For those of you who haven't seen it yet, this is a fun video interview that a Brazilian TV station did with Roger, since he is planning a South American exhibition tour in December. The part about his head-to-head with Nadal is particularly humorous:
Roger funny Brazil interview
This weekend is Davis Cup, which will be on clay for the American guys in Monte Carlo, and then we move firmly into the clay court season with no looking back until we get to the grass in June. I think this clay court season is quite important and will show a lot, particularly for one named Rafa Nadal. Rafa withdrew from his semifinal in Miami against Andy Murray with knee pain. According to reports the knee is now fine. Hmm, awfully quick recovery. Obviously Rafa's focus is on the upcoming clay season, He is very aware of the fact that he hasn't won a tournament since last year's French Open (just as a side note, he hasn't won a hard court tournament since October 2010!!!!). Last year Novak Djokovic had the nerve to beat Nadal on his beloved clay in two back-to-back big clay Master's 1000 tournaments. Rafa is going to want to be very sure that doesn't happen again. On the other hand, Novak is going to want to take this opportunity to prove his validity as #1 on all surfaces. Not only that, Nadal has NEVER lost in Monte Carlo (coming up the middle of this month). How much Djokovic would like to change that, even more so due to the fact that he now resides there. Although Roger Federer currently isn't playing in Monte Carlo, which takes a bit of the joy in the tournament away for me, I will still be watching with interest to see if Djokovic can wrestle this one away too or if Nadal can figure out a way to finally beat this guy after losing to him in, what, 6 finals in a row? I would think Rafa will figure out a way to win at least one of the three upcoming Master's 1000 clay tournaments. What about the French Open? Is he going to win it for the 7th time or is Djokovic going to come through and win his fourth major in row? Or Federer was very close last year - maybe he can make his way to a second French Open title for his 17th GS trophy, which is certainly what I would like to see happen! :) Lots of drama upcoming in the next two months - and that's all before the excitement of Wimbledon and the Olympics! Lots to look forward to, tennis fans!
I would love to hear some thoughts and opinions on what you see happening during the clay court season and where you think Rafael Nadal is at in his health, passion for the game, etc., as he gets closer to his 26th birthday.
Kim (Majorfedfan )
