My 60 Favorite International Cities, Pt. 1: #60-31

 I like that this is a living, breathing document since I first wrote my Top-20 cities back in 2013. Anyway, we're up to 70-now, and in reality, if I remembered more about my trips in 1999-2001 to Europe, I probably could have added quite a bit more.

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The last time I did this was in 2015, and since then I've added a few more cities to the list. Not as many as you would think, but enough to warrant another go at it. I didn't have 5 more to add, but a couple and I'm really opposed to dropping anything off, so I'm just going to go to 32.

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The last time I did this was late in 2013, following my Round the Trip world. I don't know why I'm choosing now to update the list, but it is now expanded to 30 cities, and adds four new places that I've visited the last two years, and then an additional forgotten gem from my Round the World Trip.

Again, these are ranked as cities I would visit (all of them I have visited), not where I would live. I would live in Geneva, but probably not visit again because there isn’t much to do, it is cold, and some other reasons. There are places that I wish I could rank because from what I’ve heard from family/friends that have been there they seem really good, like Moscow, Berlin and Hamburg, and when I visit them, I will update this list. Also irrelevant is the ease of getting to this city. Singapore isn’t hurt because it is the farthest commonly visited location from NYC than any other place, and London isn’t helped because it is 6 hours away.

A city includes sites and destinations that are a reasonable distance away, so Barcelona won’t get credit for the Playas that are 2-3 hours away (and are closer to Valencia), and Athens won’t get credit for Ephesus which is 3 hours away, but London would get credit for Stratford (or whatever it’s called where Shakespeare is from, or Oxford – and Rome gets credit for the Vatican, which for being a different country, is totally part of Rome) which is reasonably close.

60.) Da Lat (2013)

The little hamlet high above the Vietnamese hills, Da Lat was probably the most pleasant surprise of any place on my trip. The city itself is modeled after European cities, with parks, downtown circles and even a model Eiffel Tower. The surrounding areas houses more traditional Vietnamese fair, like temples, Buddhas, waterfalls and even roller coasters, all underneath a cool mountain air. Da Lat's hills hide many nice restaurants, bars and clubs. It isn't nearly as loud or as famous as Ho Chi Minh, Nha Trang or Hanoi, but Da Lat may be the most pure mix of Asia and Europe that I have seen. Also, it has an incredibly nice airport given the just six flights that fly there each day.



59.) Kuala Lumpur (2013)

Our first day in Kuala Lumpur, I hated it. We didn't really plan much to do and aimlessly went around. The second day, where we had a plan, it became a lot better. There are a few standout sites, like the Menara KL, the Petronas Towers, the Bird Park. The food was excellent, from down home Malaysian cooking, to fancier places. The shopping is quite nice. There are myriad cooler cities in Southeast Asia, but when you give KL a chance, it really starts to shine.


58.) Phuket (2013)

I was sick for most of my time in Phuket, but the one day I was healthy was excellent, seeing the Phang Nga Bay (about 90 minutes from Phuket, but I'll count it). It was a beautiful bay, with so many incredible rocks and lagoons and caves. The town itself of Phuket is pristine sand and sunsets and everything you would expect, with solid Thai food. It's a beach town, which for me isn't all that exciting, but it is probably the best version of a beach town out there.


57.) Warsaw (2014)

Warsaw may have gone higher had I spent more time there, but like many other European countries, the capital is often a bit too commercial, a bit too gray, than the smaller pearls of cities (like Krakow, for Poland). Warsaw has some great sites, like its main street and clock tower, the palace, and I'm sure a whole host of others I forgot about or didn't have time to visit, but it is a bit lost in a city a bit too big for its own good. The food is decent, but what I really want to commend is its bar scene. There were some great gastropubs and beer bars that littered across the Warszawa Central district.


56.) Belgrade (2017)

In 20 years, Belgrade may deserve a spot well up this list, but for now for a city on the rise it gets on. For advantages, Belgrade is cheap, it houses some nice history, really good restaurants, and a great bar and club scene. For negatives, none of these things are marketed well enough. Belgrade should continue to grow, and as it does it will replace dirty streets with cleaner ones, complete the renovation on its main church, and just overall work on the edges. Then again, I kind of like a city that can still have cool ass floating clubs with affordable bottle service.


55.) Hong Kong (2003)

Hong Kong has little to do in terms of historical sights. With a couple countries claiming ownership of Hong Kong, they have done a nice job removing any ties to any country. Still, it has arguably the best skyline in the world (though after the new WTC complex is finished in all its glory, NYC will have a good claim to that spot), and being situated in front of and on a mountain gives it some excellent views. Their airport in universally hailed as great, and the gambling capital of Asia (Macau) is just a ferry ride away. But still, picking a place to be higher than 15^th given its total lack of history, or its lack of any particular brand of brilliance other than its propensity to build really tall buildings just feels wrong.


54.) Penang (2013)

There are positives and negatives to Penang, and depending how important the positives are relative to the negatives to you, Penang could rise or fall on your rankings. Personally, food and culture are really important to me, and Penang has both in spades. It may be a little overrated with food, but the seafood night markets that litter both Georgetown (the main city) and the beaches (all within an hour or so from Georgetown) are wonderful. The Nyonya food in Penang is far better than that in Kuala Lumpur. There is enough to see, including a nice little trek in Georgetown to some interesting historical buildings (the Cheong Fat Tze is a nice highlight). Of course, Penang is also very crowded, slightly dirty and the beaches themselves are quite barren. In the end, I find this fair for what I still consider a great eating spot.


