Everyday is a chance for victory ...

But not today, eh Rafa?

Well ... lets do the facts first in that Rafa lost to Andy Murray today in 3 sets: 6-3, 2-6, 0-6. I didn't watch it and saw only the last 2 games, so any comments on the actual match are gleaned from what I've read that others have said. It seems to be a similar pattern of events. Rafa coming out and starting great and winning the first set, then ... when it looks like its all going his way and he's at 30-0 on his own serve and still has game points in it, he's broken. Then he can't bury the break back points he gets and goes on a mental collapse. And today, the mental collapse was astounding as he must have been broken twice finally in the second set and to be bagelled in the third and only winning a total of 4 points within it ... well, its astounding.

I'm reading little pocket wars breaking out with people saying all the positive stuff of 3 GS finals, 7 other finals, yeah, what a crap year and all that - whilst others speak of a disappointment and the honesty that frankly for Rafa, its just not good enough. So where am I in all of this? Somewhere in the middle I think. Of course its not possible for him to win every single match and there will be losses along the way, and its a player's dream to walk out on court and be part of the last two standing in a Grand Slam final. And Rafa's done that. But if my football team got to the final of all the competitions in a season and won nothing, I'd think that they weren't quite good enough too and that the manager ought to do something about it.

For me, Rafa's doing a bit of a Feds. He's great when in a winning position, but if someone then takes it to him and rattles him, the self doubt suddenly steps in, his nerve goes and when he then falls behind in the set, he falls behind in the match and its all over. When Rafa played Nalbandian in the US Open and Nalby had that fabulous first opening set, its almost as if you could see Rafa thinking that yep, you're playing great but I'm playing well too ... but when your level drops which at some point it will do, I'm doing well enough to take advantage and make the most of this. And he can have that mindset against anyone else - Feds included - but when facing off against the Prince of Darkness, or standing across from Murray on a fast hardcourt when he knows that he's perhaps the better player on that sort of surface, he's not having the belief in his own ability. The nerves kick in, he wobbles inexplicably in his own service games when in leading positions or having game points and when he loses serve, he collapses because he doesn't have the belief either physically or mentally now that he can bring it back. He doesn't stay positive in his play, he doesn't play with any aggression ... he retreats into his defensive positioning way on the backboards and just hits and hopes for player error or that they will just run out of gas. Which they don't ... but he does.

After Rafa played so well in the Davis Cup semi-final, I wanted to hold some hope that a so-called easier passage in the Asian swing might mean a trophy along the way which I think would do wonders for his confidence. I can't see where that W is coming from though ... for the reasons I've described above. The 2009 Davis Cup win didn't immediately propel him into confident, winning ways at the start of 2010 but wherever that mojo came from in that year, he needs to go looking for it again.

Or the alternative readers is that as Rafa approaches his 26th year and his 8th in top flight tennis, then this sort of thing is now going to be what his season is made of. It never lasts forever for a tennis player, and its not exactly as if he hasn't had his day in the sun, but with the younger guys maturing at the very same time as perhaps Rafa is ageing, maybe 2011 isn't such a freak year and maybe its a taster of what will continue to come ...