And so it was not meant to be. Rafa failed in his attempt to capture all three clay court Master 1000 series tournaments in one season as he went down to Feds, 6-4, 6-4. Sad that Rafa lost, but hats off to Feds, as he did play one of the best matches I've seen him play against Rafa in a long while. He was definitely thinking out there, changed up his play, was effective and he was bold on the big points. There was not doubt that Rafa did look one step slower today as he participated in the 4 hour epic and best match so far of the clay court season yesterday, which had us all on the edge of our seats, and in some ways, I'd rather he lose fighting like that than what we saw today. But ... its been 4 finals and 3 victories, and even Rafa sometimes can't win them all.
In a funny sort of way, its good thing that this has happened to him, because Rafa's approach to a match and his opponents is always "this guy can beat me" and it seems to motivate him. What he can take from the clay court season so far is that Murray played a fantastic second set against him, Nole is pushing him all the way, and that Feds was able to come up with a game plan which he executed to beat him. So he knows he still has to work very hard, take nothing for granted and step it up even further to continue to be the champion that he is.
I think it will be a time of reflection for the Rafacrew, but it will result in a positive move forward towards Roland Garros and hopefully that 5th victory!!
We're still very proud of what you've achieved Rafa. Vamos !!!
Link to Rafa's on court interview ...
http://www.tennistv.com/page/TennisTV/TournamentInterviews/MadridMen/0,,11444~1660180,00.html
No comments:
Post a Comment