53.) Positano (2019)

Positano may have ranked differently if we went a week later - after the start of their 'busy season'. Maybe it would have ended up higher because that's how most people see Positano, or maybe lower because the crowds and prices would have been unbearable. Anyway, Positano might be one of the prettiest towns I've ever visted, with incredible views from all directions, whether up top looking down and across, or down at sea level looking up to waves and waves of houses. Positano also had a slew of nice restaurants, shops and tourism fare, be it hikes or boating. Positano is also well connected to a bunch of other Amalfi Coast towns, be it Amalfi or Sorrento or otherwise. Nice town, but a bit too overpriced and popular (in the busy season, at least).


52.) Parma (2015)

Italy is the one country where I would love to just visit a lot of their secondary cities. Parma was a fantastic little slice of Italia. The food was excellent, and the eponymous cheese was even better. The balsamic was the cherry on top. Yes, Parma is almost fully a food tourism place. It also was a beautiful little town, replete with nice lanes serving drinks and good times late until the night. I wish I got more time in Parma to experience the life in the city.


51.) Cairo (2018)

My ranking of Cairo definitely includes Giza (about 30-60 min away, depending on traffic), and Saqqara, and adding to those two pyramid and druin complexes, if you add in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo has some truly top notch sites. Of course, my view of cities go beyond sites, and that is where Cairo starts to struggle, be it the lack of truly great food, the restrictive nightlife that puts most fun places out of the reach of solo travelers (the old 'couples only' rule). These things are important to me, particularly the food aspect, and Cairo doesn't stack up. It does with key sites though, and when you add in some nice neighborhoods, there is a chance I am being unfair here.


50.) Jaipur (2013)

I hated traveling in India in my limited tourist experience in India prior to Rajasthan. First was Agra, where the Taj was nice but completely offset by the filth of Agra. Kerala was a mess. Given those two, was not too excited to be going to Rajasthan, but I have to say it was great. Jaipur is slightly too touristy, with most of the city, at least as far as I could tell, built off Forts, Palaces, strange Astronomical objects, and of course shopping. For pure tourism, it is probably the best city in India, even if it gets a bit too hot at times.


49.) Johannesburg (2016, 2018)

I've flown into and out of Johannesburg three different times, but spent a total of one night and about two days in the city, seeing a few of the main sites, but in reality not enough to get a real true sense of the city. What Joburg does have are some nice sites like the Apartheid Museum, a few gentrified neighborhoods, some classy foods and areas, the nice lion safari on its outskirts. The negatives are its sheer size (it takes forever to get from place to place), and the danger. Now, that danger part is being unfair - Cape Town has a higher murder rate, though most of that is localized into slums - but when you drive through posh districts and suburbs and every street has barbed wire it gives a less than stellar impression.


48.) Munich (2000 & 2009)

I have a strange history with quite a few international cities, and Munich is another one. I had both my 9^th and 18^th Birthday in Munich (in related news, I’m pretty sure where you can find me on April 7^th, 2018). The first during my initial trip to that part of the world, and the 2^nd on the penultimate day of our Orchestra’s tour of Austria (we flew out of Munich). Berlin is supposedly a great, modern city, but out of all the cities I have been to in Germany, Munich is by far the best. It is incredibly modern, and getting increasingly so, with modern architecture abound. It is the only European city with a skyline that can compare to those in the US (not a crucial factor, but still nice). The downside is there is little to see and that German food isn’t that good. Either way, Munich will always be the place to spend any birthday that is a multiple of nine, and for that alone, it gets on the list.


47.) Hanoi (2019)

If we average out the mess present at times in its clustered old town and the beauty of its large West Lake area, you get a truly great city. Hanoi is a bit more staid than its Vietnamese colleague in the South (further up the list), but it still has its charm. The lakes throughout city create a more atmosphere and some truly stunning temples and pagodas. The food, as it surely is thrughout Vietnam, is excellent. The beer flows well. There's nothing wrong with teh city, but there's no one feature that sets it apart.


46.) Siem Reap (2013)

Siem Reap is a one-stop town, in that the only real thing to see there is Angkor Wat, but do you know what (excuse the pun), that is enough to get it a spot on the list. Looking back at my time there, even the town itself of Siem Reap is quite nice - good restaurants, nice bars, enough to do when not lollygagging around the Angkor Wat complex. Anyway, that's not to say that it would be ranked had Angkor Wat been there. Angkor Wat is one of the better two day tourism sites I've ever been to, a parade of amazing history. It's an added bonus that they've developed the town enough to make the nights fun as well.


45.) Punta Arenas (2017)

It's odd that none of the Patagonia cities are that close to the sites that surround those areas, so they were hard to judge. Punta Arenas is probably the most substantial town of the three we visited, with an actual down-town, with nice ornate buildings and squares, The best part of the city is an unexplainable sense of being so far away from home, from anywhere, with Punta Arenas being the Southernmost city of more than 50,000 people. There are of course some nice restaurants and bars, and a good mix of locals and tourists, which created a nice atmosphere as well. Of course, with the Tierra del Fuego and Isla Magdalena Penguins within driving distance, the tourism isn't too bad either.


44.) Florence (2003)

I’ll admit that Florence should probably be higher on this list, but it is my list of favorite cities that I would recommend. This is a strange combination, because personal favorites are wholly subjective, while cities that you recommend should be somewhat objective. Anyway, my problem with Florence is I’m not really into art, and if you aren’t than there is little to do in Florence. If you like art, specifically really detailed portraits from the renaissance era, then you will love Florence. If you don’t, then it will be something of a bore to a disappointment.

43.) Udaipur (2013)

As somehow who hated traveling in India, picking a city that is in one of the hottest areas in the country, and a city I visited during their hot dry season, this high might seem surprising. Well, I can't recommend Udaipur, along with Rajasthan as a hole, enough. The city has some beautiful scenery being built on a far more hilly area of the country than you would expect. They have famous lakes that hold famous hotels built on famous castles. They have nice food and street shows that line the corridors of the inner city. THere's the strange love for the movie Octopussy, where screenings are shown nightly. There's a beautiful palace inside the city. And I'll stretch my 'sites withing 1.5 hours count' rule by saying that the Jain Temple at Ranakpur was incredible - and in any modern country it would be within 1.5 hours.


