Rafael Nadal: Not a Grunt but a Sigh…

Rafael Nadal. We’ve already covered his ever-popular shirt changes, now it’s on to another facet of The Rafa: The Grunt. Much has been made of “grunting” in tennis, particularly on the women’s side, but on the men’s as well. It has been said that a Nadal/Djokovic match sounds like a feisty gay porn film with all the guttural noises those two make (especially as Nole tends to make noise on both the inhale *and* the exhale, so often their grunts overlap. Ahem. Excuse me, I drifted away to an erotic place for a moment there.) Anyway, let us examine for a moment or two the Truth about the Rafa Grunting. But first, a few important notes:

(Note: ALL pics are *clickable* for big, sometimes HUGE versions. Enjoy worshipping beautiful Rafael Nadal. I apologize if there is blurriness in some images/videos. My little camera did its best, considering its age and the shaking excitement of its handler  )

PHOTOS: c2011 The Shrine to Actors. Please link to this page, rather than reposting the photos/videos elsewhere. If you have a tennis, celeb, or Nadal-related blog and link to this page, I can give your blog or page a link back in this post in return. Thank you!

Now. Let us begin. There are two very startling things that one notices when watching tennis in person, rather than on TV:

1.) The grunting is wayyyyyyy louder on television and video than it is in person. All those mics on court amplify the sounds to a dizzying degree. With a few exceptions, most players are fairly quiet, and the noises they make don’t disturb the enjoyment of the match at all. And the louder ones still aren’t deafening, and it still doesn’t bother me. But that’s a discussion for another time. 🙂

2.) The Rafa Grunt is not a grunt at all. It is more like a plaintive sigh. I can not adequately describe to you how…affecting it is to hear him when you’re only 20 feet away. The sound is a response to the ball hitting the racquet, and is a combination of earnest physical effort tinged with a sensual murmur of pleasure. Seriously. If you thought those loud grunty noises on your TV were hot, you will positively explode when you hear the sweet sounds of a real, live Rafa Sigh.

I am not alone in falling under the spell of The Rafa Sigh. Women around me were actually talking about how NOT-a-grunt his lovely sounds were. And trust me, they were really listening.

Nadal is very quiet when he first begins his practice. He warms up, hits a few light rallies, and then slowly intensifies his workout. It’s like foreplay before the big event. The more aggressive he got with his his hitting, the more the twittering began in the audience of mainly female spectators. Once he started with the grunting, aka sighing, the swooning began. The love around the court was palpable…the poor men in the stands suddenly felt overwhelmed by estrogen. It got hotter. People who don’t normally smoke were looking for a post-coital cigarette.

As it is a video, the impact of The Rafa Sigh is greatly diminished, but still I wanted to share with you a bit of the sexy Rafael practicing. Please forgive the less-than-stellar video quality; this was a mere digital camera recording, and sadly a lot of the background construction noise and other matches intrude. It’s good enough to see the “famous ass,” as Rafa calls it, and the intensity of his swing, his determination, and a hint of the power of his orgasm-inducing vocalizations. You can definitely hear the girly squees all around; that is, if you can discern them from your own:

Here are two more videos of Rafa practicing, this time on the far side of the court. Love how he ramps up his play, working on the quick moves from side to side to go after every ball. And you know, there’s more lovely sighing. Plus a bit of that adorable “argghh!” body language when he misses a return.

So strong and fast…

Care for some more pictures? Okay, you talked me into it. Let’s begin with the two-step: the inhale before the sigh, and then the sigh itself. Click to enjoy the full scale Rafa goodness. And never mind the funny faces, let’s talk about the arm and calf muscles, and the gorgeous tanned skin. Did I mention his finely curved ass? *GUH*

Love the intensity on this inhale…and those exquisite, graceful, bronzed and toned arms. *meep*

And then the big exhale…and the tightening of the leg muscles…and the shorts… dl;fsjajfjhtthhhhhghhunnnnhhhh….. _thud_

Here we have some pics from later in the tourney, at a Friday practice on center court. It’s a good thing this is typed, because I can’t speak when I stare at his thighs in this mid-sigh pic. I just…can’t…

Seriously. Be warned. If you click these pics you will lose the capacity to speak. Especially the one that looks like he’s biting his shoulder. Rawr.

And now we are grunting. Rafa tummy, bulging muscles, tightened ass, all during the vocally punctuated thrust of a serve…

*meep*

What better way to end a post about The Rafa Sigh than with a sweet bit of tongue…from Rafael:

This concludes our lesson on Rafael Nadal and his famous grunt…or as we now know, his famous sigh. (And well, there was also a lot about his thighs…)

Follow the links if you’d now like to move on to a Rafa shirt change or Rafa in his underwear. And you can always check out Roger Federer’s Underrated Ass, while you’re at it. 🙂

Hope you enjoyed this latest installment of tennis perving. There will be more, oh yes, plenty more.

Tweet

PHOTOS: c2011 The Shrine to Actors. Please link to this page, rather than reposting the photos elsewhere. If you have a tennis, celeb, or Nadal-related blog and link to this page, I can give your blog or page a link back in this post in return. Thank you!