Post by TTPost by TThttp://youtu.be/kpS7rl0afGk
This is Björn Borg's son, Leo Borg. Nadal faced him at Båstad, Swedish
Open.
Rafa joked that he's the "defending champion" since he played there
last time in 2005 and won it.
http://youtu.be/NG-TFwZJ1eI
I understand that Nadal & Alcaraz are playing doubles at Olympics.
That should be fun to watch...
Nadal beat Norrie 6-4, 6-4...
http://youtu.be/bbq1wtobemo
Forehand seems to be ok. Serve good. Backhand not good. Movement not
good. Returns so-so. Smash rock solid. Mental fair enough.
Overall I'd say Rafa is currently playing at roughly 73%.
Rafa beat 23 year old Argentinian clay court specialist, #36 Mariano
Navone... 6-7, 7-5, 7-5...
The match took 3 hours 59 minutes, second longest 3 set match of Rafa's
career. Apparently they once played 3 minutes longer match with Djokovic.
Highlights (every point actually?):
Crazy match. Rafa playing at 70% but toughing out a win. Lots of ebbs &
flows in the match. Rafa's biggest problems seem to be his movement -
he's two steps slower, imo... and his backhand which lacks at least two
gears. That lead to all sorts of tactics, Navone played a rather great
match tactically and Rafa adjusted to try and compensate his current
weaknesses.
Good match practice for Rafa, although it looks still unlikely that
he'll be able to find his A-game for Olympics, or even B-game. But who
knows... it's Rafa.
Rafa faces tomorrow at SF another 23 year old; a Croat named Duje
Ajduković, ranked 130.
I will be positively surprised if Rafa can continue his run, or even
walk tomorrow after this insane battle...
Has doubles with Rune as well, tomorrow. hah.
Vamos!