who here has heard of rafael nadal?
471290
He is a Spanish tennis star.I am his fan. He is the current defending champion of the on-going Monte Carlo Masters tournament. Today, he thrashed Coria to qualify for the semi-final. I hope he retains his title this year.
671588
Quite possibly.\n\nRight now, i think Nadal is better than Federer on clay however. Nadal has a few years in hand over Federer to round out the rest of his game.\n\nOnly thing that stands in Nadal's way in my opinion is his emotions. Sometimes he lets them get the best of him at the most inopportune times.
1081129
I just saw him play once, in the world cup opener for Portugal. Just an average player.
1084029
Justine Henin-Hardenne won the French Open on the women's side against Svetlana Kuznetsova by a score of 6-4, 6-4.\n\nI was actually surprised that Nadal won.  Federer is such a dominating player against everyone else, and it's surprising that he could get beaten 4 times in a row by Nadal.  I guess it shows Nadal's competence on clay and against Federer.  That's one thing Federer needs to work on.
395140
Yes, I think he is a key player, one of many. Personally I am a huge fan of his, and think and hope that he brings luck to Portugal, as well as all the other key players such as: Figo, Quaresma, Nuno Gomes, and Pauleta, just to name a few.
1182100
NADAL!!!\n\ndrop dead gorgeous!!!
301088
Chalk another one up for Nadal. There are some other decent players left in the tournament, but noone who's likely to threaten Nadal.
385188
Rafa I mean Rafael Nadal. Federee is also good but Rafa is a rockstar. Such a strong body combined with powerful shots.\nIn Gals i lov Maria Sharapova with her orgasmic shrieks.
43673
I think by unranked you mean unseeded.  If thats the case I beleive it was Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon.  Before that it was Gustavo Kuerten at the French.
520254
The jury's still out. Yes, he's won on hard courts, but so have a lot of top-level clay-courters (Muster, Moya, Kuerten, and Corretja to name just a few). There is a difference between being able to win a few tournaments on a surface, and being a true champion on that suface.\nThat said, he does look like he has potential on hard courts, but grass is a different story. He would need to modify/improve a lot of aspects of his game (turn his serve into more of a weapon, volley more, take the ball earlier) before he can become a consistent threat at Wimbledon.
1186746
i totally agree.\nNadal is Hoooooooooooottttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!\nHe may not be dominating the grass and hard courts but, he is definately the king of the clay. with a little more practice Nadal will be the King of all surfaces.\nNadal is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!
627979
i've heard of him.\n\ndo you kite then ?
1018991
its federer or nadal.
720588
It's baffling because Federer pretty much owns everyone else.\nIt seems to be the high bounce of Nadal's shots. Clay makes it even worse. That said, a player of Federer's calibre should have figured out something by now.\nThat said, Hewitt, Henman, Ferrero, and Agassi all had dominant winning records against Federer before he was able to turn it round. So maybe it will just take him a little while.
970906
i couldn't really say yes basing solely on federer's winning titles and the fact that he has acquired more than sampras at the same age.\n\n\nthe deal is, in the pete sampras era, another tennis great was co-dominating the circuit --- andre agassi. federer had no real competition (the competition that agassi gives to sampras is incomparable to that of nadal-roddick.) which is the reason why he has won more tennis matches
566397
Basically because he is such a complete player. He can hit all types of shots. He has no real weaknesses. He is good on all surfaces. Even though clay is not his favourite, he is still more than respectable on the surface. He can vary his tactics to counter all types of players. He has great stamina and athleticism to complement his inate talent too.\nSome players have proven tricky for him though. Nadal has won 4 of the five times they've played, and Nalbandian still has a winning edge on him. That said, his defeats are still few and far between.
1186995
Hmm, I always he had potential, but maybe his injury did more damage than expected. That's a shame, I quite like him actually. \nWe need more players to compete with Federer ... otherwise he'll keep adding numbers to his winning streak. \n\nI'm hoping Andy Roddick can play well this time at Wimbledon ...