Rafa Awards 2007
as voted by the membership of Vamos Brigade
Rafa has won a number of awards this year but these are from the Vamos Brigade. Our members came up with the categories and nominations and with a fanfare of trumpets we can now reveal the results.
Firstly, the tennis awards.
What was the best tournament of 2007?
Although there were many who enjoyed watching Rafa battle his way through to the final at Wimbledon again the winner here was Roland Garros. You just have to love a Grand Slam on clay with a trophy for Rafa at the end.
Roland Garros 51%
What was the best match of 2007?
Despite the result the match we thought was the best was the Wimbledon final. It was full of drama and some of the best tennis we have seen Rafa play. In addition, this match has been unanimously recognized as the best in the 2007 year end articles, blogs and polls. Which confirms we actually do know a little bit about tennis!
Wimbledon Final 52%
What was your favourite on court moment?
Not surprisingly this came from the Wimbledon final - that sublime passing shot played from flat on his butt.
Passing shot in Wimbledon Final 34%
What was the saddest moment?
Losing that Wimbledon final. We were upset enough at the time without later finding out that he'd cried over it.
Losing the Wimbledon final and crying afterwards 70%
Since the year wasn't all about singles we also asked,
Who was your favourite among Rafa's four doubles partners?
Here Carlos Moya just narrowly squeaked a win over Feliciano Lopez.
Charly 31%
Now for the non-tennis awards.
What was your favorite Rafa quote?
Rafa continues to consistently entertain the press corps in his post match interviews. But he had one standout comment this year that didn't even need a vote. The concensus of our members was unaminous! At the press conference after his quarter final loss at the Australian Open he said "I have pain here, in my famous ass." And then he barely supressed his smirk.
The famous ass quote, unanimously.
We can't deny that we want Rafa to look his best at all times so we had a few votes on his clothing.
What was your favourite on court outfit?
Here we show that we're traditionalists at heart - we liked Rafa best in his Wimbledon white although the blue top and white piratas got nearly as high a proportion of the votes.
Wimbledon white 31%
What was the worst on court outfit?
Despite a handful of people thinking it was the best outfit the overwhelming vote here was for the Australian Open outfit - it was the pyjama trousers or the broccoli and cheese colour combination that did it. The least we could do is choose a pleasing picture of Rafa in that outfit!
Australian Open 44%
What was your favourite off court outfit?
Ever since its first appearance when Rafa was cheering on the Spanish basketball team we have been more than a little taken with the dark shirt and jeans. We are still fighting over whether it is black or brown (one of us so needs to see it in the flesh) but either way that combination is just perfect.
The dark brown/ black shirt and jeans 48%
What was your favourite off court moment?
There were so many good off court moments this year but the one that continues to delight us is that rendidtion of "La Bamba." Here's what Rafa had to say about his renditon of "La Bamba" in his Wimbledon blog:
"How were you able to get over your shyness to do such an outgoing 'La Bamba' karaoke? Did you have a glass of wine?" - Susan
RN: "Hahahhahahaha, no wine, I don't need wine to do sometimes crazy things. I was asked to do it, I thought it was a cool idea and I did it! I enjoyed it."
La Bamba 51%
Our very first Rafa Award of 2007 was,
What is the Picture of the Year?.
This intimate picture of Rafa and Toni celebrating the triumph of Roland Garros for the third time won by an overwhelming margin.
10th June Picture of the Week 46%
We don't want anything negative in our reveal of the Rafa Awards 2007 but just as a word of warning - make fun of our Rafa and you win all the votes for things most likely to upset a member of the Vamos Brigade!
Finally we asked Vamos Brigade members,
What would you most like to see happen in 2008?
To see him be healthy with in particular no injury worries
To have a great clay season and defend his Roland Garros title
To win Wimbledon
To win Roland Garros and Wimbledon back to back
To win an Olympic gold medal
To do well on hard courts
To defend his number 2 ranking
To become number 1 in the ranking
To get back the spark
All of the above
We are a greedy lot. Votes for winning Wimbledon and Roland Garros back to back far outweighed those for either on its own. Defending the number 2 position couldn't find any takers - it's number 1 that we want for our man. But the overall winner was, of course, all of the above.
