The day Rafa cried

	Cynthia Lum/WireImage.com Rafa Nadal said his loss to Roger Federer at '07 Wimbledon was heartbreaking.

Nadal goes on to say that he's a much better player today, and if he still had his pre-injury body, the sky or No. 1 would be the limit. But that's not the case and he has to find a way to work through his physical problems.

Some other fascinating revelations (and remember, this is my Mexico-learned Spanish translating Mallorcan Spanish):

He said that the key to his chase of Federer, and largely his year, was the Wimbledon final, where he held two break points early in the fifth set and then let go. He said that in the locker room after, "I began to cry of rage, of sadness. It's the only match this year I lamented and one of the few that I have regretted in my life. It was very even. I was flattened for 20 to 25 minutes. When people began to come in to encourage me, I sat down in a bathtub. I thanked them and then asked them to leave me alone. I do not like when they see me to cry."

A split with his uncle and coach Toni was proposed this year, but Rafa doesn't think that the relationship is the root of his problems and they will continue on.

An exhibition of serving, forehands & passing shots By Ron Cioffi, TennisReporters.net Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA Pete Sampras still has the serve-and-volley game to take down any touring pro, even Roger Federer. In the second Clash of Times exhibition, there was no doubt that Pistol Pete can still cock, aim and shoot with anyone. But, Federer still prevailed 7-6(5), 7-6(6). Sampras was able to serve his way out of two break points in the second set, like he did so often in his heyday in the 1990s. His first serve blazed at up to 134 mph, a speed he rarely reached on the ATP Tour. He seems to be getting new pop – especially on his backhand – from new racket technology. Throughout the match, he rushed the net and easily put away first volleys and showed he can still react like a teenager at the cords on challenging second volleys. Plus his forehand shows the whip and accuracy that tennis fans still remember. So, why did Pete lose? Federer's all-round game surpasses any modern tennis player. While Federer might not get a chance to pass often in today's game, he showed he's got the arsenal to match passing shots with some of the greats of the Open era: Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander and Bjorn Borg. The Swiss' nimble footwork and quick hands allowed him to launch winners past Sampras whenever he got a decent look. More importantly, this three-match exo tour gives a look at two of the finest forehands in tennis history. Federer sprinted into the corner and clocked a forehand winner … to which a shocked Sampras shouted, "Hey, that's my shot." Hey, Pete: Put that in the past tense. Federer went shot-to-shot with the Sampras forehand and the competitors even had a chuckle when the Swiss won a battle of the forays. This was a great opportunity to see these two show off their forehand weapons and it's clear Federer has the more potent shots because his foot speed allows him to hit it with more variety, angle and deception. There's another sidelight about these matches between the 36-year-old Sampras and Federer, 10 years his junior: In some sports they would not be exhibitions. Baseball position players (non-pitchers) are often competitive into their late thirties. Soccer standout Zinedine Zidane, who retired last year, is only a year younger than Sampras. This only shows tennis is an exceptionally demanding sport where even the most talented pros can not sustain the mental, physical and travel demands usually past their 30th birthday.

He says that when the things go badly – like his eight-month title drought prior to '07 Indian Wells, that he gets nervous and anxious. But when he won Indian Wells (his first major US hard-court crown), he began to play a great level. "Many times what you need is a click," he said.

Nadal says that being more aggressive is a work in progress because at times he does it badly and then goes back to his defensive mode and it's hard to switch out of it again.

He says that one of his problems is that the clay-court season is so concentrated. "It's a great disadvantage," he said. "I played for two straight months, thousands of matches with the pressure of winning. Federer is different. He has many weeks without anything. But without the clay-court points, I would not be in Shanghai. I had a very good clay-court season, [but because of it], I'm sick  all the year. ... I was burn out when I arrived in Hamburg [he lost to Federer there for the first time ever on clay after winning Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome]. There was a moment in which my head exploded, above all against Federer. It was four or five weeks playing to the end each week, with hard matches and pressure. It's all day thinking about the same thing. A moment arrives in which you are tired."

Nadal also says that he won the Roland Garros title despite playing with his foot "asleep" and taking some type of anesthesia.

He says when he arrived at the US Open, where he got hurt in practice and lost to David Ferrer, that he was no longer "mentally fresh" and "did not see anything clear."

Sounds like Rafa needs to skip a clay-court tournament or two next year (Hamburg and Stuttgart?), maybe take a decent break after the Aussie Open and skip Indian Wells or Miami. He looked like a No. 1 to be at Wimbledon and now looks like he could slip to No. 3 during the winter. The sport needs some big-time challengers to Federer. Nadal has been the only guy (David Nalbandian included), who has consistently stung him since 2005.

Sampras v. Federer
going to the younger
Now to the first Pete Sampras v. Federer exhibition, which Federer took 6-4, 6-3 in Korea and the second won by the Swiss 7-6(5), 7-6(6). While I don't expect Sampras to win more than two sets in their mini-tour, I still believe that the Sampras of say, 1993-1995, could still go toe-to-toe with Federer of 2005-2007. Of course Federer's best is slightly better than Pete's was, but the tennis world gets that with every new elite player when another decade passes. For example, I believe that the Justine Henin of 2007 is better than Steffi Graf in 1997, even though Steffi had a far better career. It's the faster, stronger, evolved strokes and technology scenario.

Go to Inside Tennis for what I wrote back in June about Federer v. Sampras and I'll stand by it today.

So on Saturday, I'm up in one of my oak trees pruning the top without a harness and 2nd Daughter runs out the door insisting that despite my uncompromising position, that I had to listen to her right then. She launches into a short speech about how she and First and Only Son have found a great price on a Sony Wii system on the Internet, even though I told them I was not quite ready to lift the 14-year-old ban on gaming systems that hook up to TVs in my house. Apparently, because I barely hinted that I might by telling the night before to go price the systems just to get them out of my hair, that was a clear opening that yes, dad will bend now, and we need to let him in on every little detail, even though while I was in the tree, I yelled down to her that I didn't want to hear about Wii System until my feet were on the ground. No matter, she went on and on until I slipped about five feet or so, ripping up my right shin in the process. That injury was feeling better until Tuesday night, when I decided it was smart to chop firewood in the dark and somehow, without light, I lined up a limb of cherry tree the wrong way on the stump that I hack away on and instead of cutting through all the way (my follow-through was terrible), the limb flew back at my lower right leg, nailing my sore shin and busting up my knee to the tune of a large, half egg on it. So now I will limp through the holiday. Please e-mail your DIOMAM or DIOMAW entries to me.

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