Final, final thoughts ...

Now the dust has settled, the nets have been packed away, the clear up undertaken and Rafa has already left town and is now in Madrid for the next stage of the tennis calendar ... I'll share some thoughts on his momentous US Open victory.

Before I started this post, I looked up the word "fan" for a formal definition.  I know what it means, but I thought I'd look again.  And for "fan" I found:-

"a person who has a strong interest in or admiration for a particular sport, art or entertainment form, or a person"

That's no so bad, is it?  So I looked up "fanatic":-

"a person with an obsessive interest in and enthusiasm for a particular activity"

Hhmmm ... that's more hitting the mark.  And I'll tell you why I'm going down this path, and it's because during that third set on Monday night I sat there again, and for the millionth time said that I was never, ever, ever going to be a fan of a tennis player again. Because seriously this time, if it hadn't have been the middle of the night over in the UK, I would have hooked up Rose to her lead and gone out walking for the next couple of hours.  

You see ... I know what happened in the 4 of the last 5 occasions that Rafa played Djokovic before Monday's final, but I don't enjoy watching their matches at all.  The reason being is that most times, they follow a similar pattern.  Rafa takes the first set, and you relax a little.  Then Djokovic starts to come back and takes the second.  Then you've no way of knowing how it will go if it's a 3 setter, and if its a 5 setter ... whether you can even bring yourself to hope in the third or whether you're going to have to brace yourself for 5 sets.  Either way, I feel myself sitting there watching with my lips tightly pursed and my heart in a vice, and I know that I can't really relax for a single second even if Rafa is playing spectacularly, because over and over - even when Djokovic looks like he's dead on his feet, even when he's playing with such poor quality - it's impossible ever to count him out because just at those moments when you think he has gone ... he comes back.

I'm going to personally send a bill to Rafa when I finally go and get fillers for the lines around my mouth.

I think in a way I'm still shell shocked from 2011.  All those times we sat down to watch those finals and before every one, I'd say my three "Hail Marys" and think .. "it's going to be this time".  Because surely, surely the law of averages means that he's going to get one of them.

But he never did.

And then we moved into 2012, and just when we thought he would do it in that epic final at the Australian Open ... he still lost.  But we know now with the benefit of hindsight that even though he lost that match, the shift had started, and Rafa was coming back.  I certainly didn't know that when I sat in those stands in Monte Carlo and watched Djokovic practice before the final that Sunday.  I watched him hit the ball over and over and all I could think of was how is Rafa ever going to beat this man?  But he did it that day, and we enjoyed a further two occasions thereafter ... till disaster struck and Rafa was gone from the game.

And I think, perhaps, that I'm still shell shocked from 2012 also, because we just never knew when Rafa was coming back.  As he withdrew from tournament after tournament, the prognosis was published and we hastily googled sites on the internet to try and understand it more ... the mixed messages coming out from Toni proved to be a bind, and the worry and stress and well just everything made me wonder why I bother so much  ... and then when his comeback at the Australian Open was cancelled, I made an entry in my 2013 Resolution/To Do List of ... "Back off with Rafa stuff".  LOL.

But Rafa got over his sickness, added tournaments to his South American schedule and came back in February. And I think because of all that had gone before, I approached his comeback more with hope than expectation.  Because that way, anything he ever managed to achieve was a bonus.  And we ended up with bonus after bonus ... until he finally met Djokovic again in Monte Carlo and a dose of realism was given, that whilst Rafa was going great in his comeback, he still wasn't at the level he needed to be. 

He didn't play spectacular tennis in the clay season - in my opinion - but when he got to the weekend in Rome, I thought he was playing lights out.  And even though he had a very tentative, nervous and edgy start to his French Open campaign, the way he rallied himself and came through that semi-final was miraculous. No wonder Toni was crying ... I was doing plenty of that myself.  And so to Wimbledon ... but here folks is where my hope changed ... to expectation.  And look what happened.

I still don't believe that he was anywhere close to being fit enough at that tournament. But I'm making a hefty "note to self" for the future, because perhaps in previous years he never was also.  Look at the number of 5 setters he's had to play across the years, but somehow then, he found a way.  And then when the courts change in the second week and adapt more to his strengths, he's been able to push on to have the success he's had.  A lesson learnt, as they say.

But with the hardcourt season upon us, in all honesty I just felt that whatever results Rafa managed to achieve, each and every one of them were going to be a points bonus ... so did it really matter?  I had absolutely no expectations here.  But never for the life of me did I expect to see him play as he did.  Never. So credit to the team and to Rafa's work ethic for dazzling us with his displays in Montreal and Cincinnati.

And then he got to the US Open final.  I remember once thinking about the US Open in terms of the dreams that you dared to dream really did come true.  And so they did in 2010, and he'd been playing so well this year for him to have such a very good chance.

But Djokovic came back in that second set, was a break up on Rafa in the third, and that's when I wanted to take Rose out for a walk.  When he fell over his feet and became 0-40 down and Vadja was smirking and laughing, and Sammy the Seal was out of her chair clapping like a demented sea lion ... I wanted to take my leave.

But then, this is why this person is "a person with an obsessive interest in and enthusiasm for a particular activity" - obsessive interest in and enthusiasm for, one certain Rafael Nadal.  Because Rafa was not going to be beaten.  Like a lion, he fought to save those break points.  And like a lion, that play took him on to break Novak Djokovic and from nowhere, he'd taken that set.

Throw that girlfriend a fish and fire up that bloody lawnmower.

And this time, there was no coming back for Djokovic.  This time, he was spent, he was gone ... and Rafa raced away to take his second US Open title.  Awesome.

I love how Rafa leaves his emotions there on the court.  Because ours are also spread-eagled somewhere from wherever we watch him.  A special man, a genius on court .. heroic.  He certainly does shine bright like a diamond ... and I love him.

So it's Number 13 for Rafa, and all media talk moves to whether he'll catch Federer up in the Slam count.  I really am not interested in that statistic and I'm being perfectly honest.  What would be nice is if Rafa could win the Australian Open so that he would have 2 Career Slams to add to his Olympic Gold and his 6 other titles on the surface where he is nothing short of a genius.  Now that would be just peachy.

But after all that we go through with Rafael Nadal ... that's just my hope, not my expectation.  Thank you, Rafa, for a very special final and giving us the joy of you being the Champion again.  Good luck for the rest of the season.