Miami Blues ...

So what did we make of that, then?

Rafan coined a good phrase this morning in that she was disappointed for Rafa, not disappointed with him. And I think that word is the order of the day ... disappointed.

Seeing as Rafa has had one of the more tougher draws in any competition of late, and that he got his way through it - particularly with that difficult match against Berdych - and then totally annihilating Feds ... I thought this was going to be a victory for him. And I had my infamous "good feelings".

He raced ahead in the first set, breaking Nole twice, but it was more the case of Nole's bad play rather than Rafa over-powering him. And he even dropped serve when serving for the set so needed that second break to enable him to see it out 6-3. Rafa seemed very, very nervous, slightly unsure of himself, didn't know of his play ... and has become over-obsessed with that serve.

As we all know, he tweaked it and it helped him to win the USO, but now its as if he thinks about it so much that if it goes off, his whole game goes with it and he loses confidence in his groundies, stays too far back, isn't in the court enough. But worse than that, he doesn't have a Plan B. And this is what happened yesterday. So it was Nole that gained in his confidence, was more the aggressor and he ran out with the second set, 6-3.

But credit to Rafa ... it wasn't the total collapse of Indian Wells, and he pulled himself together in the third and they kind of matched each other game by game. Both guys had 0-30 opportunities, Rafa having 30-15 when 6-5 up, but the match ended up in somewhat of an inevitable conclusion ... the dreaded tie-breaker.

Were they both nervous? but it started out as swift breaks of serve for both players. For me though, it hinged on 3 things. Rafa's fretting with his serve which resulted in his 6th double fault, and he looked at two second serves from Nole but failed to do the remotest thing with them. Overall Rafa was very poor on his stat with the second serve, which showed that Nole has a good one, and Rafa must come up with some new ideas.

So sadly for our boy, he lost the breaker 7-4, and Nole became his victor for the second tournament running. I was more disappointed (that word again) at Indian Wells, because of Rafa's total game collapse, but in this match ... you have to say that he was beaten, and that will be (and is) tough for Rafa to take. It surely is one of his better US hardcourt swings though and better results in reaching two finals. So Rafa gained points ... but Nole gained more.

But think about it ... Nole has won 1 Major, 1 x 500 series and 2 x 1000 Masters, and he's still 3,100 points behind Rafa who has won zip. So even though Rafa has a massive 5,000 points to defend over the clay court season and Nole has 900, this time honey ... you will be on Rafa's turf.

VAMOS!!!