Proud of you Rafa!!

As has been the norm for this tournament, I found myself missing the first set, so I've not much to judge on with today's match.  I feel totally unaffected by the result because I think it's probably a fair reflection of where both players are in the game right now.

I pity that Rafa went from 40-0 up to be broken in the second set, but what I truly did like was the determination in his eyes and the fire in his belly.  While that warrior still lies beneath, you know he's going to try to do everything to make us proud and get better.

There's nowhere for the PoD to go at the moment ... there's plenty of ways to go for Rafa.  I expect his presser to be full of positivity and his usual grounded sense.  I think there was so much to be hopeful for in the future based on this tournament and let's cheer Rafa on as he finds his clay feet and keeps his eyes on the main prize.

A great show, Rafa. A much better improvement and you've a lot to be proud of.  VAMOS!!!

The knives are out for Rafa ...

Tick tock, tick tock ... 

It's all getting a leetle bit serious now, isn't it? Now here's the thing. I've been indulging in a little hobby horse of late, and that's timing Rafa. I wrote about it a couple of posts ago. I did it because I needed to see for myself just how big this "problem" really was. Because when I watch a match, I can honestly say that for me, it doesn't detract from the spectacle at all. I remember Peter Fleming once making the point that when watching tennis live, there are so many other distractions such as spectators moving, applause, the ball kids and general meleé that you barely notice the time between points. However, sat on your sofa in front of the telly (or more to the point in a commentary booth or a TV studio) ... well, it just feels different. 

When discussing this tedious topic previously, I tried to be a "balanced poster". That's a bit of an in-joke by the way because you were once slightly forgiven for the crime of being a Rafa fan if you were seen to be able to criticise him.  And the fact is, well ... you can't walk away from the facts. Rafa persistently overshoots the 25 second mark. Most of the time it's by a couple of seconds, but the more serious the point is, is when the time starts hitting around the 30 mark. So you think that really, he's not giving the umpire much option. However, is Rafa the sole perpetrator? It's often pointed out by Rafa fans that he's not, so I thought I'd put the timer on that too. And the Miami final with Djokovic and Murray was the match I timed - only the hour's worth of highlights I watched I hasten to add - I'm not totally torturing myself in the name of Rafaresearch!! LOL

Now whilst both players don't necessarily routinely take up to the 25 seconds on each point, they do break it. Djokovic taking 28 seconds when facing a break point; 31 and 33 seconds in the tie-breaker; 36 seconds when facing set points in the 2nd set; 32 seconds when holding match point. And as for Murray ... 30, 30 and 34 when facing deuce, ad and break points; the odd 29 seconds here, 26 seconds there; 27 and 32 seconds in the tie-breaker; 34 seconds, 27 seconds; 32 seconds when he lost his first service game of the third set; 28 when he lost his second service game ... interesting that both seem to take a bit longer on the big points but oh, Murray did get a warning, as he did in his previous match ... and he didn't like it.

Taking longer between points is not exclusive to Rafa, however taking the easy way out of ignoring other players' transgressions because Rafa "does it the most" is lazy and unjust. I doubt that I shall ever see a Sky Sports studio discussion on Murray's time-keeping, but never a match goes by when Marcus Buckland doesn't lead the charge to discuss it regarding Rafa. Of course the simple thing to do to shut this whole subject up is if Rafa just played within the rules. Yep agreed. Please stop it Rafa ... I know you're not going to, but please stop.

But then again, we are dealing with an entirely unique specimen in Rafa. He's always been different. Why not cut your hair when you were young Rafa, and stop wearing those silly clothes that you first turned up in. Why did you have to wear tops with no sleeves, and why did you have to cry rebel yells with fist pumps and raise your leg and bounce up and down at the net before a match? Why did you have to hit a ball high over the net with an amazing amount of topspin and turn defence into an art form? Why did you start playing the game at a slow pace from a very young age and ingratiate so many rituals and tics into your routine that it's slowed you down even further? Yes Rafa ... stop being you, because a rule that had been latent over so many years suddenly became the most important and talked about and so damaging were you in your abuse of it that they had to introduce extended penalties into the rule book while you were absent from the game. Not to sort an epidemic out, but to sort you out! Yep, you're unique, you're a one off, and it doesn't matter that others don't comply too because the focus of what they do will never be placed on them because this rule is all about you!

