Smile!

Okay, so Rafa Nadal finally got to the courts today, and... wow; he really is the king. He wasn't rusty at all, defeating Bemelmens 61 64 to cap his 60th win this year. And apparently he also got paid like $1.2M just to show up at Bangkok...?

And all with a smile! Seriously, sprained face not coming to mind? FREAK.

In other news, probably not a great day to be Fernando Verdasco. After showing off his tanned bod to most of the world in a boxing match with a Thai, he crashed out of the 1st round in Bangkok, 64 64 to Becker.

Frustrated... Maybe Fer needs some smiling lessons from Rafael Nadal.

Pictorial Essay?

Seriously. I swear Fernando Verdasco likes getting shirtless too much. With the amount of photos circulating around the internet - photos of him shirtless - I could compile a pictorial essay of his shirtless body in no time.

...But I seriously can't be stuffed.

No.6

... And he wins. Number 6. Straight.

What. A. Freak.

He also did it 60 61, like it was totally easy and everything.

The 32nd consecutive win at Monte-Carlo.

Again, may I say: What. A. Freak.

And poor Nando. I know, make that 10 losses to the King.

But CONGRATS, RAFA! WE LOVE YOU :)

An all-spaniard finale!

RAFAEL NADAL [2]

vs.

FERNANDO VERDASCO [6]

Yep, that's right. Nando ousted top seed Djokovic (woo! go Nando; I'm proud of you), whereas the King... well... he defeated Ferrer, and as usual, will be defending his Monte-Carlo Championship!

Head2Head:

The King is leading 9-0. Ouch. These appearances include:

• Madrid (Masters) on clay - 2009
• Rome (Masters) on clay - 2009
• AO (Slam) on hard - 2009 [the epic 5-setter semi!]
• Roland Garros (Slam) on clay - 2008
• Indian Wells (Masters) on hard - 2007
• Queen's Club on grass - 2006
• Stuttgart on clay - 2005
• Miami (Masters) on hard - 2005
• Doha on hard - 2005

So yeah, the scorelines in all those matches were basically straight sets except for the Australian Open performance (which was a job well done for Nando, regardless of the loss). To find out more visit the Head2Head on the ATP World Tour site. Extremely extensive stuff.

My Prediction:

6th time lucky?
I think so.

As much as I'd like to think that the King is beatable... one day, right now he has been in top form and there's no reason why he can't go for Monte-Carlo Trophy No.6. Straight.

Just read this website and you'll think so too.

"The 23-year-old Spaniard has a 29-1 career mark at the Monte-Carlo Country Club with his only loss coming in the third round in his maiden appearance in 2003. Since then he's reeled off 27 straight match wins."

What a freak.
Need I say anymore?

Long live King Rafa; THE BULL!

Monte-Carlo Update

Whooo! Dude he's lookin' strong ;)

People say he's in a title drought, but the King of Clay is back and has been in stellar form! Even the ATP World Tour website has said "Rafa in scary form" LOL. Anyway, Thursday was no different as he used his wand-in-the-shape-of-a-racquet and zapped Michael Berrer 60 61.

In the QF the King will next face Juan Carlos Fererro - another Spaniard/pro clay courter - who killed Tsonga in a similar way 61 36 75, although he sorta had to grip the wand a bit tighter and shout the magical spell...

Aww... Tsonga is so cute in this picture.

Nalbandian raced to the QFs by straight sets through Tommy Robredo while Phillip Kohlschreiber whooshed past fellow German Phillip Petzschner 63 64. Wow I'm starting to feel Harry Pottery...

The No.1 Seed - the Djoker - prevailed 64 64 over Stanislas Wawrinka (newly crowned Casablanca Champ) in the 4th Round, but had a bit of a tough go too, pulling off a Patronus Charm in the end ;)

Albert Montanes (the guy I remember for being a little shorter than the others) upset Cilic 64 64 apparently, who I think is kinda awesome so I posted a pic of him... while David Ferrer, 60 76 (4), and Fernando Verdasco, 57 63 63, also won... meaning that the QFs are... 5-eighths Spanish! :D

Peace out.

thetennishopper

Bring on the dirt.

Mhmm.
This can only mean one thing... BRING ON THE CLAY COURTERS, BABY!
Mmm nothing like the orange of the dust and dirt on a slowwwww clay court.

*Sigh* Oh Gas-gay... Why is there so much to laugh at in this picture...

Well kicking things off on the ATP World Tour, we had our awesome dose of Monte-Carlo goodness. Basically, nothing too surprising I guess.

Unfortunately though, Jo Wilfried-Tsonga had it sorta tough playing against Nicolas Almagro - 76(5) 75. You know, it was a good win considering Almagro is a pretty good clay-courter.

Nando also breezed past, no fuss, no muss. I mean mess. Except for the dirt of course :) 62 61. Hope he does well in the next round too. Wow, what a great... menacing... pose you got there...

Marin Cilic - the dark horse of the AO of course, had it a little tough as well, edging past Igor Andreev in 3 sets 67 61 64. Ouch. But it's all good. You know Cilic; he's the endurance type i.e. defeating JMdP and A-Rod in 5 sets at the AO, and still having the energy to take the Muzza to 4 sets.

So that's a mild taste of what happened in Monte-Carlo. There are a many more great matches to look forward to though; I, myself, am particularly looking forward to No.3 Seed+WC Andy Murray vs. Phillip Kohlscreiber of Germany. Man is that hard to spell.

I'm a bit of a Muzza fan myself but sadly have been a touch disappointed with him since that sad upset in Dubai. From then on it sorta went downhill ;( But let's hope he does better; he+Rosco ousted the No.9 Doubles' Seed in the first round so I'm hoping his singles campaign will go well!

Anyway, would love to hear what you think! As for me, I'll be signing off for now.

thetennishopper