42.) Split (2017)

There is so much to like about Split, be it the sprawling old town with enough sites and small alleys lined with shops and restaurant to keep you busy way too long, or the modern clubs and restaurants, or the sites from its hills. I guess in theory I can include the island of Hvar as well as that is within a 1-hour boat ride away, which adds beautiful beaches and mountains to this as well. Split as a whole might be a little too commercialized - they had a lot of stalls selling the normal tourist fares that aren't always appreciated, but the city truly is a beautiful slice of culture deep in Croatia. I do love how varied the drink and food scene is there as well.

41.) Izmir (2007)

I don't know how I forgot about Izmir the umpteen times that I have done this. I loved my trip to Turkey and for a while only had Istanbul on the list. I finally remembered how much I loved Izmir when I went back and saw an album. It was a pristine coastal town, with unbelievably fresh seafood, a lot of interesting Capadoccian sites nearby, and just a cool air about it. The food and the fun alone put it well up in my mind - and also makes it a place I absolutely want to return to.


40.) El Calafate (2017)

I have a few inexplicable choices on this list, and El Calafate, a more or less one-road town, might be at the top of those odd choices. I mean, literally 95% of the restaurants and shops are either on, or right off of, the main road. Of course, those restaurants and shops are fantastic, a great number of restaurants with fine Argentinean fare (Parilla's, and more earthern restraurants). Of course, the bars are great as well, from chic library-style cocktails, to an American craft beer oasis. However, none of that would place it on this list, but the irreplaceable Perito Moreno does. One of the greatest tourist joys of my life was walking around and then on that amazing, stunning glacier. A perfect mix of blues and whites, cascading chalks of ice, and the hoth-like conditions when traversing its face. All of it special.


39.) Aswan (2018)

Sadly, I can't list 'The Nile Cruise' as a city, because combining Luxor, Esna, Edfu and Aswan would probably deserve quite a higher spot. However, only the last of those (Edfu) is probably within the 90 minute range. Aswan is a nice city, with open streets, nice restaurants and hotels off of the Nile, architectural marvels both new (the Aswan Dam) and old (Phillae temple complex and Elephantine Island). When you add in the sites within its radius, it starts to glow as Egypt's less cluttered jewel.



38 & 37.) Prague/Budapest (2000)

These two are kind of blended together for me. I visited them essentially right after each other, both 13 years ago so my memory of each is a little hazy. I remember both for mainly positives. They are both beautiful cities, with lovely rivers running through them. They have some stuff to see, but not a whole lot. They are more affordable than the major cities in Western Europe, which is a plus (but also English –at least then – is not very transferrable to there). Budapest has some great food (Goulash!), while Prague is a pilgrimage for Catholics.


36.) Turin (2015)

Picking Turin allows me to count the Piedmont wine country, and those little towns that dot it. Turin the city though, is a understated version of how incredible Italy is. It has the requisite churches and squares, but also has the open palacial squares and river-fronts that you normally associate with other countries in Europe. It has some incredible little hamlets of food, with great options for eating throughout the day (some excellent tea joints). My favorite place in Turin actually wasn't one of the two main squares, but Piazza Vittorio Veneto, one that borders the river with an amazing view of the city behind it. It was the last place we went to in Turin, an incredible capper to an unexpected amazing day in a great city.

35.) Melbourne (2013)

Melbourne could be a Top-10 city to spend four or five days in. There is not too much to do, but enough to keep you occupied. If you like sports, which I do, then it is even better. Melbourne tries to lay claim to the Sporting Capital of the World, and when you mix together one of Tennis' four main tournaments with the 2nd most famous Cricket Ground (and most famous Aussie Rules ground) in the world right next door, it is hard to argue. Melbourne's riverfront is a beautiful area, with amazing views of the city around it. It's food options are endless, with really good Asian cuisine throughout the city. The nightlife seemed nice enough. It also has some really beautiful scenery around an hour of its boundaries, with beautiful parks, wine regions and the Great Ocean Road. Add into that Philipp Island, which just hits the cutoff to be included with Melbourne, and you get a solid, Top-35 city.


34.) Panama City (2012)

My highest ranking Caribbean city probably could be higher, but I’ve been to a lot of great European cities so I don’t want to get crazy. I went to Panama with really low expectations, and I was blown away. It has a really impressive skyline, one that holds its own even if you forget that it is a poor latin country. It has great food of different cuisines. It has a ton to see, with the Panama Canal and the rainforest both falling into its sights. Other than Calgary (which I talked about in the last list) I don’t know if any trip I’ve gone on has been such a surprise as Panama, the Caribbean’s only truly modern city.


33.) Phnom Penh (2013)

I lied when I said that Da Lat was the biggest surprise of my Round the Worldtrip. Phnom Penh was. I wasn't expecting too much from Canbodia's capital, but the mix of history, good and bad, food, nightlife and surprising urbanity made Phnom Penh a real highlight for me. I really loved Cambodian food, and it was at its best in Phnom Penh, a perfect mix of Malay and Thai cuisine. Phnom Penh itself embraced its own history, not shying away from the terrible acts of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, maintaining multiple areas in the city to pay tribute to those who died. The rest of the city pays tribute to the rich culture of Cambodia that preceded the destruction, with large pagodas in beautiful parks and nice museums. Phnom Penh also has a nice riverfront area that is really, really lively at night. Add into all of this that the currency of choice in the Dollar, and you get a really nice, underrated city.

