From adversity to legacy ...

At the gala dinner held after Rafa's Madrid charity event, they played this video clip. Its like a catalogue of his triumphs, leading to the blackest days of his career, but like a phoenix from the flames, he emerged from the AO10 injury nightmare to go on to become what we see today.

Its like an eight minute capture of Rafa creating his legacy as a tennis player, to ending with him creating his legacy as a man with his foundation work in India and Spain.

I can't help but think sometimes, that whilst fate (and one or two crazy scheduling decisions) cut him down so cruelly as he had worked so hard to attain that Number 1 spot in 2008, maybe history will show that it all turned out alright in the end. Who else was rendered indignant every time Rafa won a Slam as it was met as if he was "taking something away" from Federer who so wanted to beat that record? How many more times could we possibly have had to face what we saw in Australia in 2009? But injury took Rafa out of the picture, and Feds was able to take those Slams without a Rafa-challenge and finally end up with the record he was looking for.

So maybe Fate will will shine down on Rafa, as she has done so far with what he achieved in 2010, and maybe, just maybe, it will allow him to have that one record Federer will never have ... holding all 4 Slams at the same time. Here's hoping.