The motivation, always is the same ...

Whilst Feds and the PoD are doing their damndest to try and pile the pressure on by declaring him the favourite for this year's French Open, I've been reading some soundbites from Rafa's pre-tournament presser which indicate a typical and very level-headed approach from him ...

"... is another year, another Roland Garros. This tournament is important enough in itself, not because now I have six. I have much more than I ever dreamed. I am coming here with the motivation of every year, with the desire to play well, and then we will see. But I'm not going to be more motivated because I have six and I can win seven."

Quite, Rafa. He does, of course, stand on the precipice of his own piece of history if he manages to win seven, because he will have beaten Borg's record at Roland Garros and will probably end for all time any discussion of who is the greatest clay court player. Notwithstanding this, Djokovic will try and play his own Fed-mind games in trying to take away the heat from the fact that if he wins here, he too stands to make an incredible record as he will be holding all of the Slams at the same time.

I've yet to see the hype over this though. And I've yet to see Rod Laver being trotted out to give his opinion, seeing as he was the last man ever to do the Grand Slam, although as he was at absolute pains to point out when Rafa stood on the verge of this achievement at the Australian Open of 2011, his was a true Slam, when all the titles were won in the same year. Wonder why we've yet to hear of his opinion of it all??

As for my opinion, well ... I don't care for Djokovic, and frankly, I don't think he's deserving of that accolade. You see, I want to see a player suffer for his art. I want to see a man having to work year after year to be even within a chance of it. I want to see a player such as Rafa having to conquer all the odds of having to learn and adapt his game across the surfaces, to having won the one Slam (which for him was the US Open) that no-one ever believed he would ever win. For Feds, I would have wanted it to be won by overcoming the greatest and toughest challenge he would ever face ... that of beating Rafa at the French Open. So for Djokovic, who prior to 2011 had only won one Slam in his entire career, I don't want his chance to have come because of having one stellar season. You can't take away from him what he did last year ... but he hasn't suffered enough for his chance, which why I don't want him to win it.

But back to Rafa. Well ... he wants the title and its that which motivates him, not the record ...

"And I was not more motivated when I arrived here in 2005 than today. I was not more motivated in 2010 when I lost in 2009. The motivation always is the same. But this is a different tournament, and because I played very well at the three clay-court tournaments, that doesn't mean that I'm going to have success here. The only thing that means is I have three more titles in my bedroom that are very important for me. I love those three tournaments."

"I arrive here with positive feelings, and I will try my best to be very competitive and to be at the right level to have my chances."

LOL that even now he's making reference to the three "true" clay court titles he's won this season and as for your chances, Rafa. Take them!