mrzz
Hater
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I had this post in mind since I saw this thread, but now -- with the Fedal wars at full steam again -- I guess it is a good time to do it.
I read above that Kieran never watched Nadal live, so this post is to tell him: do it, and do it as soon as you can. And I guess you noticed that I root for the other guy.
I´ll tell you about the one time I saw Nadal playing, it was here in São Paulo, in 2013, when he played the South American clay swing to get back in to form.
I am sure there are a lot of folks here who saw him play numerous times, in more prestigious tournaments, in much more important matches. I saw him on the quarters of a 250 tournament, against unheralded Carlos Berlocq.
But here is the thing: probably most people there with me were also seeing Nadal for the first time. It was indoors, at that time the tournament was played in a big gymnasium, actually pretty close to home, with place for, say, 15000 people I guess. Naturally it was not full, but there were around 2 or 3 thousand there. And you simply could feel how amazed people were. It takes a lot to make a Brazilian crowd quiet, and that happened quite a few times that night.
What impressed me the most about Nadal, and I tell you that I never seen anything like it, is his presence on court. He walks as he would go and fight the Roman empire, or better, as he would conquer the Roman empire. He exhales determination. You can see it on TV, yes, but live it is almost absurd. And I can tell you for sure that everyone in the room had exactly the same impression, people were staring each other and saying "o cara é foda" (the guy is wicked/super badass ), before the match had even begun.
And it was a helluva match. Berlocq is a good clay courter and had the match of his life. He was serving like hell, hitting bloody hard and not giving anything for free. He was playing like a top dog. But even still it was not enough. I was rooting for the guy -- bias, for sure, but I always root for the Argentinian players anyway (don´t tell that to my fellow Brazilians), as I like their fighting spirit. There was one point -- I do not recall it perfectly, but I guess it was with Berlocq serving at 3-2 in the second, after winning the first (maybe it was the third, I am not sure). He had just broken Nadal, so that was his chance to take the match in his hand. He got to 40-15. He put a good first serve on court, they played a long point. He did everything right, but Nadal chased every ball, and when he had a chance, he fired a monster cross court forehand that Berlocq could touch, but not put back in to play. I was very close to the place he was when that point ended. He still was up a break and close to winning it, and it still was 40-30, but you could see that right there he knew he would lose. In fact, he and all the stadium. Believe me, I am not dramatizing it. I remember vividly people saying to each other things like "what the fuck you need to do to beat this guy?". Everyone watching had the same impression.
Berlocq really tried. They fought for more than two hours. As I said, the silence that you could "hear" at certain moments was unreal. People would forget to scream after some points -- believe me, in Brazil even tennis matches are noisy. Is always Davis Cup around here.
The determination that Nadal brings to the court is absolutely amazing. The guy is a gladiator. I doubt there is another athlete in the word capable of transmitting such impression. Other great athletes will have their virtues, but on this aspect he has no parallel. It is a mixture of fighting spirit, focus and determination. All this translates into one word I already used, but I repeat: presence.
You cannot see it on TV. It is worth the ticket, the trip, and the quarrel with the missus.
I read above that Kieran never watched Nadal live, so this post is to tell him: do it, and do it as soon as you can. And I guess you noticed that I root for the other guy.
I´ll tell you about the one time I saw Nadal playing, it was here in São Paulo, in 2013, when he played the South American clay swing to get back in to form.
I am sure there are a lot of folks here who saw him play numerous times, in more prestigious tournaments, in much more important matches. I saw him on the quarters of a 250 tournament, against unheralded Carlos Berlocq.
But here is the thing: probably most people there with me were also seeing Nadal for the first time. It was indoors, at that time the tournament was played in a big gymnasium, actually pretty close to home, with place for, say, 15000 people I guess. Naturally it was not full, but there were around 2 or 3 thousand there. And you simply could feel how amazed people were. It takes a lot to make a Brazilian crowd quiet, and that happened quite a few times that night.
What impressed me the most about Nadal, and I tell you that I never seen anything like it, is his presence on court. He walks as he would go and fight the Roman empire, or better, as he would conquer the Roman empire. He exhales determination. You can see it on TV, yes, but live it is almost absurd. And I can tell you for sure that everyone in the room had exactly the same impression, people were staring each other and saying "o cara é foda" (the guy is wicked/super badass ), before the match had even begun.
And it was a helluva match. Berlocq is a good clay courter and had the match of his life. He was serving like hell, hitting bloody hard and not giving anything for free. He was playing like a top dog. But even still it was not enough. I was rooting for the guy -- bias, for sure, but I always root for the Argentinian players anyway (don´t tell that to my fellow Brazilians), as I like their fighting spirit. There was one point -- I do not recall it perfectly, but I guess it was with Berlocq serving at 3-2 in the second, after winning the first (maybe it was the third, I am not sure). He had just broken Nadal, so that was his chance to take the match in his hand. He got to 40-15. He put a good first serve on court, they played a long point. He did everything right, but Nadal chased every ball, and when he had a chance, he fired a monster cross court forehand that Berlocq could touch, but not put back in to play. I was very close to the place he was when that point ended. He still was up a break and close to winning it, and it still was 40-30, but you could see that right there he knew he would lose. In fact, he and all the stadium. Believe me, I am not dramatizing it. I remember vividly people saying to each other things like "what the fuck you need to do to beat this guy?". Everyone watching had the same impression.
Berlocq really tried. They fought for more than two hours. As I said, the silence that you could "hear" at certain moments was unreal. People would forget to scream after some points -- believe me, in Brazil even tennis matches are noisy. Is always Davis Cup around here.
The determination that Nadal brings to the court is absolutely amazing. The guy is a gladiator. I doubt there is another athlete in the word capable of transmitting such impression. Other great athletes will have their virtues, but on this aspect he has no parallel. It is a mixture of fighting spirit, focus and determination. All this translates into one word I already used, but I repeat: presence.
You cannot see it on TV. It is worth the ticket, the trip, and the quarrel with the missus.