All of the above 45%
Firstly, the tennis awards.
What was the best tournament of 2007?
Although there were many who enjoyed watching Rafa battle his way through to the final at Wimbledon again the winner here was Roland Garros. You just have to love a Grand Slam on clay with a trophy for Rafa at the end.
Roland Garros 51%
What was the best match of 2007?
Despite the result the match we thought was the best was the Wimbledon final. It was full of drama and some of the best tennis we have seen Rafa play. In addition, this match has been unanimously recognized as the best in the 2007 year end articles, blogs and polls. Which confirms we actually do know a little bit about tennis!
Wimbledon Final 52%
What was your favourite on court moment?
Not surprisingly this came from the Wimbledon final - that sublime passing shot played from flat on his butt.
Passing shot in Wimbledon Final 34%
What was the saddest moment?
Losing that Wimbledon final. We were upset enough at the time without later finding out that he'd cried over it.
Losing the Wimbledon final and crying afterwards 70%
Since the year wasn't all about singles we also asked,
Who was your favourite among Rafa's four doubles partners?
Here Carlos Moya just narrowly squeaked a win over Feliciano Lopez.
Charly 31%
Now for the non-tennis awards.
What was your favorite Rafa quote?
Rafa continues to consistently entertain the press corps in his post match interviews. But he had one standout comment this year that didn't even need a vote. The concensus of our members was unaminous! At the press conference after his quarter final loss at the Australian Open he said "I have pain here, in my famous ass." And then he barely supressed his smirk.
The famous ass quote, unanimously.
We can't deny that we want Rafa to look his best at all times so we had a few votes on his clothing.
What was your favourite on court outfit?
Here we show that we're traditionalists at heart - we liked Rafa best in his Wimbledon white although the blue top and white piratas got nearly as high a proportion of the votes.
Wimbledon white 31%
What was the worst on court outfit?
Despite a handful of people thinking it was the best outfit the overwhelming vote here was for the Australian Open outfit - it was the pyjama trousers or the broccoli and cheese colour combination that did it. The least we could do is choose a pleasing picture of Rafa in that outfit!
Australian Open 44%
What was your favourite off court outfit?
Ever since its first appearance when Rafa was cheering on the Spanish basketball team we have been more than a little taken with the dark shirt and jeans. We are still fighting over whether it is black or brown (one of us so needs to see it in the flesh) but either way that combination is just perfect.
The dark brown/ black shirt and jeans 48%
What was your favourite off court moment?
There were so many good off court moments this year but the one that continues to delight us is that rendidtion of "La Bamba." Here's what Rafa had to say about his renditon of "La Bamba" in his Wimbledon blog:
"How were you able to get over your shyness to do such an outgoing 'La Bamba' karaoke? Did you have a glass of wine?" - Susan
RN: "Hahahhahahaha, no wine, I don't need wine to do sometimes crazy things. I was asked to do it, I thought it was a cool idea and I did it! I enjoyed it."
La Bamba 51%
Our very first Rafa Award of 2007 was,
What is the Picture of the Year?.
This intimate picture of Rafa and Toni celebrating the triumph of Roland Garros for the third time won by an overwhelming margin.
10th June Picture of the Week 46%
We don't want anything negative in our reveal of the Rafa Awards 2007 but just as a word of warning - make fun of our Rafa and you win all the votes for things most likely to upset a member of the Vamos Brigade!
Finally we asked Vamos Brigade members,
What would you most like to see happen in 2008?
To see him be healthy with in particular no injury worries
To have a great clay season and defend his Roland Garros title
To win Wimbledon
To win Roland Garros and Wimbledon back to back
To win an Olympic gold medal
To do well on hard courts
To defend his number 2 ranking
To become number 1 in the ranking
To get back the spark
All of the above
We are a greedy lot. Votes for winning Wimbledon and Roland Garros back to back far outweighed those for either on its own. Defending the number 2 position couldn't find any takers - it's number 1 that we want for our man. But the overall winner was, of course, all of the above.
All of the above 45%