32.) Bilbao & 31.) San Sebastian (2021)

The first new entry into the list is another combination. This time not because I can't truly remember the difference (like Prague & Budapest), but because they're similar. Both cities have beautiful little old towns just jam packed with Pintxo Bar after Pintxo bar. Both cities have truly world class restaurants as well, including Azurmendi which was a truly amazing experience. They have nice coasts, great scenery and beaches, and so much else. Gun to my head, I would pick San Sebastian, whose old town is a little more cozy and inviting. Bilbao is slightly bigger, with its larger churches and museums, and open squares, but honestly I would gladly go back to either, two gastronomic capitals of the world. Especially would love to go back in a time where we have some ability to go out at night, as the few instances of being out until 1:30am belied towns with great drinks, pretty good craft beer, and a love of dancing. Honestly, the basque region is awesome.

The Perfect Stanley Cup Final

I'll have some commentary on the actual matchup and a prediction later, but I feel like just the incredible beauty of this matchup deserves the focus

If you could dream up a Stanley Cup Final in a lab, it probably looks a lot like this one. The two-time defending Champs going for a threepeat, something that hasn't happened in hockey in nearly 40 years, last done by one of the all-time great teams (the 1980's Islanders - they won 4 in a row). Their opponent: the consensus best team in the league that has been knocking down the door for a while, finally breaking through their old ceiling to a 2nd round loss, and doing so by blazing to the Final with a 12-2 playoff record.

The best team vs. the dynasty. The first run for one group of stars that were carefully, perfectly and smartly built, against a potential last run for another group built very much the same way. It is hard to better position the final. If anything, the only one in recent memory that comes close was at the very start of this Tampa run, when in 2015 a far younger version of the same Tampa group went up against the Blackhawks dynasty. This is that - with the added bonus of a potential threepeat.

It is so easy to draw the comparisons in a sense - the offensive stars of MacKinnon, Landeskog, Rantanen, against those of Kucherov, Stamkos, Point (assumign he returns, which seems likely). The brilliance of Cale Makar, against the steady, more rugged, brilliance of Victor Hedman. The one area that there is no real comparison is that of Darcy Keumper vs. Andrey Vasilevskiy - but no worries we can look around that for a second. But instead of the matchup, let's just focus on teh two teams in isolation for a minute. As what makes this an incredible potential matchup is the fact that it is these two teams - competing against each other.

The Avalanche had one of the worst seasons in the cap-era in 2016-17. That was a random outlier - they were merely below average the couple years prior, and had some well regarded youngsters (including MacKinnon and Landeskog already there at that point). But nevertheless, they were dreadful - but turned it around almost instantly. They shocked their way to the playoffs in 2017-18, picking up Cale Makar in the draft the year prior. In those playoffs, they lost to President's Trophy winners Nashville in six games.

It has been all up since then - another playoff berth in '18-'19, and a 1st round upset of Calgary before losing in San Jose in 7 games, was then followed by the first year of the real Colorado 'breakout'. In each of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, the Avalanche were the best team in the Western Conference. They were the best that first year, before losing in seven games to Dallas in the bubble. They were more clearly the best the following year, before losing to the Knights in six games - again in the second round. 

The Avalanche were undoubtedly great, but were undoubtedly underperforming in the playoffs. It was weird things - like getting overrun randomly by the Knights after taking a 2-0 lead, or giving up a hat trick to the likes of Denis Gurianov in Game 7 against Dallas. It was inexplicable, if only because it was so clearly obvious how good they were. A story that so easily could have been written about the team they are about to face - or the Capitals before them (or the Blues as well). 

This year they were again the best team in the West. They too their prior playoff misery and tossed it aside as easily as they have their opponents to date. Yes, they got a bit lucky with Nashville losing their starting goalie in game 82 of the regular season, and then St. Louis losing their starting goalie during the season, and of course the fact that Edmonton didn't lose their starting goalie, but more the fact he was Mike Smith. But really it was more of just luck balancing out.

On the other side we have Tampa. If anything, their reputation as playoff chokers prior to their two straight Cups is well overstated. As I wrote about a few weeks ago when they swept Florida, and then last year when they won their 2nd Cup, the Lihgtning's list of accomplishments the five years prior to their cups is the stuff of legend: a trip to the Cup Finals (2015), two other times losing in Game 7 of the Conference Finals (2016, 2018), the best regular season in teh post-lockout era (2019), a President's Trophy (2019), another time leading the East in points (2018), and plyers that won a Hart Trophy (Kucherov), Norris (Hedman) and Vezina (Vasilevskiy). They were great. Then they got their crown.

But while I think it's unfair to just pinpoint the Lightning of two years to not look at the larger picture, let's do that for a secod. Because I think wether they win or lose, they are such a worthy team to go after what the 1980s Islanders did last. They have this perfect mix of great singular talents, mixed with just an incredible poise, commitment to winning in all kinds of ways, and a trusted ability to just play smart at the right times. 

The Lightning that have won have increasingly resembled this sort of team, rather than the high flying bunch they were (like Colorado now is) in the years prior. Granted, they still led the NHL in scoring in the first Cup year, and were 5th this past season. They can win playing up tempo too, but they know now that they don't have to, and if they want to get a 3rd cup they can't really - and need to focus on this "winning" approach they've come close to perfecting.

Be it down 3-2 to the Leafs in the first round, and down in Game 6. Be it against the President's Trophy winners without their top winger. Be it down 2-0 to the Rangers and further down 2-0 in Game 3. In all cases the Lightning just carried through with this auro of inevitability. And now it gets its final test.

While I drew comparison to the 2015 series (and I think it si fully valid there), the better comp may be to go back to those 1980 Islanders. Famously the Islanders final cup in 1983 was against the Oilers. The Oilers entered the series as the younger, faster, more dynamic team (you know, Gretzky, Messier, Kurri and the like.....). The Islanders entered as the grizzled vets, but one with more firepower than people remember, much of it lost to "winner" mythmaking and the like. 

