[mseles1]

Sorry people I got a data error when trying to post, unsure why the above posted twice. Sorry.

[MariaV]

Thanks mseles1!
We'll see if Rafa will go with a more reasonable schedule, and let's see first how many matches he can get under is belt in the SA swing.

[Castafiore]

The "shitty schedule" thing is something haters bring up who haven't really looked at his schedule in recent years. His 2012 schedule was lean with no excess on it.
The only thing you could argue about was Barcelona perhaps.

The doubles is fun training. There's no pressure in it. It's gaining match experience in a fun way. Look at the players he is teaming up with: Nalbandian, Monaco. Both great friends of Rafa.

The SA events make absolute sense. If he's going to get back into things after a long recovery period, he is going to have to do it on a surface that works best for his body. Thus, SA.

---
MTF is playing up again. The website is doing some weird things.

---
Djokovic is in Belgium since yesterday (I think)

Djokovic heeft zijn waakhonden bij: twee bodyguards lossen hem van geen vin. Als tweede perimeter is Servische politie afgezakt. En als dat nog niet volstaat, heeft de Waalse tennisfederatie dertien veiligheidsagenten ingehuurd.

--> So, Djokovic brought two personal bodyguards with him + a team from the Serbian police came with him (!) + the walloon tennis federations hired 13 security agents for him.

Bit excessive.

[mseles1]

'The "shitty schedule" thing is something haters...' - I'm in no way a hater, furthest thing from it! I don't think Barcelona was the problem in 2012, IW/Miami with doubles & Halle w/doubles a different story. The point I was trying to make was, the man himself said somedays he felt pain in his knee - I cannot fathom how playing 3/4 weeks is a good remedy for that, even on clay. Who knows maybe Rafa put it out there that he sometimes feels pain to make a potential hc event withdrawal more plausible? Hopefully Rafa knows best and the 'outsider' is brilliant once more on the clay.

[Castafiore]

Many athletes from many sports + sport doctors have said that sport is healthy for you but top sport isn't.

Many top athletes perform their sport in pain. If you want to reach the top of a sport, you need to push and push yourself, you need to find the edge and see if you can move that edge further and further. So, they push their body into doing things that's beyond healthy.


The difference is that Rafa talks more about it than others.


--
Mimi (I'm sorry I can't goodrep you back )

[acionescu]

Agreed about the schedule, this is not 2005 anymore
The schedule card is played by the haters in order not to talk about the real issues: the number of mandatory tournements with fat-assed directors whose interests count more than those of the players and the predominance of HC.
You could never win the haters: he was treated as a whiner when he talked about the above issues and now, that he has a more clay orientated schedule he's a coward
You could argue about the style of play but he is what he is BECAUSE of THIS style of playing, nothing important to do about that.
In the last years very few tournaments could be considered as "unnecessary", Rotterdam 2009 comes to mind but he even skips some mandatories, he barey plays Paris, for example and I'm pretty sure that, if Madrid wasn't in Spain, he would skip it as well
If healthy, he would never skip Barcelona, it's his club, FFS!!!! and we all saw( some very painfully so ) that, when he needs to skip it, he skips it

[Castafiore]

Originally Posted by Andreea

when he needs to skip it, he skips it

Indeed. That's what he learned in recent years: he may put tournaments, doubles and singles, on his schedule but he skips it when he gets a warning from his body via his doctors that he should rest.


I think that Metis is quietly jealous of the weather we're having here:
Chilly, grey, very windy (gusts) + rain, rain, rain.
Bonus enjoyment points if you plan on using your bike in that weather.

[acionescu]

No wonder you, Flemish, are so grumpy

[leng jai]

Taking a break from being bullied in GM.

[Castafiore]

hmmmpf...who says I'm grumpy about it?

[acionescu]

Come here, we can bully you instead

[acionescu]

Originally Posted by Castafiore

hmmmpf...who says I'm grumpy because of it?

Corrected for you

[leng jai]

I'm going to upload the video of Hewitt =Legend and I playing tennis tomorrow. The camera work is simply legend.

[acionescu]

No better than the BHs, I'm sure

[leng jai]

Think I only hit one backhand in the whole video and I'm pretty sure it hit the side fence. We forgot to record the first set so the footage is of the second set where we both have copious amounts of stitches.