OK, I lost myself there. But lifelong ingratiated habits are not easy to change ... and do you know what? As much as I want him to stop because of the hassle it brings him and the tediousness of it all, it's so much a part of the uniqueness of Rafa that I sort of quite like it. *blush* And playing slow does not = bad, and playing fast does not = good. Remember that people.

When I first thought I'd start doing this timing thing, I did it without checking out the specific rules of its application, ie. at what point does the clock start to tick. Because if you watch a match and you see the end of a point, there's applause and stuff and noise and movement but when the umpire calls the score, it feels like right, this is where it all starts because this call seems to calm it all down and make it known that it's time to become ready to play the next point. And I timed endless points from when the umpire gave the score to Rafa hitting the serve and thought, what the hell is the problem? Barely near, never mind over the 25 seconds. But of course when this silly fangirl read the actual rule, the clock starts from the moment the ball goes out of play. So from the second the ball is out, the clock starts to tick and takes account of the time it takes to walk back to the baseline, the odd towel down, getting the balls from ballkid, walking to the service line, preparing yourself to do the service motion and stops when you actually hit it. And what does for Rafa is the tics at the baseline. The tug of the shorts, the hair behind the ears, the touching of the face ... so often he hits 27 and 28 seconds which he wouldn't if he simply didn't do this. Yes, I know you're touching your face and messing with your hair and counting in your head how long 2 seconds is. Lol. But that really does make the difference between the umpire being able to do rock all about if you chose to play "slow" and take the full allocation between points and what tips you over.

So where am I going with this particular rambling? Well the thing is, having a "rule" about the time between points is to encourage continuous play and to ensure that a player does not deliberately delay, assuming not to either disrupt the opponent or to gain a personal advantage. So quoting from the rule book it says that "... play shall be continuous and a player shall not unreasonably delay a match for any cause." and then it goes on to explain when the clock starts and stops. Interesting, a player shall not unreasonably delay a match for any cause. Do his tics cause an unreasonable delay? Does this behaviour actually delay the match, I mean, really? I still even at this point need to make myself clear in that Rafa can only help himself if he kept it all within 25 seconds. If he did, then it would all go away. But I think from what we've seen of late and what was again evident today, is the point of penalising by the umpire. Which is now just plain wrong. If the rule is strict at 25 seconds then Rafa gives an umpire plenty of opportunities during a match to issue a time violation. But to continuously choose to issue such violation as he is preparing to serve at break point down at a crucial point in the match where his eventual loss of serve could mean the loss of a set is just wrong - and for me goes against the grain of why the rule was introduced in the first place. As my actual evidence from the Miami final shows, both Djokovic and Murray flaunted the rule when serving at crucial points. Don't not penalise them at crucial points yet go and penalise Rafa. That is bad, bery bad, as Rafa might say. When I'm at work and delivering a presentation and I'm nervous, what do I do? I slow down my breathing, I take my time, I exhale ... and then I speak. The steadying yourself at a crucial stage is not unreasonably delaying a match for any cause. It's just nerves, and that is normal. 

What I fear I am seeing today is an umpire ingratiating himself on a match and potentially directly influencing it. That's not what this bloody rule was introduced for ... but that's what it is coming to. 

Rafa got rattled yesterday when the umpire penalised him and I believe the same happened today and influenced him losing the second set. Yes it is Rafa's responsibility to play within the rules and he should not unreasonably delay a match. But then an umpire should also not unreasonably influence it either - just because he's officiating Rafa Nadal.

I expect this to run and run ...  

Monte Carlo for the weekend ...

On the most beautiful court in the world, the most beautiful player finally triumphed today and finds himself in the semi-finals.  Hurrah! Already the improve from last year Rafa. Well done.

I have been watching the tournament, although I've been a bit of a klutz in setting my recorder remotely and have missed the first set of each of Rafa's previous matches; and today I got in from work thinking I'd have bags of time and just turned the TV on for background noise only to see that Rafa's match had already started. Eek.