Well, in that series the older Islanders beat the Oilers - with Gretzky famously walking by the Islanders drsesing room after the Cup win to see a team with ice packs on knees and largely content (rather than raucously celebrating like we would expect). We've later learned this is almost certainly a bullshit story - the Islanders famously had some partiers on the team, and the Oilers were even more famous for their wild ways, so they certainly didn't learn any lessons. But still, the story, the imagery, and the importance struck. And 39 years later, the Lightning get to match the Islanders in three-peat glory by trying to win the same way, and I can't wait to watch it unfold.

Rafa: 22 Memories for 22 Slams

I admittedly posted this right after Nadal beat Medvedev in the Australian Open. I like the fact that five months later it was already outdated. Let this not be the last entry....

1.) 2005 French Open - def (UR) Mariano Puerta  6-7  6-3  6-1  7-5

I was in Chicago visiting my great Aunt when this match took place. I remember watching it on their small tv in a corner of the guest room I was staying at. Even then something was special about Nadal - mostly his speed and ability to track down ridiculous shots that no one else would even come close to. Overtime many players became as audacious in their defense as Nadal was but then it was new - as were the capris and the muscles and the grunts. The real star match was the semifinal win over Federer in four sets, but here too he was challenged but got his reward: for some reason Zinedine Zidane - a full year before he would rule the world at the World Cup - being the guest of honor handing out the trophy. A great respect and friendship started that day, between those two, and between me and Rafa.

2.) 2006 French Open - def (1) Roger Federer  1-6  6-1  6-4  7-6

By this point Nadal was probably already being hailed as well on track to being the best clay court player ever, but still seeing him lose the first set 1-6 is staggering. He quickly, as in immediately, reversed course rolling Federer 6-1 in the next set. Overtime I came to appreciate this weird foible of all the rivalries of the big-3, that every now and then, even within the same match, one would just randomly put on 'God' mode for a set or two. The last two sets were somewhat forgettable but overall looking back I just love the symmetry of those two 6-1 sets.

3.) 2007 French Open - def (1) Roger Federer  6-3  4-6  6-3  6-4

This was the match that made me, and probably many, think that yeah, at some point he's going to beat him on other surfaces. About a month before this match Federer hammered Nadal at th Hamburg masters. I believe Federer was the betting favorite entering this match for some reason. Instead, Nadal won a calm, if well played, four setter. My memory of the match is somewhat hazy aside from the growing sense that Rafa is just inevitable on this surface and on this court, and finally the French crowd was starting to realize that their favorite boy Roger wouldn't be able to beat him.

4.) 2008 French Open - def (1) Roger Federer  6-1  6-3  6-0

The scoreline 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, will always be my paragon of Nadal's clay dominance. And it was every bit as dominant - with the first and third sets taking abuot 30 minutes each - hyper-fast in Nadal's world. I remember Federer just being passed so easily time and time again, he started going up to the net already with slumped shoulders knowing it was pointless. Rafa ended up winning this tournament without dropping a set -- a feat he would match three more times -- but never at the level of play that he did here. His scorelines against great players is just insane - none much more than when he just eviscerated Federer to a level heretofore unimaginable.

5.) 2008 Wimbledon - def (1) Roger Federer  6-4  6-4  6-7  6-7  9-7

I wrote a Nostalgia Diaries piece about this game, namely how we watched the epic match across the four and a half hours of gameplay, and multiple rain delays, with my Aunt who would die a few months later. She was a Nadal fan. We entered this one confident, given it came a month after the massacre at Roland Garros, and moreso after Nadal calmly won two sets. But of course Federer rose to the occasion and gave us what will always be known by anyone who isn't a Novak fan as the Greatest Match of All Time. Maybe more than any of these pre-2010 major wins, this one is seared in my mind.

6.) 2009 Aussie Open - def (2) Roger Federer  7-5  3-6  7-6  3-6  6-2

I wrote about this one as well, and the lasting moment will be either the best single point the two ever played, where each hit about two winners before Rafa's outstreched actual winner, or of course Federer's breakdown at the end. Seeing Federer burst into tears was a mix of harrowing and hilarious at the time, but you can understand it. Nadal broke him. In seven months he blasted him embarrisingly on clay, stole his glory at Wimbledon and now beat him on hard court. That said, what has now become a truly close friendship probably started that day too, with Nadal consoling Federer, arm around his shoulders, before publicly reassuring the world that he felt Federer would pass the '14 of Sampras.' How little did we know how prescient those words would be.

7.) 2010 French Open - def (5) Robin Soderling  6-4  6-2  6-4

This was the first of many 'Nadal comes back and wins his first slam after a prolonged injury' wins for Nadal, but to me the most memorable. His injury that forced him out of Wimbledon and made him play at about 80% thereafter was novel, it was scary and seemed to confirm many of the fears or projections many had about Rafa's style of play. But then he came back and won the French Open again without losing a set, and this time doing it by exacting revenge on teh guy that beat him the year before. It wasn't his most dominant run - in truth he had more dominant runs where he lost a set or two - but it was maybe the most fulfilling.

8.) 2010 Wimbledon - def (12) Tomas Berdych  6-3  7-5  6-4

For whatever reason, I have this match taped on VCR then converted to DVD. I have no idea why. It wasn't a particularly close match (obviously) and Rafa seemed so preordained to win it seemed a bit ordinary. His real test was the Semifinal against Andy Murray which he also won in five sets. At this point, Nadal did seem like the best grass court player in the world too - winning it for the second straight time he played the event. Little did we know how much of a horror show he would soon become on grass, for what are still inexplicable reasons given how he turned it around in 2018-19.

