Oh Rafa ... what happened?? He started off this match with 'game face' on, with the right sort of positive attitude, and played really, really well. He was the first to break, but then surprisingly, he was broken straight back ... only for Rafa to raise it again and capitalise with a further break of serve. He held it together and took the first set by a 6-4 scoreline with some very exciting and scintillating stuff being played by both men.
But serving at 2-3 down in the second, this is where the wheels seemed to come right off. He had break points against him, we all held our breath, but he managed to pull it out. Nole went 4-3 up, but Rafa's serve had completely deserted him. He couldn't get a first serve in to save his life and was subsequently broken, leaving Nole serving for the second set. In spite of Rafa's play, and Nole having set points, several times he took him to deuce in that game, even having break point himself, but Nole hung on and we were all square.
After Djokovic had raised his game so much in the second, we thought (or maybe hoped) for a little dip. It never came. Rafa's 1st service stats for the second second were at 25%. Yes ... TWENTY FIVE PER CENT!! Even in the days when he was a so-called 'poor server', at least his stat was generally around the 70% mark. And the trend continued right from the start in the third set as he was immediately broken. Then broken again.
Rafa's dreadful serve took over his whole thinking. He just couldn't get anything together, lost all confidence, and when he does that ... he just retreats to the back of the court thereby leaving himself wide open for winners to go zipping past him. He finally got on the board at 0-4 down, but it was just a question of time. Nole served out to win the set 6-2 and first EVER final against Rafa.
In summary, was that Rafael Nadal I saw out there? Never ever have I seen such a bad day at the office. Never have I seen him collapse so visibly. I think the pressure of this super confident, aggressive Novak in front of him plus the pressure he put himself under with his loss of serve caused even this warrior of mental strength to crumble. Rafa says he will spend some time watching the videos and seeing where his serve went all wrong. I just hope that he doesn't get too hung up about that one stroke. The Rafa of the first set was amazing ... lets hope we see a bit more of that in Miami.
He has actually increased his ranking points by making the final, and considering his illness at the start of year, then the injury in Australia, to make his comeback and be in the final of a hardcourt Masters is still pretty good. Nole though has now got the Number 2 spot, increased his ranking by over 900 points and is less than 4,000 behind Rafa. Pression is good, noh, Rafa? Not for your fans, honey. Hopefully he will meet up with Uncle Toni in Miami, talk through a few things and it be onwards and upwards.
There was a nice touch in Nole's speech in that he said that for him, Rafa is the greatest, and that he's a good friend, and he wishes him the best for season. Awww ... lovely.
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