WHAT A MATCH FEDERER VS. TIPSAREVIC !

Janko Tipsarevic

Roger Federer

Well, I stayed up all night long. I started to watch the Australian Open tennis match between Federer and Tipsarevic. What a match!! While watching it, I was on the live chat at Rafael Nadal's "Fan Page". Of course, we were hoping Serbian Tipsarevic would be victorious. We are Rafa fans. And it's hard to be for Roger when your heart is with Rafa ~ HIS ROYAL HOTNESS. Plus, Janko Tipsarevic had so much heart and was right in there so, so very close. I enjoyed watching Janko. He was fantastic! Surely great things are coming for him. He was special tonight! He deserves much adoration and Serbia must be proud! Kudos to Janko for a great game! He gave Roger a run for his money for sure! It will be all over Youtube.

Here is ONE
.............................................................................

.............................................................................

From: videosdetennis

Australian Open '08 Round 3 Federer vs Tipsarevic

From the BBC here is "Federer v Tipsarevic as it happened"

Australian Open, Melbourne

Men's third-round result:

R Federer (Swi) bt J Tipsarevic (Ser)

. . . A former junior world number two, Tipsarevic won the Aussie junior title in 2001 and is a fan of Nietzsche, Dostoevsky and Goethe. Apparently he has a Dostoevsky tattoo on his left arm that reads "Beauty will save the world".

Federer survives massive scare in Melbourne
By Simon Cambers

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Champion Roger Federer survived a massive scare before scrambling to a 6-7, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1, 10-8 third-round victory over Serb Janko Tipsarevic at the Australian Open on Saturday.

With the world number one and top seed strangely off-color, a huge shock looked a real possibility when world number 49 Tipsarevic led by two sets to one but the Swiss came through a tense final set to take his place in the last 16.

"What a great battle. Fair play, he's a nice guy -- pity somebody has to win, wish we could have draws sometimes too," Federer said in a courtside interview.

"This is where you get grey hair early in life. Pity for him, but what a great victory for me."

A sluggish Federer lost the first set, having served for it at 5-3. It was the first set he had dropped at the Australian Open since 2006.

Federer hit back to level the match by cruising through the second set tiebreak, only to lose the third after holding two set points on the Tipsarevic serve in the 10th game.

But Federer, chasing his 13th grand slam title, leveled and in a tense final set, broke in the 17th game and served out to line up a clash with Czech 13th seed Tomas Berdych or Juan Monaco, the 21st seed from Argentina.

Having looked supremely confident in his opening two matches, Federer was expected to breeze past Tipsarevic, who had won only two matches in three visits to the Australian Open until this year.

Federer looked a shadow of the dominant player who has reached 10 successive grand-slam finals and won three of the last four Australian Opens.

It looked like business as usual when the Swiss broke to lead 5-3 in the first set but Tipsarevic broke back and won the tiebreak 7-5 after Federer chose not to hit an easy volley that landed in.

The second set also went to a tiebreak but Federer took it 7-1 to level before forcing two set points in the 10th game of the third.

But, as he did throughout the match, Tipsarevic dug deep on the big points, saving both and stunning the top seed by breaking to take the set 7-5.

Federer had been upset by Tipsarevic's numerous Hawk-Eye challenges in the first three sets but shrugged off his worries by racing through the fourth.

Tipsarevic refused to lie down, however, and stayed on serve until 7-7 in the decider when a backhand pass from Federer forced an error.

The Swiss squandered one match point but an unreturnable serve sealed victory and kept alive his hopes of a third consecutive Australian Open title.

.............................................................................

Rafa Nadal - Fuerte
Uploaded by melle-minoes

.............................................................................
This video shows Rafa's personality.


.............................................................................

Rafael Nadal interview at Chennai Open
Uploaded by rafabulous

.............................................................................

Rafa plays USA eastern standard time, Sunday morning approximately at 5:00 a.m., I think. ESPN2 says the ladies will be at 3:30 a.m., and Rafa will follow their match.

Melbourne, Australia is 14 hours ahead of us. It will be another match against a Frenchman ~ this time versus Paul Henry Matheiu, the number 23 of the world.

VAMOS RAFA!

Right now, Hewitt and Baghdatis are playing a charged first set at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning ~ but I need some sleep to see Rafa play later.

