Rafael Nadal at the end of a victorious match over USA's Mardy Fish
US Open 08 Quarter-Final Match
US Open 08 Quarter-Final Match
It was late enough for the match to be over, and the players, Rafael Nadal and Mardy Fish, were just walking onto the Arthur Ashe court. It seems to me that there ought to be some rule that when a five setter is possible, it shouldn't start close to midnight. Thank goodness the match only lasted until 2:10 a.m. and not until 4:00 a.m. or 5:00 a.m. What other sport does this?
Tennis isn't one of the sports like basketball that have time frames. Like baseball, tennis can go on for hours. And there is always a press conference afterward. By the time the tennis players have had to wait for hours to play, putting off eating a decent meal until after the match, then play the match - sleeping seems to be an afterthought to tennis tournament organizers. Are they nuts?
In January this year at the Australian Open, Lleyton Hewitt won over Marcos Baghdatis in a match that ended at 4:33 a.m. Consider anyone's chances at winning their next match after a match that ends in the middle of the night. These tennis players travel over time zones and must get acclimated to new time zones in almost every tournament, so shouldn't the scheduling of matches that start after a decent hour be rescheduled?
This is insanity.
Matches are resheduled for darkness, rain and come this Saturday it sounds like wind and rain may be a reason at the US Open in New York City. How about rescheduling for sanity?
Link to article: Hewitt outlasts Baghdatis in Marathon January 20, 2008
Semi-Final matches are scheduled to play Saturday, but the weather report for Saturday is not good. Here are the players in the Semi-Finals:
| Rafael Nadal ESP (1) | | | | | | |||
| v | ||||||||
| Andy Murray GBR (6) | | | | | | |||
| Novak Djokovic SRB (3) | | | | | | |||
| v | ||||||||
| Roger Federer SUI (2) | ||||||||
Source of draw
Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images North America
Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images North America
Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images North America
Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts while taking on Mardy Fish of the United States during Day 10 of the 2008 U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 3, 2008 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images North America)
Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images North America
Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images North America
Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images North America
Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images North America
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Quarter Final ~ Highlights
Rafael Nadal d Mardy Fish
US Open 2008
3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2
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Quarter Final ~ Highlights
Rafael Nadal d Mardy Fish
US Open 2008
3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2
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Rafael Nadal wims Premio Principe Asturias
This is in Spanish.
Uploaded by ananulasports
Rafael Nadal, 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for Sports
Video link - Rafa answers questions after Quarter Final match
Uploaded by ninzninz2
Video link - Fan yells out just as Rafa is hitting the serve
Uploaded by kreature06
Chair Umpire Carlos Ramos gets a near-miss by Rafa's return attempt
Uploaded by kreature06
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Rafael Nadal wims Premio Principe Asturias
This is in Spanish.
Uploaded by ananulasports
Rafael Nadal, 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for Sports
The Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal has been bestowed with the 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for Sports. The Jury for the Award announced its decision in Oviedo.
Rafael Nadal is the Number one tennis player in the world and is considered the best Spanish player of all time. This season, the four-time winner of the French Open, also won the men's singles title at Wimbledon and was the gold medallist at the Beijing Olympic Games. Committed to the noblest values of sport on and off the court, his sense of social responsibility led him to establish a foundation focussing on social work among disadvantaged groups and cooperation for development.
Rafael Nadal was born in Manacor (Majorca) in 1986 and started practising tennis at the age of five. After setting a record of 160 consecutive weeks as second seed, he seized the Number 1 ranking from Roger Federer (Switzerland) on 18th August this year in a season in which he also successfully defended his titles at the Masters Series Monte Carlo -for the fourth year running- and at the Conde de Godó Championship, as well as winning his first titles at Hamburg and in Canada.
He began his successful career in the lower categories and in 1999 became Spanish junior doubles champion as well as winning the Nike Junior Tour International Masters Tournament in Barcelona, in the under-14 category. A professional player since 2001, he was one of the members of the Spanish team that won the Winter Cup in Montecatini (Italy). He reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in the junior category in 2002 and that same year became Junior Davis Cup champion in a tournament in which he won two of the three points that gave Spain its victory over the USA.
His rise to fame on the international scene commenced in 2003, the year in which he began to face up to the world's top seeds. He reached the third round at Montecarlo and was ranked for the first time among the top 100 seeds, a record in ranking and age only previously achieved by Michael Chang (USA). An elbow injury stopped him from competing at French Open in 2003, where he was expected after winning the Prix Burgeon as the tennis player revelation of the year. He made his debut at Wimbledon in June 2003, winning his first Grand Slam title. His rapid progress as a professional won him the Tennis Player Newcomer Award conferred by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) that same year.