It's funny how today the Sky commies were waxing utterly lyrical about a player that is barely ever given airtime and who usually finds himself shoved to the side courts and is accessible only by the "red button". But according to Mark Petchy, "you can't love tennis if you don't love David Ferrer". Really? Oh dear ... I mustn't love tennis.

I've felt almost buoyed by Rafa's matches. He's had his moments. He's won sets where he might have lost, and lost sets that he should have won. So it's a mixed bag, but he just seems to have a bit of ... I don't know ... comfort, about what he's doing. He's playing well enough to get himself into those commanding positions such as serving for sets and serving for the match - so the tennis is getting there - but he's still slightly a bit yippish in his execution. Since Rafa openly discussed his issues at Miami, the commies are still full of it - however, even though Rafa had a wobble when first serving for the first set today, and then when serving for the match, I suppose the most positive thing you can say is that unlike what we saw in America, he was still able to come through. He found the mental capacity to do it. In previous stellar times it would just have been a walk in the park; only it's a bit different now from where Rafa is currently at, but he managed to find it today. And that's what Rafa's usually been able to before so I think he'll be pleased he came through. He was good in the third set, and Ferrer did what dogged Ferrer usually does, but Rafa still put him away 6-2.

I won't pretend that I didn't have tummy flips today, and I won't pretend that I didn't swing from still keeping myself positive that he would win to shouting at the TV and wanting to hide behind a cushion ... but that's Rafa. In Miami, all I wanted for him was to get a win against a top 10 player, but it didn't happen. However today it did, and with this match and with finding a way against a tricky player like Isner, surely it's got to give Rafa more of the positive feelings.

And so it's the Prince of Darkness tomorrow. Who apparently was imperious against a player just returning from injury. Wow, stellar. I least I knew who his opponent was today, so that made a change. Djerk may have been exhibiting his prowess on hardcourts this year but this is another surfrace. Do I think Rafa is ready and at a level to beat him? Probably not. But then again he wasn't in 2013 and that clay season didn't turn out to be too shabby. Rafa is just so measured and prepared to take the positive out of whatever comes and accept that these matches are stepping stones to hopefully where he wants to be. So if it's not to be a victory tomorrow, I'd at least like him to come away with something like he did two years ago in that he was able to compete, but accepting that he's not quite at the level where he needs to be but further matches and tournaments can give him the future opportunity to be there.

And now I've got that out of the way ... how f.i.t. tanned and scrumptious does Rafa look right now anyway? And I can't begin to tell you of the joy I feel to have him back in Europe, back in my time-zone and back on his beloved clay. I love this part of the season and I love Rafa in it. Good luck for tomorrow my lovely ... we'll all be vam-bloody-ossing for you!! 

Between the ears ...

It was another sad match to watch as Rafa this time crashed out of the Miami Masters to Fernando Verdasco. Fer's ranking is in the 30's these days and he wasn't even "having the match of his life" ... but it seemed early on to me that Rafa was seeing 2009 Verdasco across the net and not today's version.  Missing that [what should have been for him] easy looking forehand when he had break point in the first set told the story of the match for me and what has obviously been the discussion ever since.

Rafa succumbed to his nerves.

I've been doing some reflection since. I find it a bit shocking to see Rafa cry out and "vamos" a mistake by his opponent. That's not his way ... he's usually too busy vamossing his own amazing shots not cheering the misses by others. And it didn't take a rocket scientist or a "knowledgeable fan" to visibly see that Rafa is totally down on his confidence and can't shake off the yips. That was another poor defeat I thought, to someone who didn't have to do much to earn it. I'm a fan ... and it hurt me.

But of the many things I admire about Rafa, high up there is his honesty, and I found his post-match presser packed with it. Now this honesty has divided fans since he delivered it. Some say that he's making it easy for his opponents by admitting his vulnerabilities, that he should keep quiet about his current difficulties, not bring attention to it. But for me, it's patently obvious what's going on - so why pretend otherwise? Do you think Djokovic watching that match would think, nah ... he's just having an off day, that's all. He knows damn well what's going on - because he suffers a lot from it himself. How many times does he serve for sets and lose them? How many times has he double-faulted on match points against Rafa and handed them to him ... including championships? Oh, he knows what's going on alright, so I don't think Rafa loses anything by admitting to it.

