Le draw ...

The Booty Buddies were together again today as they continued the tradition of making the respective Men's and Ladies' draw.

Rafa got Ginepri as his first round opponent, then it's Thiem/Mathieu in the second, either Gavashvili/Pospisil/Mayer in the third, till it then builds up to either Almagro/Haas in the fourth and a potential quarter final against Ferrer.  Either Murray or The Hobbit could await him in the semi-final.

*un-jinx* to infinity that Rafa makes his way through and of course ... the only one sure thing about Slams is that there's rarely a sure thing when it comes to who players may face within it.

I won't go on about it today, nor really mention anyone else's, but I'd rather the semi-finals be as they could be and personally ... I like the way Rafa's potential draw seems to draw to a crescendo.  I think it may be good for him and his tennis.  I'll probably do a post of my pre-tournament feelings tomorrow.

To capture quotes from articles which are built up from snippets of what Rafa's presser, these are a few of the quotes from him ...

“Not that happy about what I did in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, but that's the sport,” Nadal told reporters on Friday after the draw had been revealed. “Rome, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Barcelona is past now. We are here in Roland Garros, and the only thing that matters now is have a good practice when I will be able to finish with the press. I will practice today, will practice tomorrow, good practice on Sunday, and try to be ready for the competition, no?” 

“The dynamic is positive, is true, so that's always important for the confidence,” he said. 

“I felt that in Rome I was able to play with not that nerves, that anxiety that I played in the first two tournaments and some moments in Madrid, too. So that's always a positive thing, but now is very important tournament for me. 

At the end is another tournament, no? And just happy to be here in Roland Garros. Happy to fight for the challenge to play well again here.” 

“Is always a big emotion have the chance to play here in Roland Garros,” Nadal said. “For me, as I said before, this place is the most important place in my career. Just always very emotional when I have the chance to be back here and always going to be a great news when I will be in Paris to play Roland Garros. Very excited.”

As are we Rafa ... as are we.