Queens 2011 Day 2: M Lopez/Nadal v Bellucci/Sa

By now it was dark and cold when they brought out the doubles players – but it was going to be Nadal’s first trot on the grass so was worth hanging around for. There was an amusing moment when the announcer described Lopez as a doubles specialist while listing his achievements, and when he got to Rafa, drily described him as a “singles” specialist. That being said – Nadal and Lopez had good runs as a partnership.







Rafa’s intensity doesn’t drop much in doubles, and he seemed quite relaxed, at one stage flinging his racquet at a ball out of reach (and almost knocking some dude’s Pimms out of his hands at the front of the court!). Like Andy Murray, though, he can sometimes overcook his shots, but is capable of some amazing poaching moves at the net.





Sa was moving about well… and Bellucci – just reminded me of a character from Trumpton! He just had that "Hugh! Pew! Barney McGrew! Cuthbert! Dibble and Grubb” look about him!



Thankfully this was a straight sets victory as it really was getting very cold by now… but thankfully we’d had no rain. However, Day 3 was going to be another story…!