GOLDEN SWING COMES ALIVE WITH NADAL’S SHORTS CHANGE AND FOGNINI’S FIGHTING SPIRIT

Written by: Staff on 24th February 2015

GOLDEN SWING COMES ALIVE WITH NADAL'S SHORTS CHANGE AND FOGNINI'S FIGHTING SPIRIT

epa04636023 Rafael Nadal from Spain returns a ball against Frantisek Cermak and Jiri Vesely from the Czech Republic, during their ATP Doubles match in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 24 February 2015. Argentinean Juan Monaco (not pictured) is the team mate of Nadal. EPA/David Fernandez |

Golden Swing comes alive with Nadal’s shorts change and Fognini’s fighting spirit

By Ricky Dimon

The Golden Swing is supposed to be the laughingstock of February, where relatively obscure clay-court grinders vulture ATP points to boost their rankings to inflated, some might say undeserved levels. Last week’s tournament in Rio de Janeiro, however, did its best to steal the limelight from the hard-court swings in Europe and the United States.

That’s not to say the proceedings in South America have been without the usual head-scratching moments. Someone named Luca Vanni reached the Sao Paulo final, a 34-year-old whom nobody had ever heard of before 2014 (Victor Estrella Burgos) won the Quito title, Joao Souza–who is not even the best player on tour with that name (Joao Sousa holds that honor)–made it to one semifinal and another quarterfinal.

But it was not all about the borderline no-names; how could it have been when none other than Rafael Nadal signed up for the Rio Open? Surprisingly, Nadal failed to win the title. Despite that, the Spaniard made plenty of news.

First he messed around with Thomaz Bellucci–at least for one set. Then he struggled against Pablo Carreno Busta. Then he lost a set to another Pablo (Cuevas). In the latter match, Nadal and Cuevas did not even get on the court until after 1:00 a.m. (thanks a lot, Fabio Fognini). It ended at 3:18 in the morning and would have set the record for the latest finish in ATP tournament history (Grand Slams not included) had Cuevas not gone into tank mode in the third set. The Uruguayan put the cream cheese on his bagel by purposely blasting a forehand 20 feet out on match point at 5-0, 40-0.

Cuevas tanks the last game – https://vine.co/v/OQ7thV7O6L1

Before it ended, though, Nadal made the late night on Tennis Channel resemble something like “after hours” features on HBO, Showtime, or Cinemax. After sending Carlos Bernardes into a laughing attack by informing the chair umpire that his own shorts had been put on backwards, Nadal was allowed to change on the court. Unfortunately for the female viewers, Nadal obviously had the benefit of a towel.

Rafael Nadal changing his shorts. Photo by @_rafaelnadal via Instagram.

Bernardes laughs about Nadal’s shorts – http://i.gyazo.com/84f50c63546b604bf421188d05681d83.gif

Nadal’s shorts change – https://vine.co/v/OQ7HbbvHiQI

And we haven’t even gotten to Fabio Fognini.

Long regarded as one of the mentally weakest players on tour (a well-deserved stigma, let’s be honest). Fognini showed some rare fight in Rio. And he showed it not once, not twice, but at least three times.

The Italian saved three match points in his opening match against Jiri Vesely. Then he kept his head on straight despite blowing a ridiculous eight match points in a three-hour and 12-minute match against Federico Delbonis. Then he beat Nadal, having previously lost to the former world No. 1 four times in four tries.

Now in Buenos Aires, Nadal plays…wait for it…Facundo Arguello on Wednesday. Arguello is No. 146 in the world and was 0-10 lifetime at the ATP level prior to this week. So there’s no point in watching, right?

Wrong. On this Golden Swing, you just don’t know what is going to happen.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Atp, Fabio Fognini, Rafa, Ricky Dimon, Tennis

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10sBalls_com says:

February 24, 2015 at 6:05 pm

GOLDEN SWING COMES ALIVE WITH @RafaelNadal’s SHORTS CHANGE AND @fabiofogna’s FIGHTING SPIRIT- http://t.co/lbxE28Smcv #tennis #Nadal

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