It's a sweet revenge for Rafael Nadal and his fans!
After struggling to get back into form since his lost to Robin Soderling at Roland Garros last year, Nadal finally found his way back to the top as the King of Clay again.
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Not only that he wins his fifth French Open title and 7th Grand Slam, we also reclaims the top ATP rank from Roger Federer again on Monday.
“I lost last year because I was not well-prepared, and I had very low morale last year, as well,” said Nadal who covered his face with a towel and cried after the match ended.
“But this time, I’m back. I’m back—and I win.”Nadal is 38-1 over his career at Roland Garros.
Now he is only one French Open title shy of Bjorn Borg’s record of 6.This is the second time in three years that Nadal won the tournament without losing a set.
There's no time to celebrate or relax as Nadal plans to fly to London today and start practicing on grass. Of course I hope he'll clinch the second Wimbledon title this year.
Meanwhile, in the women's singles, Francesca Schiavone defeated Samantha Stosur in Saturday’s final, 6-4, 7-6 (2), and celebrated by kissing the clay.
Yikess!
At 29, Schiavone became the oldest woman to win her first Grand Slam title in 41 years.
In the men's doubles final, Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic beat Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy 7-5, 6-2 on Saturday to clinch their third grand-slam title together.
The William sisters earned their 12th Grand Slam title by beating Katarina Srebotnik and Kveta Peschke 6-2, 6-3 in the women's doubles.
Now the clay season has officially ended. Let's look forward to the grass surface.
(Images via Yahoo! Sports, Sina Sports)
Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic won their second straight Wimbledon men’s doubles title, defeating top-seeded American twins Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (7), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-3. “It’s a great accomplishment,” Nestor said.
“One of the first things I noticed was our name on the board, on the big plaque. Now we get it twice."
"It’s obviously going to be special to come back next year and see that.”
Nestor and Zimonjic were playing in their third Grand Slam final together. 
This year’s final was the first time that Nestor and Zimonjic have played the Bryan brothers in a Grand Slam tournament. “It’s great to be able to play them on a big stage and be able to beat them,” Nestor said.
(Via AFP; Images by Getty Images)
If Rafael Nadal wins his fifth consecutive French Open later this month, probably 2009 will be the best clay court season he ever had.
Fresh from winning his fourth Rome Masters title on Sunday, beating reigning champion Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 in the final, Nadal looks confident for Madrid Masters and the French Open.
Now Nadal owns 15th Masters Series title and only Andre Agassi has won more with a whopping 17 titles! "I would love to have more than 17."
"Right now I have 15, I'm very happy for that (but) I'm going to try my best in the next tournaments," said Nadal.
In the men's doubles final, Nenad Zimonjic and Daniel Nestor continued their European clay court domination by defeating defending champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 7-6(5), 6-3.
While in Stuttgart, Germany, Svetlana Kuznetsova stunned world no.1 Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-3 to win the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Sunday.
American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Russian Nadia Petrova won the doubles title with a 5-7, 6-3, 10-7 victory over Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta.
(Images Ryan Pierse/Julian Finney/Getty Images)
I was really pissed off with Astro, my local paid TV for not showing Rafael Nadal's historic win at the Monte Carlo Masters tournament yesterday because football is always their top priority.
It's totally absurb when they diligently covered the earlier rounds but when it comes to weekend's semifinals and finals they took away the live coverage just to pave ways for some unimportant football matches.
Enough of my rantings, I should be happy because Nadal managed to overcome Novak Djokovic, beating the third-ranked Serbian 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 for his fifth straight Monte Carlo Masters title after losing a set here for the first time since the 2006 final against Roger Federer.“Everyone can improve in every surface, no? No one is perfect. Sure, I can improve,” Nadal said.
“I always work to improve because when you feel you can’t improve, is difficult to wake up and go on court and practice.”
Nadal is now favored to also collect a fifth straight French Open title.He was unhappy with how he served, and plans to improve on it before heading to Roland Garros next month.In the men's doubles final, second seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic beat top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan 6-4, 6-1 in just 48 minutes.
Meanwhile, Roberta Vinci won her second WTA Tour title at the Barcelona Open on Sunday, beating beat defending champion Maria Kirilenko 6-0, 6-4.
In another WTA tourney, Sabine Lisicki beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-4 to win the Family Circle Cup and her first tour title on Sunday.
The 19-year-old Lisicki, who is ranked No. 63 and bounced Venus Williams earlier in the tournament, consistently had serves around 120 mph at the tournament on the green clay at the Family Circle Tennis Center in Charleston, S.C.
(Via AP; Images by Michael Steele/Getty Images Europe)
Seems like Rafael's Nadal obsession with Roger Federer continues.
Despite the emergence of players like Andy Murray and Gilles Simon, Nadal is still focusing on Roger. In the latest development, Nadal started his new year by capturing a surprising doubles title in Doha. Roger had a great year last year partnering with Stanislas Wawrinka in the men's doubles. I guess Nadal wants to emulate his idol's success in the men's doubles.
In the final match last night, Nadal and fellow Spaniard Marc Lopez shared the same gear with the same matching knee straps. Lopez even bites his trophy, a Nadal's signature gesture. I thought they made a cute and fun combination!
They teamed up to win the doubles crown, upsetting the no. 1 team in the world of Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 in one hour and 27 minutes.
"It was disappointing to lose in the singles yesterday so I feel a bit better having won the doubles," Nadal said.
"Daniel and Nenad are the best team in the world and they were tough to beat today."
Lopez who was holding a piece of crumpled paper said, "I would like to thank Rafa for giving me the opportunity to play with him and win my first ATP title."
Oh yeah, something bizarre happened during the match; a cat suddenly ran out to the court :D
I'm not a doubles fan but I swear this is one of the most entertaining doubles match I've ever seen!
(Via tennistalk.com; Images by Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images)
Top seeds and two-time defending champions Bob and Mike Bryan took time out from their first-match preparations at the Mutua Madrilena Masters Madrid yesterday to sign autographs and copies of the new ATP Feel the Speed of Doubles book for fans.
The American twins, who have amassed a 60-14 doubles record and clinched five titles this year, will contest their first match since winning the US Open crown last month against Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa in Madrid on Thursday.
In second round action, fifth seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett—who are tied No. 5 in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race—boosted their chances of qualifying for Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai after beating Tomas Berdych and Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 in 80 minutes.
Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic, who are locked in a two-team battle with the Bryan brothers for year-end No. 1 honours, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-6(3), 6-4 win over Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco.
Polish duo Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski also advanced to the quarterfinals on Wednesday, after edging past French duo and recent Metz titlists Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 7-5, 7-6(14) in 91 minutes.
Rafael Nadal, who had been due to partner compatriot Carlos Moya in the second round against fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles on Wednesday afternoon, withdrew from that match due to slight pain in his lower back.
(Images by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
It's a sweet revenge for Rafael Nadal and his fans! 
There's no time to celebrate or relax as Nadal plans to fly to London today and start practicing on grass. Of course I hope he'll clinch the second Wimbledon title this year.
Meanwhile, in the women's singles, Francesca Schiavone defeated Samantha Stosur in Saturday’s final, 6-4, 7-6 (2), and celebrated by kissing the clay. 
At 29, Schiavone became the oldest woman to win her first Grand Slam title in 41 years.
In the men's doubles final, Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic beat Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy 7-5, 6-2 on Saturday to clinch their third grand-slam title together.
The William sisters earned their 12th Grand Slam title by beating Katarina Srebotnik and Kveta Peschke 6-2, 6-3 in the women's doubles.
