When Rafa finally faced a top class opponent as he did in Andy Murray, his rustiness and failure to find early form on the hardcourts of North America stood out. It was slightly disappointing as he held break points in the first set which he didn't convert, and after being broken in the second, he fought his way back to recapture that break, and disappointingly, when he held further break points, a double fault went unseen by the umpire which could have given him the way back into the match and a third set, but it wasn't to be. Murray played well, Rafa not so, and he lost for only the second time in 36 matches by a 3-6, 4-6 scoreline.
The one thing that has impressed me most about Rafa were his comments in his post match presser. His serve - always the cause of so much angst to us Rafateers - was a bit woeful, but Rafa revealed that he hasn't been practising it much, learning his lessons from last year with too much hard practice putting unnecessary pressure on those lovely abdominals causing one of them to famously "break", thereby impeding his 2009 USO campaign.
So as he's now got matches under his belt, he will practice the serve much more on Monday/Tuesday, along with his movement and making his backhand work without too much thinking. A semi-final appearance is still a respectable result, and I would rather that and careful conditioning of his body than perhaps the success of 2008 which all-in-all contributed to his tiredness back then.
Keep working Rafa, and on to Cincy. Its the end game that matters, not this one.
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