In 2004 he formed part of the team that won the second Davis Cup for Spain, becoming the youngest player ever to have won this competition. His good results on clay situated him as favourite in his first French Open, in 2005, where his victory in the final gave him his first Grand Slam title. That same season he won eleven individual titles.
In 2006 he also won the French Open and broke the record held by Guillermo Vilas (Argentina) by winning more than 54 consecutive matches on clay during the first round, as well as becoming the only tennis player to beat the World Number 1 at the time, Roger Federer (Switzerland), in a final. By the end of the tournament, he had been unbeaten in 60 consecutive matches, becoming the best player in history on clay. When he lost the final in Hamburg in 2007, his record stood at 81 consecutive victories. He won the French Open again in 2007 and 2008, making him the only player, alongside Borg (Switzerland), to hold four consecutive Roland Garros titles. In 2008 he created the Rafael Nadal Foundation, a charitable organisation focussing on social work among disadvantaged groups and cooperation for development.
The acknowledgements he has received include the Barón de Güell Cup at the 2004 Spanish National Sports Awards as part of the Spanish Davis Cup team; the 2006 Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Prize; and the 2006 National Sports Prize, awarded by the Spanish Council for Sports. In 2008 he received the ESPY Best Male International Athlete Award (USA) and was bestowed with the Gold Medal by Majorca Chamber of Commerce.
The Prince of Asturias Foundation's statutes establish that the aim of the Awards is to acknowledge and extol "scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanistic work carried out by individuals, groups or institutions worldwide". Consonant with this spirit, the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports "will be bestowed upon the individual, group or institution whose lives are not only examples to others, but who have also reached new heights in mankind's struggle for excellence, and who have contributed by their efforts to perfecting, nurturing, promoting and disseminating sport".
This year a total of 29 candidatures from Algeria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Rumania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Ukraine and Spain ran for the award.
This is the seventh of eight Prince of Asturias Awards, which are being bestowed for the twenty-eighth consecutive year. The Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts went to the Youth and Children's Orchestras of Venezuela, founded by José Antonio Abreu, the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation was given to the organisations leading the fight against malaria in Africa: Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre (Tanzania), the Malaria Research and Training Centre (Mali), Kintampo Health Research Centre (Ghana) and Manhiça Health Research Centre (Mozambique), the Scientific and Technical Research Award was jointly granted to five scientists, worldwide leaders in the creation of new materials for the benefit of mankind: the physicist, Sumio Iijima; the engineers, Shuji Nakamura and Robert Langer; and the chemists, George M. Whitesides and Tobin Marks. The Award for Communication and Humanities was given to Google, the Prince of Asturias Award for Social Science went to Tzvetan Todorov and the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters was given to Margaret Atwood. The Prince of Asturias Award for Concord will be announced next 10th September.
Each of the Prince of Asturias Awards, which date back to 1981, is endowed with 50,000 Euros, a commissioned sculpture donated by Joan Miró, a diploma and an insignia. The awards will be presented in the autumn in Oviedo at a grand ceremony chaired by H.R.H. the Prince of Asturias.
Rafael Nadal is the Number one tennis player in the world and is considered the best Spanish player of all time. This season, the four-time winner of the French Open, also won the men's singles title at Wimbledon and was the gold medallist at the Beijing Olympic Games. Committed to the noblest values of sport on and off the court, his sense of social responsibility led him to establish a foundation focussing on social work among disadvantaged groups and cooperation for development.
Rafael Nadal was born in Manacor (Majorca) in 1986 and started practising tennis at the age of five. After setting a record of 160 consecutive weeks as second seed, he seized the Number 1 ranking from Roger Federer (Switzerland) on 18th August this year in a season in which he also successfully defended his titles at the Masters Series Monte Carlo -for the fourth year running- and at the Conde de Godó Championship, as well as winning his first titles at Hamburg and in Canada.
He began his successful career in the lower categories and in 1999 became Spanish junior doubles champion as well as winning the Nike Junior Tour International Masters Tournament in Barcelona, in the under-14 category. A professional player since 2001, he was one of the members of the Spanish team that won the Winter Cup in Montecatini (Italy). He reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in the junior category in 2002 and that same year became Junior Davis Cup champion in a tournament in which he won two of the three points that gave Spain its victory over the USA.
His rise to fame on the international scene commenced in 2003, the year in which he began to face up to the world's top seeds. He reached the third round at Montecarlo and was ranked for the first time among the top 100 seeds, a record in ranking and age only previously achieved by Michael Chang (USA). An elbow injury stopped him from competing at French Open in 2003, where he was expected after winning the Prix Burgeon as the tennis player revelation of the year. He made his debut at Wimbledon in June 2003, winning his first Grand Slam title. His rapid progress as a professional won him the Tennis Player Newcomer Award conferred by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) that same year.
