I awoke this morning to word on Twitter that Rafa had done a little blogette for The Times.
I spoke to someone a few months ago at The Times in order to cancel my subscription, but I clicked on the website just to see and found that - quite shockingly - I still had my access. Lord knows where all those subscription costs have been coming from, so I think I'd better do some investigating into my home accounts!!
Anyhow ... so the text below is a direct transcript from The Times, so have a little read ...
"It is the late evening in Sardinia where I am having a small holiday and I have had a call saying that Andy Murray has reached the final of Wimbledon. I did not see the match, but I can only begin to imagine the emotions he must have been feeling.
For Andy this is an amazing achievement. It is the home tournament. To be in the final, to be playing against the best in history in Roger Federer, he has been fighting for this for a long time and now it has happened. I am very happy for him.
To be in so many Wimbledon semi-finals and not be in the final — I am sorry that it was me who beat him on the last couple of occasions — is disappointing for him, but I knew the chance would come again and that if it did come, he would take it.
For me, he has had a great career already, even without winning a final of a grand-slam, but this means so much more. This is the special one of the four major tournaments we have in our sport, especially for a player from Britain.
This is the best possible final for Wimbledon. They deserve it. I wish all the people there that it is a great occasion. I know what it is like to play Roger on the last day of a major championship. He is still here after years and years of competing and if he wins the tournament he will become the No 1 player in the world again. He deserves that, Andy deserves to win a grand-slam. It is going to be a special afternoon.
For me, 2008 against Roger is still an unforgettable memory. It is impossible to describe or to put into words how I felt that day but it was beautiful, I know that. It was my dream always to win Wimbledon and I am sure the same is true for Andy. All I know is that it will be a match that no one who sees it will forget. I don’t know if I will be watching or not, it depends on my schedule.
I am a little sad that it is not me who is playing. I had to cancel an exhibition I was due to play against Novak Djokovic in the Bernabéu stadium in Madrid next Sunday for my foundation because I am still having some problems with my knees.
I needed a couple of infiltrations after the French Open final and I was not at my best to play at Wimbledon. I am very sorry for that but I have to look after myself first.
I’ve had a good year so far, I believe. I won Monte Carlo for the eighth time, Barcelona for a seventh time, Rome for the sixth time and Roland Garros for a seventh time, so I cannot be too disappointed with that.
I want to find the best tennis levels of my career again and to do that I have to make sure that I rest properly. I am hoping, hoping that I will be all right to play in the Olympic Games."
I have to say, that whilst its brilliant to hear from Rafa and how genuine he is in his obvious happiness for Murray that he's finally made the final of Wimbledon, you do have to ask yourself whether its right for a journalist - and I'm sure of course that this is Mr Harmans - whether its right to bother him in such a way when he's taking a break. But hey, you got your scoop.
It never ceases to amaze me what a wonderful, genuine and fabulous human being Rafa is. To be so happy for another opponent that he's made a final when he's been unable to do so, and its been he himself who has thwarted Murray previously, well, the guy's a diamond. And of course, he doesn't stop at that but extends his admiration also to Federer.
To be honest though, this article has left me feeling a little sad. He is feeling it, that its not him in the final, and who isn't feeling dreadful for him to hear from the horse's mouth that whilst his clay court season was once again fabulous, he needed those infiltrations at the end of it.
And the way the piece ends ... "I am hoping, hoping that I will be all right to play in the Olympic Games." Well bless your heart Rafa, we hope for that too.
I hope he can enjoy the rest of his little holiday unbothered by anyone else, and that he gets the rest he needs. You know I have tickets for the Olympics and it just simply would not be the same if Rafa weren't able to make it. However, tennis isn't the same without him in it - this bloody awful tournament has once again showed that - so I truly hope for the sake of his longevity he takes all the time that he needs.
So rather it be an oft-used and filthy statement that he is the death of tennis, its quite the reverse actually ... tennis needs him.
Completely agree with your last statement. Tennis really needs him. It is flat and dull without him. Hope he gets the rest he needs and recovers well. He deserves it.
ReplyDeleteWhat in a completely unfair way really cheeses me off is that Rafa had to do all the heavy lifting for more than a year, staving off Novak (except at the 2011 FO, I admit) in 5-set matches over and over again, before doing more arduous work in gutting him throughout the clay court season, leaving only the sweepings for The Old Man of Tennis to dispose of at Wimbledon. These heroic efforts may have been necessary to save tennis and Rafa's emotional health, but it seems to have come at great cost to his poor knees.
ReplyDeleteAs to this "blog" of Rafa's: I suspect that this was crafted a day before the phone call. Benito is nothing if not prepared, and probably had discussed with Rafa how he would feel should Murray make it to the finals. Then either Benito knocked up a draft which Rafa then revised, or vice versa.
There are several things about the blog I find interesting. First, I love Rafa's sweet and generous nature in wholeheartedly praising Murray, and there is a warmth and "voice" in it that seem authentic, not manufactured by Benito. But some important points are being made.
(1) Way to go, Murray, now beat The Old Man of Tennis. [Fed is old.]
(2) I may be out of Wimbledon, but I had a lot to do with the final outcome, and I have made my mark there. I beat Murray there twice, and I beat Fed there in The Greatest Tennis Match Ever.
(3) I'm still important. I defeated Nole 3 straight times and set several records this year in clay.
(4) I've not been watching the tournament. I'm enjoying myself.
(5) My knees are so bad that they are probably why I lost at Wimbledon. Rosol who?
And then the obviously real regret that he is not playing, that he may have to miss the Olympic experience, which he has so greatly desired to enjoy a second time.
The numbered items may be the points Benito wanted to get over, but the graceful encomium for Murray, and the wistful, sad notes are all Rafa's own. They catch the heart. I can't see Harman getting any of that right. Pure Rafa.
May he now have some peace and fun and get his joie de vivre back.
--Melissa