Happy Birthday Rafa!

Just one (shortish) post today, since this day HAS TO be commemorated, and since I have the perfect card to do so! Yup, this IS a card, especially created for me by my dear friend Ana in Belgrade <3
Do I hear some jealous threatening females voices?!!! One from Spain and the other one from Cambodia??? :P :P :P :P

Well, today, 3rd June, our boy Rafa is turning 24....age at which he has achieved so so so much more than many of his tennis counterparts...I often hear how Federer is great and how he has won xy number of titles.....BUT..when making such comparisons, people obviously seem to forget that Federer is 5 years older than Nadal and is sort of normal for him to have won more matches....except that an irony follows here, coz it is Mr. Nadal himself, with his 24 years (he actually achieved all this at 23, he is turning 24 today only), who has won 18 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments....which is a RECORD! Which is TWO more than Roger (who is 28) and ONE more than the previous record-holder, Andre Agassi, who was actually not more, not less but 33 years old when he achieved that record...so please...stop giving me your arguments of how great Federer is and how much Nadal sucks....I am not denying Federer's success...I may not like him at all, but I do have the courtesy to admit he is a great tennis player..however, if you are about to criticize Nadal, at least find me someone equal to his age, with equal experience and THEN make the comparisons....you dont have such a person? I rest my case...please call me when Nadal is 28 too
Should I mention that it was Nadal who took Wimbledon from Federer?? When everyone was sooo suspicious about how Nadal would adapt to grass, he managed to get to the finals, twice in a row, with which he proved that he can be good on grass as much as he is on clay....the next year proved to be a third luck charm and Wimbledon was in Nadal's hands....and their overall stats are 14:7 in Rafa's favour....hm!
Apologies to all the Federer fans and Nadal haters for this post, but lest not forget, this is MY blog, and MY post, so I can pretty much speak my mind, no? Feel free to write your own post about Roger or whomever else you want, and I promise i wont say a bad word there, nor will I argue....just as i WON'T allow that happen here...save the bad comments and insults for yourself please....I know this sounds harsh but i am also well aware of what this sort of posts may provoke, so this is just like a warning :) But this is Nadal's day, so let me enjoy it as I want it....and even though I dont like Federer, i DO like YOU as my friends....and you can hate Nadal to guts, but I never let that interfere in my relations with other people....just like i hate it when politics interfers too...

Right now Roland Garros is being played, where Rafa reached the semis, where he is going to play against Melzer, who rather surprised me by outlasting Novak in 5 sets....having in mind that Melzer is the oldest remaining guy in the tournament (29)...so I cant be still about his play to Nadal, even though Nadal has the 2:0 overall lead against him....Nadal is the guy who mentally is extremely strong, physically even more....I just hope and keep fingers crossed he doesnt have one of his bad days :P
Another thing that I love is that Fed is out, which means he will lose his last years points which gives Nadal the chance to come closer to regaining ATP number 1, and if he wins RG, number 1 is his! But lets not make predictions...whenever I do, they dont come true :) For those of you who follow tennis, esp. Rafa, are quite familiar with last year's events and why Rafa skipped many matches and why he played so poorly in general

Here are some stuff I wanted to share with you

a 12 year old kid, called Rafael Nadal :) isnt he cute :)



Nadal winning his 18th ATP Masters...can you just see how Federer missed that ball?????



Nadal vs Federer at Wimbledon 2008...by many considered as one of the greatest, most thrilling and most tense matches ever, interrupted by rain twice....it ate my nerves personally...but it was Nadal eventually who took the title home....I literally cried after this one (the second time i cried was when he wont the 18th ATP tournament)



I was about to speak also about Nadal's modesty and fairness in general, where he admits if the line umpires had made a mistake when calling the ball out if it was actually in....at the last Nadal-Federer meeting, when it was OBVIOUS the ball was IN, and Nadal should have won the point, Federer just raised his arms saying "i have no idea where it fell"...yeah, right....it was shown later that the ball WAS *IN* indeed, but oh well....the justice was served in the end, since Nadal won :)

And without any further ado....HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAFA!! Wishing you many many many more Happy Birthdays and MANY MANY MANY more matches and tournaments and titles!

And the greatest thanks to Ana for sending me this card in the first place and making this post possible.
And I also want to dedicate this post to my dear Nadal-friends, Zarah, with whom I often watch Nadal's matches, comment, laugh, cry, curse :P And Beatriz, with whom even though I havent been able to watch a match yet, is as supportive for Nadal as I am, and who shares with me the joys and disappointments of his matches.

Ok, I am finally gonna go silent now :D