Is it safe to come out now ... ???

Dear God ... we're firmly back on that rollercoaster, aren't we??

And it all started so well. Rafa was being his usual clay court self in the first set. Dominant play, bossing his opponent, 90% first serves in, 75% first service points won, 100% second service points won ... easy! A blip with a drop of serve, but an immediate break back and before you knew it, the first set was won 6-2.

Dimitrov rallied himself and won the first game of the second set, but then Rafa seemingly went absolute walkabout ... from nowhere. Now I have to say that this was no "hit and hope" display as Rafa has sadly experienced before. Dimitrov was playing some really nice tennis. At times, he was staying with Rafa in rallies and then superbly winning them, and he was displaying a mix up of tennis that was clearly rattling him. Was it a physical problem for Rafa, as his serve lost it's penetration, his shots had no power, the length wasn't there. And I'm saying that now with the gift of hindsight as we now know his back was taped up. Hey ... we've been bored off with the PoD and his continuous dislocated ankle bollocks all week, why shouldn't I mention it?

Rafa took himself off court at the start of the third set and he seemed to settle himself, but only a little. It was pretty dodgy when he was serving at 3-4 down, but he survived. Now here's the thing. Whilst "Baby Fed" seemed to cope a damn sight better than his nickname namesake with the pummelling Rafa was trying to level at his single handed backhand, by this stage, his physical state was letting him down. First one leg, then the other, and would you believe it and like the Champion Rafa is ... he broke to take a 5-4 lead.

Work was still needed to finish Grigor off, but Rafa did it ... he was through by 6-4 in the third.

If Dimitrov struggles to that extent in 3 sets against someone like Rafa, then it just goes to show - once again - what a specimen Rafa is to beat over 5 sets. But the l'Equipe journalist - Carole Bouchard - reported this .. 

"Nadal confirms something is going on with his back but refuses to give details cause has enough of medias talking about his injuries."

All is not quite well, backed up by another of her quotes ...

"Nadal said he needed 2 weeks after Indian Wells to get treatment for knee. Says he lacks training so body suffering. But we'll fight anyway."

Le sigh ... There's always something.

Rafa plays Jo-Wilfrid Tsonga tomorrow at 1 pm local time, and the weather forecast is not good. Damp conditions and heavy balls don't bode well for Rafa's best clay court play, but he's going to fight anyway. And we'll be there watching ... from behind our sofas.

VAMO9 !!!