aim squarely on Djoker, because Djoker is the one to beat now.

        In other news, Hahaha maybe Roger will now skip all the tournaments leading up to the US Open to keep himself ‘fresh.’

        Stay safe and healthy Rafa!!

      • Mac, I had to laugh at your Roger comment. Succinct but priceless.

        If Novak is lying I want to know why.

        Rafa was not very eager to tell the Spanish-language press about grassgate but he was questioned about it more than once. He said, As I told the other press, why does everyone dream of this story when so many other great things happened during the match. [I paraphrased] Unfortunately he didn’t give us the “meaty” details nor could this be expected of him. Knowing Rafa, I can bet he may make a comment here and there in the future about this mess.

        RAFA KEEPS ON ROCKING

  9. Rafa have a great vacations you need for the hard work you do love your fans for ever.vamosssssssssssssssss champ 👍👍👍🎾🎾🎾❤️❤️❤️👍👍👍🎾🎾🎾❤️❤️❤️

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  14. ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY, RAFA. YOU DESERVE TO HAVE SOME ME TIME.
    CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU ON COURTS AGAIN. I KNOW IM BEING SELFISH.

    LOVE YOU ALWAYS, MY RAFA DEAR.

    💟💜💛💚💛💜💟💜💛💚💚💛💜💟💙💖💙💖💙💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

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  15. So intrusive to pry on his private time, These photographers have no standards, Shameful behaviour. Rafa and his friends should be allowed privacy

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    • Totally agree with you. Even worse the Daily Mail/Mail on line write a lot of crap about him. I remember one nasty article around him giving a ball kid a wrapper to put in the bin invited comments like ‘dirty Spanish bastard’. Of course, they have a disclaimer that absolves themselves of others opinions although they invited it in the first place.

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      • Gosh I remember that Bobodoll. It wasnt that long ago I seem to recall and everyone does it so not sure why rafa got the brunt of those awful comments

    • Yes, you’re right Elizabeth. Sadly these paparazzi photographers will go to any lengths with their long lens cameras to get a story. It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last. Even so, it’s good to know that Rafa has seemingly shrugged off defeat and is enjoying himself with his pals after such a hard fought, entertaining Wimbledon tournament. Ever the gentleman he tweeted Novak to congratulate him on his victory.

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  16. Rafa have an enjoyable holiday, and enjoy every second,

    Love and prayers,

    AlaineXXSydneyXXAustraliaXX

    Reply

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