9.) 2010 US Open - def (3) Novak Djokovic  6-4  5-7  6-4  6-2

I would posit Nadal's peak as a player was this tournament run. He won the US Open dropping just that one solitary set in the final. He maxed out the one 'weakness' of his game, suddenly smashing 130+ mph serves routinely, including three straight service winners to close out the third set. He never really served that fast again (Nadal claims it impacted his shoulder), but in that moment he had no weakness. How good was he? He dropped serve one time period prior to the final. Every now and then I do wish Nadal brings back the huge serve again. It really made him for a two-week stretch the perfect player.

10.) 2011 French Open - def (3) Roger Federer  7-5  7-6  5-7  6-1

This was the tournament where this Nadal fan finally started to come around on Roger - I even think I wrote something about it at the time. Why? Because Roger beat Djokovic in the semifinals - Novak's first loss of the year. Nadal was 0-4 that year against Djokovic losing in the finals of Indian Wells, Miami, Rome and Madrid. I guarantee Djokovic would've won again, but instead Federer took him out - and Nadal beat Federer as he does. This was a treat though I don't think I ever would've imagined it would be the last fnal between the two for six years.

11.) 2012 French Open - def (1) Novak Djokovic  6-4  6-3  2-6  7-5

Honestly, I don't know if Rafa was ever as content and pleased after a win than this one. He had lost the prior three finals all to Djokovic. As good as Djokovic was in 2011-12, Nadal was like 95% as good, but lost the key matches. Here he won the key match getting a bit of help with rain that came right after he lost the third set. He steadied in the 4th, which I followed on my phone on the NJ Transit heading up to my internship. This was before network was nearly as good to watch it on the phone, so I was maddeningly refreshing the French Open's score app. Not a fun way to watch a final.

12.) 2013 French Open - def (5) David Ferrer  6-3  6-2  6-3

This match took place two days after I returned to the US from my 'Around the World' trip. It was a letdown given the real final was Rafa's semifinal marathon win over Djokovic in a weird mirror version of their 2012 Oz Final epic. That match took place the day I returned, and I had my parents DVR-it. For whatever reason teh DVR failed and when I got home, Nadal was serving for the match. That was quite a welcome-home gift after four months away. People talk about that match being this close epic, and it certainly was, but I'll never forget that Nadal had more winners than Novak, less errors, and won way more points.

13.) 2013 US Open - def (1) Novak Djokovic  6-2  3-6  6-4  6-1

The final took place on a Monday which coincidentally was my 2nd day of work as an adult having started the Friday before. We were at a pasta making class & dinner while it was going on. I wasn't the only one very interested, and I do remember we reached back to the hotel the company put us all up in that week in time to watch the ending getting drunk at the bar in the hotel. It was an amazing first week, and while this wasn't the highlight, it wasn't too far behind. I definitely bonded with a few colleagues over our shared love of Rafa, who pulled off a miracle in the 3rd set before just rolling and finishing off his most dominant year yet.

14.) 2014 French Open - def (2) Novak Djokovic  3-6  7-5  6-2  6-4

Five years after Nadal reduced Fed to tears, he reduced Djokovic to tears here - not as pronounced but every bit as real, as for years of getting closer to beating Nadal at the French, he won a set but then was overwhelmed. Of course, just like how Federer would go on to win three of the next four slams post-bawling, so too would Novak. Separately, it was after this win that I bet my friend the $200 that Nadal would beat Fed. Who could blame me, Nadal was three behind having won three of the last five slams, and Federer hadn't won one in two years. It took seven years, and ten combined slams, but finally I was right.

15.) 2017 French Open - def (3) Stan Wawrinka  6-2  6-3  6-1

The fact that there is this two-and-a-half year gap in Nadal's run will never not amaze me. Same with Djokovic's similar gap from 2016 Wimby through 2018 French. But rise like a Phoenix he did. If any tournament has a claim to match his dominance in 2008 it was this one where he won by similarly lopsided scores, admittedly against lesser players. The final over Stan was also cathartic given his loss to Stan in the 2014 Australian Open final. The real memory for me was it was Rafa's 10th French Open, a fact Roland Garros basically assumed would happen given the vast amounts of '10' signage they immediately unfurled when it was over.

16.) 2017 US Open - def (24) Kevin Anderson  6-3  6-3  6-4

The final was fairly routine here - once again the Semifinal was the real test, this time against Juan Martin del Potro. Nadal look flustered early against Delpo, before rolling off 10 straight games while winning the 2nd and 3rd sets 6-0, 6-3. My real memory of this tournament was actually Delpo's win over Federer, which I watched on my computer in a bar in Wallingford, chatting with my friends. I was about 30 seconds behind which they used to hilariously evil impact. For a pretty mediocre project, memories like that night at that bar will always be with me.

17.) 2018 French Open - def  (7) Dominic Thiem  6-4  6-3  6-2

I think this is maybe the only final on this list that I know I didn't watch any of. I was in Vancouver, and given the time difference it was largely over by the time I woke up at 9am or whatever. It wasn't too surprising. Thiem was a great clay court player, but Rafa was on a roll and beat him rather easily. At this point, him winning the French was basically a guarantee, so honestly I was perfectly fine sleeping in my Vancouver AirBNB while this was going on.

18.) 2019 French Open - def (4) Dominic Thiem  6-3  5-7  6-1  6-1

Things seemed a bit more tricky this time around. Thiem survived a five-set war with Djokovic in the semifinal and really played Rafa to a draw in the first two sets. Then Rafa unleashed a level of clay court playing who would rarely match with its brutality. Double breadsticks to end it absolutely encapture just how great Rafa was on the day. I left thinking Thiem would be the next non-Rafa player to win the French. While that sadly isn't true, I do for sure hope he wins one.

