Good morning, everybody ...

No little match synopsis from me today. We're all Rafa fans here, so you'll have watched the match. And I guess I just want to speak from the heart.

I do this thing here because I'm a fan and I enjoy it. I love to watch Rafa play and I enjoy recording his career and life on my on-line scrapbook. And because I do a fan blog, writing as a fan, I don't need to be balanced or any of that sort of thing. I don't have to share a thought to any other player out there. Its all about Rafa. And as a fan, I was disappointed today, gutted for him. But even though I was feeling like that, I knew he'd go on to talk about all the positives from today and indeed he has if you go and read his presser. And he's right to, cos there are loads of them.

When the match was possibly on his racquet with a break in the 5th, leading 4-2 and being 30-15 up, going for a backhand down the line with plenty of space to aim at, for him to put a bit too much on it and it sail wide and the impetus swing back in Djokovic's favour, its gutting. But that's tennis. Its a big cliché, but sometimes matches are won by the slightest of margins and turn on a very few points. Its why we love it.

But lets think of the heart Rafa displayed to fight his way out of 0-40 down at 3-4 in the fourth set. How he came from behind in the tie-breaker, how he battled his guts out to put himself in a winning position. He held his nerve better, he played to win, it just wasn't enough this time. He made some mistakes, and it will happen until he fine tunes and gets his game back again, and perhaps for those 3 final games he was too defensive and too far behind the baseline - Rafa of old. But he didn't look like that hapless player, devoid of all ideas and confidence like we saw in 2011, with Rome and Wimbledon being the absolute low points.

I cannot begin to speak about how proud I am today of him. How he conducted himself in the best possible manner, how he displayed courtesy to his opponent in his victory, how he carried himself with grace in his own defeat. My admiration for this man is immense. I have never, ever known a competitor like him, a sportsman like him. His talent and his work ethic which has taken him from a so-called clay court specialist to being a multi-Slam winner is staggering. But its not just the tennis player ... its him, and it always has been. He spoke with total dignity today, he played like a warrior ... "Don't worry, he is Nadal" was once the old family motto. He didn't quite make it today ... but he's getting nearer.

VAMOS Rafa!! I am so very, very proud of you.