All roads lead to ...

... Rome, as the saying goes. But not for Rafa in a tennis season. They all lead to Paris. As do Djokovic's in his now obsessive pursuit of his Holy Grail; ready to dedicate it to his dead Grandfather / dead coach / the flood victims of Serbia / his unborn child / the nail that pooch Pierre broke last week / Boris's favourite Bavarian Oompah band / his favourite toiletbrush upon which he based his hairstyle ... just strike one from the above. He wants nothing other than that title for himself ... and preferably beating Rafa to do it. That's his real Holy Grail. He can cite as many boo-hoo reasons he likes ... he wants it all for him.

And I must admit that throughout the year, I've had a horrid, gnawing feeling that Rafa won't triumph this year. Just based on the law of averages really ... not much else. I can hear you shouting at me down the screen, but bear with me. There's got to come a point after 9 clay court seasons at the top, that things dip a little. It happens. There's also that terrible realisation that Rafa's reign at Roland Garros will come to end - at some point. And so with what we've witnessed in this year's clay season with headlines such as "Nadal's Worst Clay Court Results since 2003" (which still makes me laugh considering that Rafa was a 16 year old boy back in 2003), it's got the hacks sharpening their pencils with glee thinking that this might indeed, be Djokovic's year.

Why? Well he's won 3 Masters and beat Nadal on clay. Oh, right. Lost early (for him) in the quarters at the Australian Open, lost to Feds in Dubai, lost to Feds in Monte Carlo (broken wrist). I'll give him the Miami victory without any sarcasm because Rafa was poor on the day, but Indian Wells ... a tie-breaker which could have just as much gone to Smugly as it did to him, Rome saw him drop sets, Rome saw him a tie-breaker away from defeat against Raonic ... and Rafa still took a set off him.  Rafa still has the most match wins this season, Rafa is leading the The Race ... Rafa is still #No. 1. And he's had the most match play on clay.

It's not all doom for our boy and smelling of roses for the PoD.  His Djerkness won Monte Carlo last year but still didn't win the Big One. He's won Rome this year ... but it still doesn't mean he'll win the Big One.  As I wrote in an earlier post, back in 2006 after losing the French Open semi-final to Rafa, the PoD declared that he wasn't unbeatable on clay. But it took him 5 years to actually do it, and 8 years on, he still hasn't done it at RG. And it's by the finest of margins that you can only split them today ... way to go Djokovic after 8 years of work.

Of course there will always be those that talk about how "close" he was in 2012, and that he was "closer" still in 2013. I felt that Rafa started to beat himself in 2012 by griping too much about the conditions rather than concentrating on the match. And for those that think the weather saved Rafa that day ... the PoD was 2 sets to 1 down and still had two sets to actually try and win. Which brings me to last year ... the nearly match. Leading by a break in the 5th set and if it hadn't had been for that pesky touch of the net ... Djokovic would have won!!! It still astounds me as to how much the outcome of that match supposedly rested on that one event. What about the outcome that Djerk was so poor in the third set that I'd convinced myself he was actually tanking it as a ruse to come back and win in 5. Or the outcome that Rafa broke Djokovic in the 4th set and then immediately stood to serve the match. That if nerves hadn't have got in his way and of course the old try and tested method of Djerk just shutting his eyes, hitting and hoping for the best ... it would never had gone to the 5th set anyway. It would have been won in 4, and comfortably at that.

But rattled from Rafa's failure, Djerk took advantage, and immediately broke him. And so it was until that infamous 8th game.  The infamous 8th game that Rafa started to roar back into anyway. The game where he was 30-0 up on Djerk's serve. The game where he had a game point before any nets were touched. The game where Djokovic was given a time violation which didn't seem to affect him. The game where because Rafa was exerting such pressure upon him, Djerk decided he needed to change his tactics and take a foray to the net, and take such precision and attention in placing his smash volley in an area of the court that Rafa couldn't reach, he got his body all wrong and careered into the net.  That gave Rafa not his first, but his second game point. The point where Djokovic "emptied his head from all thoughts" as Petchy said and where Djokovic saved that break point by playing "fierce and fearless tennis" - as said by Courier. If you were to believe the folk lore that now centres around that point, you'd think that Rafa broke back immediately after being awarded the game point for Djokovic crashing into the net. Not so. Rafa had to play again to build another break point of his own ... and then take it. The match rested at 4-4 after all that kerfuffle ... and that's another point, 4-4. How did the match end? It was 9-7 to Rafa I believe. Another 8 games and God knows how many other points were played after that infamous net touch. 8 games is a 6-2 set of tennis in Djokovic's world, so you'd think 8 games was more than plenty for him to recover ... wouldn't you? Your reign as French Open champion was saved by the net Rafa ... yes, of course it was.

Phew ... glad I've got that of my chest.

But even this most blinkered of fangirls has to acknowledge that 8 years on from 2006, there's pretty much nothing between them and should they meet in the final, it could go either way. And Rafa's route to the final could have been better, but it's certainly not bad. He's going to give us those early round nerves and the days of him bulldozing his way through matches I think are now long gone. But I sincerely doubt that Almagro will have another chance to make an arse of himself by bouncing around the court like he's won the lottery. And a quarter-final against Daveed will be hard and not as full as nerves for Daveed as a final, but Rafa can do it. A semi-final against either Murray or The Hobbit? I don't think that Murray believes enough against Rafa and [insert player name here] The Hobbit, has already had "the match of his life" ... so I think Rafa might take some delight in burying him. It's hard, but not insurmountable, and Rafa - if successful and *unjinx to infinity and beyond* - could play himself into some decent form.

As for the Prince of Darkness, well, I don't think his draw is a cakewalk. I'd like to think that Tsonga could give him some issues in a quarter-final seeing as he was a semi-finalist last year, but he is a bit of a flake, so who knows? What I like most though, is the thought that the Parisian crowd should be on Tsonga's side ... and the PoD won't like that. And whether or not you think I'm crazy, I'd much rather the PoD faced Federer in a semi-final than Wawrinka (who I don't think will even get there). If anyone, its good old Smugs who has the more reasonable draw, and if not too fatigued, I'd bank on him giving Djerk a much harder time of it than Stanford would. He always seems to. I don't know why ... but he does. And of course, there is no doubt who the French crowd would support in that one.

But it still remains a load of ifs, buts and maybes ... It may not be Rafa's time any more, and it wouldn't actually send shock waves around the world if he didn't win. It's the sport ... merde happens. I think the fear I've had all year in my tummy around RG is borne more out of who I desperately don't want to win ... rather than who I do. The roads that Rafa took to Rome didn't lead him to victory ... but they led him out of his fug to a better place where he has cleared his mind and arrived in his perennial home looking fit, rested and happy.

Bonne chance et bon courage, Rafa. Good luck and bear your trials with strength.