In 2004 he formed part of the team that won the second Davis Cup for Spain, becoming the youngest player ever to have won this competition. His good results on clay situated him as favourite in his first French Open, in 2005, where his victory in the final gave him his first Grand Slam title. That same season he won eleven individual titles.
In 2006 he also won the French Open and broke the record held by Guillermo Vilas (Argentina) by winning more than 54 consecutive matches on clay during the first round, as well as becoming the only tennis player to beat the World Number 1 at the time, Roger Federer (Switzerland), in a final. By the end of the tournament, he had been unbeaten in 60 consecutive matches, becoming the best player in history on clay. When he lost the final in Hamburg in 2007, his record stood at 81 consecutive victories. He won the French Open again in 2007 and 2008, making him the only player, alongside Borg (Switzerland), to hold four consecutive Roland Garros titles. In 2008 he created the Rafael Nadal Foundation, a charitable organisation focussing on social work among disadvantaged groups and cooperation for development.
The acknowledgements he has received include the Barón de Güell Cup at the 2004 Spanish National Sports Awards as part of the Spanish Davis Cup team; the 2006 Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Prize; and the 2006 National Sports Prize, awarded by the Spanish Council for Sports. In 2008 he received the ESPY Best Male International Athlete Award (USA) and was bestowed with the Gold Medal by Majorca Chamber of Commerce.
The Prince of Asturias Foundation's statutes establish that the aim of the Awards is to acknowledge and extol "scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanistic work carried out by individuals, groups or institutions worldwide". Consonant with this spirit, the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports "will be bestowed upon the individual, group or institution whose lives are not only examples to others, but who have also reached new heights in mankind's struggle for excellence, and who have contributed by their efforts to perfecting, nurturing, promoting and disseminating sport".
This year a total of 29 candidatures from Algeria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Rumania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Ukraine and Spain ran for the award.
This is the seventh of eight Prince of Asturias Awards, which are being bestowed for the twenty-eighth consecutive year. The Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts went to the Youth and Children's Orchestras of Venezuela, founded by José Antonio Abreu, the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation was given to the organisations leading the fight against malaria in Africa: Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre (Tanzania), the Malaria Research and Training Centre (Mali), Kintampo Health Research Centre (Ghana) and Manhiça Health Research Centre (Mozambique), the Scientific and Technical Research Award was jointly granted to five scientists, worldwide leaders in the creation of new materials for the benefit of mankind: the physicist, Sumio Iijima; the engineers, Shuji Nakamura and Robert Langer; and the chemists, George M. Whitesides and Tobin Marks. The Award for Communication and Humanities was given to Google, the Prince of Asturias Award for Social Science went to Tzvetan Todorov and the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters was given to Margaret Atwood. The Prince of Asturias Award for Concord will be announced next 10th September.
Each of the Prince of Asturias Awards, which date back to 1981, is endowed with 50,000 Euros, a commissioned sculpture donated by Joan Miró, a diploma and an insignia. The awards will be presented in the autumn in Oviedo at a grand ceremony chaired by H.R.H. the Prince of Asturias.
Video link - Rafa answers questions after Quarter Final match
Uploaded by ninzninz2
US Open - Nadal rocks New York to reach semis
Rafael Nadal turned dream wrecker at Flushing Meadows when he downed American favourite Mardy Fish 3-6 6-1 6-4 6-2 in a rowdy late late show that closed Wednesday's programme at the US Open.
Rafael Nadal turned dream wrecker at Flushing Meadows when he downed American favourite Mardy Fish 3-6 6-1 6-4 6-2 in a rowdy late late show that closed Wednesday's programme at the US Open.
In a match that started on Wednesday and did not finish until 2.10am local time on Thursday, world number one Nadal drowned out the deafening roars on Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach the last four at Flushing Meadows for the first time.
"The night atmosphere here is always amazing here but I prefer to finish a little earlier," a beaming Nadal said court-side after securing a last-four showdown with Britain's Andy Murray.
"Thanks everyone for being here until two o'clock."
After overcoming a first-set hiccup, a merciless Nadal was steaming towards victory but was suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Serving at 3-2 in the fourth set, Nadal was distracted by a male fan who shouted out from the stands while the Spaniard was in full flight of his service motion.
Sportingly, Fish immediately stopped the point and then play was held up for several minutes as a security official went to deal with the offending fan.
Once the umpire had reminded the crowd of the etiquette of staying quiet during points, normal service resumed and a rampaging Nadal won the next three games, sealing victory when Fish sailed a the ball long.
At 2.10am, the finish was just 16 minutes short of the US Open record for the latest finish in New York. Eurosport, Reuters
Video link - Fan yells out just as Rafa is hitting the serve
Uploaded by kreature06
Chair Umpire Carlos Ramos gets a near-miss by Rafa's return attempt
Uploaded by kreature06
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