I thought about re-reading some of the posts I've written from previous years before Rafa played in the final of the French Open, but I can remember most of them. Well, I can remember the mood of most of them ... they were usually emotional affairs, heartfelt pleas and willing him on because I wanted it for him so badly.
And this time's no different, even though it may be bigger as there's a record for Rafa of potentially 5 straight wins - which is something he's never done before. But somehow [right now anyway] I feel calmer. And it's funny because I am suddenly becoming a little bit more at one with what happens, with the fact that "this is the sport". And to sort of compound this, I was reading VamosBrigade last night, and flo had provided a quote from John McEnroe which she had kindly translated [thank you flo]. And this is what Mac said ...
"When you've won 8 Roland Garros in 9 years, you are closer to the moment when you are inevitably going to lose. This moment will happen, and everybody is expecting it. Nadal remains the best player ever on clay, better than Borg. Djokovic is the best player on clay who never won RG. Nadal and Djokovic will meet in the final, I have no doubts about that, even if there still remains good players in the draw. If that match takes place, it will be unbelievable. Djokovic seems to have improved, but it doesn't mean that he will defeat Nadal in 5 sets. He has never done it".
I think it's the first line of the quote that really got to me when I read it, because it is so true. I've had a sick feeling about the French Open for most of this year, and Rafa's clay court season didn't do much to take it away. And I have parped on about Rafa's 10th season of expectation and that it's unreasonable to think that he should be winning the titles over and over again. So when I read something like "... 8 Roland Garros in 9 years" and that "... you are closer to the moment when you are inevitably going to lose ..." you can't deny it. Because he is.
Whether he's that close to that moment is the big conundrum for tomorrow. But his progress through the tournament is rising to a beautiful crescendo. He couldn't have come out of the quarter-final any better - Daveed was powerless - and in yesterday's commentary of the semi-final, Chris Bradnam (commentator) over-enthusiastically greeted one of Murray's shots in the opening game with ... "Wow". They were soon changing their tune over who warranted that particular superlative. To hear the chant of "Raaaafa ... Raaaaafa" break out amongst the Chatrier crowd for me, says it all. Awesome.
There's much talk already of the influencing factor of the weather, and no, once again Rafa won't get the hot, sunny day that he would like. Why so much focus on conditions that would aid the PoD? Doesn't he already have all the advantage of 3 Slams off clay, the WTF and all those hardcourt Masters? There'll be early morning showers and a high temperature - funny, cos it will match most of ours.
Whatever happens tomorrow, the simple fact remains that Rafa will have to play his very best tennis in order to win - and we just have to hope that he does. Rafa is going for his 5th straight title at Roland Garros and his 14th Slam. 5 years ago, a 14th Slam was achieved on the red dirt of Roland Garros after a failure at the Australian Open - that's a nice symmetry. So I added a new word to my French vocabulary yesterday - "immanquablement" - inevitably. But it's the other one I'm looking for. That Djokovic will inevitably never defeat Rafa in 5 sets. Merci John ...
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