datta. dayadhvam. damyata.

sports + narratives || fisherkings on ao3 || sporadically online || please talk to me, i don't bite!

[kingfisherprince]

the history of rafole, part three

or: on the way to higher places

(you can find part two here.)

after the sunshine swing, novak and rafa don't play each other again until the quarters in rome - and rome, of course, becomes a fixture in their rivalry over the years.

but before we get there i'd like to talk about two of my favourite photos of them, taken by clive brunskill in april 2007:

(continued under the cut.)

an interesting aspect of rafole to me is they participated in a lot of the same photoshoots, promos, etc. in the first decade or so, in large part because they shared an agent, benito perez-barbadillo; this is what brunskill said about this photoshoot

novak would go on to lose to ferrer in the monte carlo masters, while rafa beat roger in the final.

but now, here we are: we are in rome.

(they're so tiny. they're so small.)

the match was on clay, and rafa on clay was still too much of a force of nature for novak to beat at this point in his career; he won the match 6-2 6-3 and continued on to win the tournament.

novak's insane self-belief, which had been visible after their first match at roland garros, was back on display, but this time he had a lot more to back it up with.

they would go on to play again in the semifinals of the french open and wimbledon. rafa won the first of those in straight sets (though you wouldn't know it from any photos of the net exchange)

before doing what he generally does at the french open.

while novak retired partway through the third set in their wimbledon encounter after they were at 1 set apiece.

retirement with various physical issues was something that would continue to plague his matches for a few more years.

he got his rematch in canada on the hardcourt, though, and here he won in two

before defeating roger in the final to win the upside down ice cream tophy.

it was a bit of an omen: he would then make his best ever run in a grand slam, reaching the final of the us open.

during that run, he also impersonated rafa for the first time in public

and while he lost in the end to roger, in a reversal of their montreal match, with this he cemented himself as a major player in tennis.

near the end of that season, this is what he and rafa had to say about each other:

they're a little awkward about it, as you can see, and even though it's been noted before this point that they get along pretty well, their friendship picks up a lot more over the next couple of years.

at the end of 2007, both are among the top players in the world, and they play the tour finals ― for novak, it's the first time. they have one match, which rafa wins

but more importantly this year is the start of their rivalry being a real fixture at the top of the sport, and not just a novelty.

they are among the best. they are still rising.

[end part three.]

[jean-paul-fartre]

can you imagine a reworking of The Cask of Amontillado except featuring two fratbros at a heavily Greek-life-oriented university in the south

[jean-paul-fartre]

the thousand injuries of Brad I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon insulting my salmon-colored vineyard vines summer breaker shorts I vowed revenge

[ot3]

i'm more than capable of loving any piece of media if its well made enough but i can't really go full beastmode on something unless there's one specific fake guy im so enchanted with that it makes me want to light myself on fire. im a shameless favorite character goggles haver

[tetitasdelimon]

top 5 horror movies

-having a job

-not having a job

-applying for jobs

-the job market

-the concept of working my whole life

[disgustinggf]

[iloveandymurray]

[strawberry-and-dreams]

NOVAK and CARLOS as Detail of the Fire by Richard Siken

Photo credit:

1. @purblind-dragon :) inset: darrian traynor- getty

2. @purblind-dragon :)))))

3. BBC olympic coverage (couldn't find credit)

4. Roland Garros Instagram

5. L- Toby Melville, Reuters. R- eurosport

6. Clive Brunskill

7. Getty images

8. Post by @rafole

9 AFP

10. Getty images, Marcus Gilliar. Inset - Miguel Medina / AFP - Getty Images

Quote credit:

All article insets- the Guardian.

2 - post by @channelslam, instagram ,djokernole

6 - post by @titanitooo

7 - prophetspoison, Twitter.

10 - Instagram - djokernole, carlitosalcarazz

[kingfisherprince]

hey you alright? whats with the sporadically online

all good! i am just very bad at logging onto tumblr, and, as i have only gotten worse at it recently, i figured i should warn people :) thanks for asking though!

[bluespring864]

an insight into how novak acquires new languages 😂

from this article

[kingfisherprince]

https://b23.tv/fYEpOFw

this edit is so fire !

whoa this is awesome!! super super cool :) thank you for sending

(for anyone wondering about the link, it leads to bilibili.)

[shadedwithgrace]

[bluespring864]

hello clay court my old friend i've come to fight with you again because the red dust slowly rising left its stains when i was playing and the red dust that was clouding up my brain still remains now as the dirt of clay courts

[fortuneaday]

[kingfisherprince]

Have you seen the trailer for the RAFA documentary?!

i have not! will check it out.

