Well, this report has been a long time coming. Simply because from Rafa's tennis perspective, there wasn't a lot to talk about. After the result alluded to in an earlier post, Rafa lost to both Davydenko and Djokovic in straight sets. He had a couple of breakers in both matches, but without an assailable lead in either, and his confidence and general all-round play continued to be patchy. I think this was just a case of a tournament to be got out of the way for Rafa as the final of the Davis Cup approached.
The highlight of the whole thing though was that it gave the Rafateers the opportunity to get together. Seven of us met up for dinner in an off-shoot of Rafa's favourite Spanish restaurant and it was terrific fun. Putting faces to (real) names for me and just sharing Rafa moments and having a good old laugh was just great. My pals from the Dark Side (Denzy, Rafan and Clare) were the ones I shared the days with, with a brief appearance of Pearl on the Friday.
So although Rafa lost, to be able to actually see him for the first time, and close hand practising on the Thursday was just terrific, as was experiencing the whole indoor arena aspect to tennis and the great event the World Tour Finals proved to be.
If this is a taster for Rome, then bring-it-on.