19.) 2019 US Open - def (4) Daniil Medvedev  7-5  6-3  5-7  4-6  6-4

I watched this match in its entirety, sitting in the same old chair we brought over one year from India, barely getting up or moving for the run of its nearly five hours. It was a thrilling match because of how new it was. This was the first time (not including 2017 against Anderson which was a fait accompli) that Rafa was facing a serious contender in a non-French Open final that wasn't Djokovic or Federer. Daniil was excellent. He played excellently. He was the fresher guy in the 5th. But Nadal pulled it out. Around this time, an old college friend nad I started chatting mosly around our shared love of Nadal - or at least that is how it started. I remember furiously pinging DMs back and forth throughout this incredible match, easily the best of his non-historic wins (e.g. teh 21st, his first Wimbledon and Australian/hard court, etc).

20.) 2020 French Open - def (1) Novak Djokovic  6-0  6-2  7-5

This was the sequel to his 2008 massacre twelve years later and maybe more brutal in its efficiency. To see Nadal go 6-0, 6-2, against Djokovic was stunning. He was insanely good in this one, that just ike Federer reacted after 2008, I still remember Novak's post-game speech saying 'well, I guess this is why your are the king of clay'. There's no agument, even after the events of the French Open the following year. You can play the French Open in winter, in a closed roof, all things that were supposedly to Djokovic's advantage, and it didn't matter. The king stay the king.

21.) 2022 Aussie Open - def (2) Daniil Medvedev 2-6  6-7  6-4  6-4  7-5

What more to say - I just wrote a few thousand words on this yesterday. The only thing I'll mention is truly how much I expected Medvedev to win. And not even in any weird reverse jinx way. I felt it going in and seeing Medvedev race to a 6-2 first set just compounded that feeling. Which is then to say how gleeful, much like Rafa himself at the end, I was that he pulled it off. The 21st, the 2nd career slam, all incredible memories that can help block out bad ones, and it all crested in the craziest way possible. Insane, as Rafa is, was and will always will be.

22.) 2022 French Open - def (8) Casper Ruud  6-3  6-3  6-0

I'm not going to talk about the injury stuff, or my thoughts on the ludicrous 14. Forget all that. I'm going to talk about Nadal and Ruud, and namely how uniquely excited Casper Ruud was to get hammered. There was a slice of the internet that was upset that Ruud wasn't committed enough and didn't want it enough and all that garbage. You know what? Ruud was right. He's not a nobody, being a top-10 player coming into this tournament. But still, while he will make a good life for himself playing on tour another 7-10 years, he may or may not win a slam. You know what he will have: being the guy who played a French Open Final against Nadal. There is no shame in losing one of those - literally everyone has. He just had the smartness to realize that in losing, you still win because you were there to witness greatness at its highest extent.

14 for Rafa

I've written a lot about Rafa over the years, and more pointedly about his brilliance at particularly the French Open. And of course, why wouldn't I - he is more prolific at Roland Garros than any athlete is basically anywhere. 

I first wrote about it in 2010 when he won there for the fifth time (https://loungingpass.blogspot.com/2010/06/there-is-man-in-switzerland-today-man.html).

I then wrote about him again when he won for a 9th time in 2014 (after which he went through a 2.5 year malaise): https://loungingpass.blogspot.com/2014/06/rafa-nadal-reaching-highest-of.html

I then went on a spree when he won again in 2017, writing about him in:

2017: https://loungingpass.blogspot.com/2017/06/la-decima.html

2018: https://loungingpass.blogspot.com/2018/06/la-undecima-de-nadal.html

2019: https://loungingpass.blogspot.com/2019/06/rafas-dozen.html

and 2020: https://loungingpass.blogspot.com/2020/10/rafa.html

I guess I can again here - for a sixth time overall. It has become a bit of an annual tradition at this point, and what a brilliant one it is. But this one somehow is different from him reconquering his perch (2010), or doing it again (2017) and then so many other times. This is number 14. 

When Rafael Nadal first broke through in 2005, winning his first French Open on his first try (a weird coincidence that he didn't play it in 2003 or 2004...), 14 was the target all players were shooting for. Federer had four, and it seemed everyone was going after 14, a record that Pete Sampras set in 2000 (with his 13th) and finalized in 2002. It should have lasted a long time. Of course that record has now been passed by three people, and Nadal is ahead of 14 by an astounding eight slams (the entire career of Agassi, or Connors!). But more than anything, he matched Pete's 14.... at one event.

This is the most laughably amazing outcome of Nadal's career on clay. There is nothing more ludicrous than him matching the slam count of the record holder when he started at one tournament. It is insane. Yes, it seemed like he would never lose if you go back to that day in 2008 when he blitzed Federer 6-1  6-3  6-0. He did lose three times, including the next season, but we were right. As crazy as it sounded, we were right. Some said "maybe he could win 10!", which sounded hilarious enough. But 14 was an incredible target.

Nadal did it in weird circumstances, both simultaneously a terribly tough road, needing five sets to beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in the 4th Round, four sets to beat Djokovic, getting an admittedly lucky break against Zverev in a match he could have easily lost. But by the end, when conditions got sunny and hot and outdoors, he was the same guy who has boatraced great player after great player. The scoreline seemed rough for Ruud (6-3  6-3  6-0), but then you realize the only other two players he has bageled in a French Open Final: Federer, in 2008, and Djokovic in 2020.

Throughout the entire tournament, there was the weird undercurrent on Nadal's potential retirement at worst, and stepping away for a bit at best. The weird signs spread like wildfire, some real like Nadal saying he would "address the foot situation after the tournament", and some fake like a weird story that circulated on Saturday that Nadal had booked a second press conference win or lose. 

In the end, it is serious - Nadal facing a foot nerve issue that he is going to try to fix but could lead to either a surgery and lengthy rehab, or him retiring. But you know what: he is 36. No one ever expected him to last. Go back again to 2005, or certainly the next few years, and many probably thought he might burn out by 26. But he lasted, he persevered. He changed his game and stayed dominant on clay while picking up the slack everywhere else. He has reached the mountaintop. If he has to end his career now, while it will seem too soon given he won the two majors played this year, it will also feel 100% like a career absolutely fulfilled. 