[kingfisherprince]

are there any tennis fic ideas youd really like to see? :]

hmm thanks to the wonderful incarnadine_blaze writing this wonderful fic for me, there aren't really any more specific ideas that i have other than the ones i myself am working on. but in general i just want to see more rarer pairs & perhaps a renaissance of the 2000s and 2010s players! would love that very much

[maramontwrites]

It's such an amazing feeling when someone picks up on something in your writing that you 100% intended but didn't think people would notice. Like, YES!! My writing properly conveyed the thing it was supposed to!!! You are so awesome for noticing that!!! I am so awesome for writing that!!! I feel so good about my story now!!!!

[gleep-gloop]

This is what it looks like if you take a chess board and replace each square with a mini chessboard that shows which spaces it is possible for at least one piece to get to from the initial square.

I'm sure you were all wondering. /j

[morningmightcomebyaccident]

Replied to a recent comment on a fic that I wrote years ago and then took the time to revisit previous comments and I say this with complete sincerity:

Leaving a comment on a fic provides compounding delight. Authors will love initially receiving a comment, will love later recalling this and that particular aspect of a comment, and they will love rereading comments and being reminded how readers enjoyed the work.

Comments are not a one-time act of kindness and consideration. They keep giving.

Thank you to those who take the time to give a nice word, describe an excited reaction, point out favorite parts, and generally let it be known that not only has the work been read but it had some effect. :)

[purple-hel]

Does this include comments that are just screaming? Cos I think like half my comments are just 'eeeeeeeeee!!!!!!'

[morningmightcomebyaccident]

Gonna piggyback on this comment to say "eeeee!!!!" is great, excellent, thank you for reading and commenting! <3 Even more delighful, taking an "eeeee!!" to the next level only requires specifying what made you go "eeeee!!"

What sorts of things? Here are some flavors that I've gotten to enjoy from lovely readers:

Characterization: "Your characterization was on point." / "I could 'hear" the characters saying those words and 'see' them doing those things." / "I didn't like this character or think about this character before, but you've changed my mind/made me reconsider." / "I didn't think this pairing could work, but now I'm kinda on board..." / "That's something I never thought about for that character but I see where you're coming from."

Structure and formal elements: "Love your plot idea... [and the author's unique devices and events]!" / "The pacing is so good!" / "I read this in one sitting/as fast as possible." / "I didn't mean to stay up so late reading this..." / "I liked how the story built to [major event/reveal/climax/etc.]." / "I can't wait to read the next chapter to find out what will happen next [in specific terms]!" / "I like how you write dialogue." / "This use of POV was well done." / "The descriptions are beautiful." / "The action reads clearly." / "[quote the fic] This specfic part was written so beautifully/I like this sentence in particular/your word choice is so interesting."

Tone: "I could imagine what you wrote happening in [the source material]!" / "I wish we had gotten this in [the source material]!" / "What you wrote is canon for me now." / "This deviates from/isn't like [the source material] but you make it work!"

Emotional journey: "I felt all the tension between [characters]." / "I felt anxious/anticipatory/excited/interested/scared about what was coming next." / "I laughed/cried/winced/cringed when..." / "I hate (complimentary) how you made me think that..."

The wildest genre of comment, for me: "I'm not in this fandom but I read your fic and I liked it." ??? How? Why? Amazing. Thank you. (What is happening? How did the fic make sense???)

Reread a work? Let the author know. To know that someone revisits or revisited something you've made in order to re-experience it is wondrous. It's like, Oh, you read it and you remembered it? Did you reread right away because you wanted to pick up on more details (which says that as a reader you felt that there was craft put into the work that there would be details to detect)? Did you come back to it after some time, weeks, months, years later? Was there a line that stayed with you? Did you feel differently about the work after rereading? Let 'em know! It's incredible.

Questions: ask all the questions that came up while you read! Chances are, those ambiguities are intentionally written into the text to make the readers work a bit, or, sometimes more delightful, the question you're asking never occurred to the author and you are providing new insight/perspective as to how people are engaging with the text, how some portions landed (or didn't, if you're taking away a very different read). Very rewarding!

This list is by no means comprehensive, but if a comment contains even just one of these reactions/observations, it's top tier. Several of these: legendary. To take the time is the gift: you took the time to read, you took the time to think and reflect, you took the time to formulate and send a message. Thank you.

I'm not an artist, I don't make edits, but I'm sure that all creators appreciate commentary. :)