NADAL VS. SIMON AND THE POOR ESPN2 COVERAGE OF AUSTRALIAN OPEN

ESPN2's coverage of the Australian Open tennis tournament going on now is pathetic. An admitted enthusiast of the number two tennis player in the world ~ Rafael Nadal ~ I was disappointed to stick around through the other matches waiting for Rafa's third round match versus Gilles Simon of France. But instead of seeing tennis, we got to see an interview and a Serbian documentary during the Nadal v. Simon match. I like documentaries. But I am on a sport channel thinking they will show the number 2's TENNIS match. But no, ESPN2 would rather show me a relatively unimportant interview in the booth with the commentator and other matches than the match with Spanish champion Rafael Nadal. What are they thinking?!

Here is a part of the match:
............................................................



............................................................
Rafa with Simon in Round 3 at AO
With Rafa's interview

From: videosdetennis

............................................................

............................................................
Rafa pictures of the match with Simon.

The following is from the English translation of Rafa writing from Melbourne. You can see all of Rafa's daily blog entries and Rafa's answers to fans's questions, as well as a fan's blog from the Australian Open at his Fan Page on his website.

Aplatanado. What is this you will say "aplatanado". I came out totally sluggish to the match. I said that to the journalists in the press conference after the match when they asked me about the first set. Yesterday I said that I would possibly go to the aquarium and in the end, like I told you, I didn't go. Instead I took a 2 hour siesta. I normally don't have a siesta. In Mallorca I never have a siesta, but I don't know what is the matter with me here that I slept two hours. How awful! I don't know, perhaps this made me come out more, well, just that, like jelly! Simon also deserves credit, he played pretty well and courageously in the first set.

Anyway, it is not my Uncle Toni's fault, with whom I warmed up this morning. Because the other day, the day of my match with Serra, I also warmed up with Toni. I am not going to blame him hahaha.

I am defintely going to the Aquarium tomorrow. I think I will go to train and afterwards will go to the Aquarium. I feel like getting out and walking. I feel like I am a recluse in a golden prison... that is what Lobita, Moya's trainer calls the hotel where we are staying. They have everything here: restaurants of every type, cinemas, casino, all types of bars and that means that we don't go out much. But it is true, one should go out.

The "stretcher". I've already told you that the massage and treatment stretcher broke. Fundamental. Well, today when I arrived back at the hotel, at last a very pleasant man came and fixed the stretcher in 10 minutes.

And here is an interesting place where fans give you their impressions of this particular match.

And is it just me or does the commentator Cliff Drysdale get on your nerves?

Rafa rolls into round four

Friday, 18 January, 2008
By Adam Lucius

Spaniard Rafael Nadal has fought back from the brink of first-set oblivion to carve out a 7-5 6-2 6-3 win over Gilles Simon.

Nadal was 2-5 down in the opening set and looking lost before muscling his way back to steal it from under the Frenchman's nose.

The scare seemed to motivate the No.2 seed, who went on to win the match in straight sets.

The much-improved Simon staved off five match points before succumbing after a determined fight.

It books Nadal a fourth-round date with Stefan Koubek or Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Current Match on Rod Laver Arena Rod Laver Arena - Men's Singles - 3rd Round Gilles Simon FRA (28) 5 2 3 Rafael Nadal ESP (2) 7 6 6 Match Statistics Serve Statistics

Match Facts - Nadal nailed 27 winners to Simon's 38 - The Spaniard made 22 unforced errors to his opponent's 48 - Nadal top serve speed was 203km/h - He converted six of his 13 break point opportunities - The match featured just one double fault - The encounter lasted 146 minutes From Australian Open

RAFA NADAL PLAYS IN MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA OPEN

The new tennis season starts with the Australian Open in Melbourne at Rod Laver Arena, right now. So Rafael-Nadal-watching season commences for me. He plays 3:30 a.m. tonight and you can catch it or record it on ESPN2. At Rafael Nadal click the tab at the top "Zona de Fans" ~ it will take you to the English section. The English tab presently isn't functioning to get you there. You can get all sorts of information there provided by his fans. You just have to register ~ it's free. The "History in the Making" section will give you the current tournament scoops that you can get no where else in such a compact way. There are French and Spanish sections of course, too. Rafa will be blogging throughout the tournament and his fans will translate it for us there. It's great fun and he's fun to watch even if you don't love tennis. But he makes me love tennis.
.........................................................................

.........................................................................
Rafa-Moves







.........................................................................

.........................................................................
Here's the fantastic Mallorcan
Rafael Nadal ~ Music by Ange Etrange ~ Created by Juliette2007

Rafa Smiles