He may very well retire, but he may also keep going. That said I had to juggle some thoughts over the weekend that maybe this was it, maybe this was the last time I would see Rafa. And weirdly, I was at peace with it. Even if he returns, his career isn't endless. There are too many other great players. Again this is weird to say when he's halfway to a calendar slam - and while he wouldn't be nearly a favorite in Wimbledon if he did play, he did win the US Open the last time he played it.

But there is an end in sight, whether its this year or next, or the year after. No matter what, he got to 14. He got to 22, sure. He gets his time atop the leaderboard, even if Djokovic passes it in 2023, or Alcaraz in 2037, or whatever. But more than the 22, he got to 14 at the French. He got to a point that has literally become hard to comprehend. Few would've thought he could play long enough to even enter the tournament 14 times, let alone win that many. 

He won in the first year of Bush's second term. He won when Youtube was in its infancy. He won back when Brady was a "winner" who didn't put up big stats. He won at a time when Andy Roddick and Marat Safin were teh 2nd and 3rd seeds in the French Open - and he's done it now with Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev are. Nadal at the French Open is truly the best match of player and court/arena/stadium in sports history. Few have ever put their greatness so incomprehensibly far away from the pack as Rafa here. And if this is it, or even if it is not, he got to 14.

Vini

There's a few things I could write about Real Madrid's latest triumph in the Champions League, their fifth in nine years, a ridiculous run that includes being the only team to repeat as Champions League winners - and then repeating again. 

This is Real Madrid's competition. It was when they won the first five times it was held. It was when they won three in five years in 1998, 2000 and 2002, and it was during the threepeat, and ultimately this ridiculous run that covered them beating the Champions for Paris (PSG), the Champions from England (Man City), the defending Champions in the competition (Chelsea) and a team everyone considers at worst the second best in the world (Liverpool). This was a gauntlet like few others, and they raced through it with dramatic aplomb. 

We can talk about the incredible performance of Thibaut Courtouis, who was incredible in the final, and was stellar a half dozen times earlier as well. We can talk about Karim Benzema, who basically locked up the Ballon d'Or. We can talk about the everpesent Casemiro, Kroos and Modric, winning their fourth Champions League as a midfield trio. We can talk about Carlo Ancelotti becoming the first manager to win the tournament four times, beating a tie with two men, one of whom was the guy who lead them to triumphs number 9 (as a player) and 11-13 (as manager). We can talk about all of it -  but I want to talk about Vinicius, Jr.

Vinicius, Jr., was a prodigy in Brazil, playing for 1st division Flamenco at 16 and 17, getting scooped up by Real Madrid for the 2nd highest transfer fee for someone coming out of Brazil (only after Neymar), agreeing to shift over to Madrid for the 2018-19 season. There was a ton of fanfare, a ton of expectations, that he would be a central component of the future of Real Madrid, joining the team the year that Zidane left the first time and Ronaldo left. And he squarely was not.

Over the next three seasons, he showed flashes. He showed his speed, he showed his dribbling competence, he showed some flair. He also couldn't finish to save his life. He played 69 games in his first two seasons across all competitions, and scored just 9 goals. It didn't get much better in his third season (last season), scoring six goals in 49 games. 

It was rough. He was often criticized, whistled and decried by the crowds. It seemed to turn around where in the game right before the covid lockdown in 2020 he scored the winning goal in the Clasico, a nice goal that showed him finally finish calmly, stoically, and show a glimpse of the player he would become. That could ahve been a turning point late in his second season, but then Covid happened, and while crowd-less games ensured that he wouldn't be booed, it also ensured he wouldn't be praised. If anything, it allowed on-field microphones to capture Benzema telling a teammate not to pass to Vinicius, because of how ineffective he was.

Well, Benzema will pass to him now. Vinicius's 2021-22 season was one giant coming out party, taking the gains towards the end of the prior season and pulling his game forward. There was a lot of pressure - pressure to score goals when at times it seemed like only Benzema was. Pressure knowing that many in the Madrid ecosystem just assumed Mbappe would come and take his spot on the field. Pressure to live up to the expectations of a teenage phenom. And he turned that pressure into a season of 22 goals in 52 games - the 22nd being the one that gives Real Madrid another Champions League.

The goal itself in the final was fairly simple. Whether it was a pass or misguided shot, Fede Valverde put it right on Vinicius's feet with a gaping net. That said, the ball crossed at that speed, and knowing he didn't have time to setlle it, it was set-up to be the type of chance Vinicius flubbed time and time again in his first three seasons. This time he made no mistake.

This game was a coronation of the old guard, the long list of players who won their 5th Champions League. A coronation of the return of Ancelotti. But it was also one looking forward to the age of Vinicius - who turns just 22 in July - but behind that it was another remind of how great a coach Zidane was, the man sitting in a box trying to blend in. 

Zidane never wavered in playing Vinicius - consistently starting him or at least bringing him on late for speed. He saw the potential, the speed on the flank, the nightmare he would cause for RBs, the game changing chess piece he can be. He saw that and leaned into it and kept trying and trying. We saw some development there over the course of the 2020-21 season, be it two goals against Liverpool in the Champions League in QF, to more consistent bright spots. He kept Vinicius focused and forward looking. Ancelotti took that and unlocked something special.

This is still a time of change in Real Madrid. Casemiro, Kroos and Modric appear ageless, but also they got run over far more often than before. It is not an accident that the amazing comeback against Man City happened with all three already subbed off. The future of Madrid is starting to come in, be it Vinicius's Brazilian running-mate Rodrygo, to Camavinga, to the soon to be annoucned Tchoumeni, to many other potential options. But Vinicius is agent zero of that effort, of that "project", to use the footballing parlance. He's a finished product, and one that earned his way there to becoming a Champions League legend.