I haven't really done too much talking about that pot of gold that Rafa may find if he does the unbelievable in two weeks' time. Maybe because of the curse of the *jinx*, maybe because my intuition about him doing it isn't as strong as for the US Open last year.
I'm a football fan along with doing all this Rafa-nonsense, and through my years of watching football, I've come to understand that fate and luck plays as much a part in a knock out competition as much as skill and great play. To digress for a mo' I used to say that all I ever wanted was to see Manchester United in the final of the European Cup just once in my lifetime. I was a toddler in 1968, but I just hoped for that one day to be able to enjoy the excitement myself. And in 1999, I remember discussing that if they were ever to do it, that was the year, because there was no other real stand-out team amongst the usual suspects of Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan. We had our luck in the semi-final, and again with minutes to go in the final. And they won it.
For the US Open, Rafa worked to get his own luck, with a much improved serve and went to the semi's without even dropping a set. But I felt it was aligned for him last year because JMDP was out, Federer had lost form and didn't make it past the quarters in the previous two Slams, Murray had gone on mental walkabout since the early part of the year, and Nole is just Nole with his fitness issues and sometimes erratic results. I just felt that of all years, 2010 was the one in which he could do it.
But I think the other players have shook off what hampered them in 2010 and they are all keen and raring to go. They won't be caught by surprise with a new Rafa serve and all of them have so much motivation for this tournament for what it would bring.
Rafa's got the game - we know that. He has the comfort of knowing he's won here before and if anything, this hardcourt suits him the best. So if I want to bring the Fates into this (and I've probably said this before), the Australian Open is the only tournament in recent times that has not witnessed a piece of tennis "history". Wimbledon saw Pete Sampras break Roy Emerson's record number of Slam victories, and it witnessed it again when Feds broke it again. The French Open saw Feds achieve his Career Grand Slam and to equal Sampras's record (which was the target then). The US Open saw Rafa achieve his own Career Grand Slam ... so isn't it Australia's turn? I again also believe that Rafa won't break this number of Slams nonsense, but I do believe he will create his own different set of records that Federer will not achieve. And the "Grand Slam" is one of them ...
Rafa's draw should take him to the semi's at least ... and then we shall see. And whilst my mystic musings are not as strong as last September's, I hope against hope that Rafa does find his RafaSlam at the end of the rainbow ...
Here's a nice piece on it ...
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