After posting the article that has caused so much stir in the tennis world, in the Sunday Times I have received many emails from Rafa fans to try and do something about this article. The fact of the matter is that no one has the right to censor anyone's opinion. Barber has said it her self that when her articles/interviews cause some controversy; it's where she is most proud of. When she finds a interview very dull she adds this kind of flare for controversy. (click the video below to hear it for yourslef) We all know that the article is horrible yet we still manage to give it so much attention.

I also receive emails on a certain Roger Federer blog accusing Rafa of doping since 2008.Which I feel is a discredit to Rafa Nadal, we as his fans, Roger Federer, his fans & the entire sport of tennis. The Fed blog goes on & on trying to piece together a very uncompelling argument on Rafa's muscles therefore he uses steroids & Fed doesn't cause he has none? huh? wow anyone with a blog can write crap like this, journalists can write crap like that..all that you are left with really is making decisions for yourself to either stay away from this kind of writing.

Ms. Lynn Barber is no stranger to mayhem. She wrote "My harsh lesson in love and life"  , a memoir of her teenage love affair, An Education, the memoir that was made into a movie produced by the BBC. She has an affair with an older married man for 2 years. She then goes on to Oxford where she admitted 'I slept with 50 men at Oxford'. Not only that she also was the girlfriend of a drug smuggler, Howard Marks; "Memoirs of a swot who went to pot".

After graduating she went to work for Penthouse magazine for several years. No doubt where interviewing skills came from where she seems preoccupied with Rafa's sexuality & his relationship. She also wrote a piece on her experience there as well "Almost as many balls as breasts".
Wrote a sex book How to Improve Your Man in Bed. She was quoted as saying her method as "start[ing] ... from a position of really disliking people, and then compel[ling] them to win you over."


The questions that irritate me the most in this entire article are these for obvious reasons when it comes to personal relationships that aren't your family no one has the right to pass this kind of judgement.

Me: “But if you only see her — what? — 30 days a year, it can’t be a very fulfilling relationship?”
"I’ll be pretty amazed if he ever marries her, though" 

The thing is that Lynn Barber is not a sports journalist.  I've researched her pieces & I don't recall any interviews on athletes. This does not exclude her tabloid style approach. After all Rafa is a decent, humble human being that does not like controversy at all. He avoids it as much as he can & does not live his life the way she would like him to lead it. For the sake of her type of reporting! I'm afraid this interview was doomed from the start being that it was the day of Seve Ballesteros’s funeral.
Does Rafa deserve a better interview YES, do we as fans want to know more on him YES, Do we really care about why he pulls on his pants? NO! Did she get Rafa to say anything we didn't know NO.. therefore it really isn't worth a second read or getting yourself upset over.


Although I agree with all the other Rafa fans it is unprofessional. Let's be honest here, the writing is definitely forgettable. Barber's editors agreed to the publishing of this article & Rafa's PR manager was present.
What exactly do we expect form a writer that has worked for a sex filled magazine like Penthouse? Who's fault is this article really? I feel there should have been more research on Benito's part, so that this kind of conflict does not take place again. Although you cannot control what people write, I hope this doesn't happen again to Rafa. He desrves so much more than this!

Video on her take of her most famous interviews

This is what she had to say on her twitter:

lynnbaba Lynn Barber

This is my reply to her:

@lynnbaba word of advice "You mess with the bull, you get the horns"

You can leave your comments if you like below let me know how you feel!