To Beat the Devil ...

After spending almost two weeks of being driven to apoplectic rages concerning the bias and abject fawning Federer worship by commentators and pundits alike, I have rather enjoyed some of the more positive and comprehensive articles that have come out since Sunday's final.

I do attach those that may be of interest in the "Rafa in the Press" feature, but I thought I'd call this one to your particular attention.

Its interesting, with regard the Djokovic rivalry, how its has had abject swings one way and then to the other. I read something interesting last night that from 2008 to 2009, out of 11 matches played between Rafa and the PoD, Rafa won 10 matches to Djokovic's 1. 10-1. If that stat didn't reflect positively on Rafa, then some Rafa hatahs might call it "ownership". Djokovic's win came at Cincy, but other than that, Rafa beat him across all the surfaces. Lets not forget that Rafa's Madrid win in 2009 all but saw Djokovic on the psychiatrist's couch, but he came back from that and bagged another win at Cincy and then at the end of the year, he got Paris and the WTF. 2010 barely saw them meet and when they did at the USO and WTF, Rafa won. Then we had last year.

So my point is, some like to choose that Cincy 2009 meeting as when time began and excuse off Rafa's two victories. But prior to that, Djokovic had a dreadful record against Rafa. Recent times have obviously demonstrated the work and improvement that the PoD has made, but if he can get better, and if Rafa still has the will and desire to do so, can't he still make some improvements to adjust? He's still only 25. I don't think he'll perhaps go on a tear of victories over Djokovic, but surely didn't Sunday show that he can survive all that he throws at him and perhaps if it wasn't for a few of his own mistakes, he could have done it?

That's why I'm saying that their rivalry has very much swung one way, then there were 3 Djokovic victories matched off by Rafa's 2, and then its swung entirely the opposite way. Perhaps it shows Rafa's much earlier development and the PoD's later blooming, but it does show there's no parity between them.

So what does Rafa do now?

What I do like about the linked article are the technical explanations, but more so the writer's belief that Rafa has got some choice back ... and for me, that's the most important thing. As he says,

"He can lament and agonize over the missed opportunities in the second and third sets last weekend when he lost his way ... or, he can embrace his hell moment and realize that even in defeat, he is now liberated from Djokovic. He knows he can win.

Through his stirring comeback, he slew the mental edge Djokovic had over him. The rest is work, and the blueprint for doing it was revealed in the epic fourth and fifth sets. Nadal is closer than it may appear."

Come on Rafa! You can do it, you can DO it!! Vamos!!