There was a sentence in John Carlin's biography of Rafa that has always stuck with me. And it's about Rafa's rituals. Yes, that interminable subject. And Rafa said something along the lines that he needs to do it to "calm the voices in my head". Rafa has always been a bit of a dichotomy, a polarising figure ... and that's always been one of his biggest attractions to me. But if there has ever been any scant praise out there for him it's been because of his mental toughness, his mental strength. So maybe in some ways it's been a bit of a ruse because he's actually spent the best part of his career being a bag of nerves. We know we have Toni saying about absolutely everybody that they are better than us. We have Rafa saying at every press conference that his next opponent - even if he was a recent junior sweeping the courts at a Home Counties tennis club - is "dangerous". So he's never been allowed to, or allowed himself to think he is better, more competent, more complete than the guy standing across from him over the net. He's spent his entire career in self doubt, but more than likely, this doubt has been secondary to manage considering he previously has also had all that pain to distract him.

... "to calm the voices in my head." Rafa's rituals and whimsical habits were a mere trifle and a folly until 2008 when he started to win big and off the clay. Then it became something different. And the tedious "time between points" snorefest debate has raged ever since. I don't give a monkeys, and frankly, I don't even notice when anyone's doing it. But nothing is more likely to get the commies and studio pundits in a mouth frothing fizz than the tick tock, tick tock passing of the extra second clock. Previously it was a cry for the umpire to simply enforce the rule. Now the whole thing has grown legs and backed whole-heartedly by one R.Federer, the ATP has introduced new rules of losing first serves and point penalties and the like. Oh my! And I supported Rafa absolutely when he raised the point that foul and abusive language and racquet abuse goes unpenalised but his extra 6 seconds doesn't. But I took to doing something that I've never done before in Rafa's career during that match with Fer ... and I timed him between points. And I have to say that sometimes, you can't defend the indefensible ...

It doesn't really matter that they picked up on a massive flaw in Rafa's game play some time after he started winning and defeating Roger Federer and they hitched their cart to the pony that is time between points. Rafa breaks the rule, repeatedly ... and hence it is the stick they use to beat him with. And hence, when he's now at a stage when he's most vulnerable and when he's most lacking in confidence and when he's facing break points and those voices in his head must be having a full on raging row ... he oversteps the mark to the point where he leaves the umpire with no option, thus making a bad situation worse. I was shocked in his previous match against Almagro that Mo actually warned him. It's not Mo's style, as he seems to be one of the fairer ones and just has a quiet word to hurry Rafa up. But he warned him ... and there's been a lot of outrage at the timing of warnings, ie. just before major points and how unfair it is. But simply with timing just one match, I think that Rafa is leaving the umpires with no option.

In the 8th game of the first set with Rafa serving at 3-4 down, after the change of ends and first point (within time), Rafa clocked 27-21-30-25-25-25-28-30 and 37 seconds when serving at advantage to Fer. And regardless of what he was thinking and how he was trying to steady himself, he hit his first serve out and then double-faulted to lose the game. Rituals, nerves, thinking too much and hence the ticking of time ... but he still missed that first serve. Was it worth it Rafa? And after Rafa broke back and served again to try and level the score, after the first point he then took 16-20-30-29 seconds and when facing break point he got to 31 seconds till the umpire interjected and gave him a time violation.  He then hit that first serve long and lost the rally following the second serve by a shot hit out and the first set was gone.  But can we really keep on blaming the umpire? He'd let the previous game go when Rafa got up to 37 seconds, so was he so wrong to warn him the minute he reached 31 seconds again? 

It's a pity that Rafa can't just play with freedom and think, oh to hell with it, because thinking about it isn't helping. But if he has to silence the voices in his head when he's on an 80+ match winning streak on clay and is playing like an invincible warrior ... well hold on tight whilst we take a dip on the rollercoaster. And expect a few more time violations ...

And the vultures are circling. I can't tell you the number of times the Sky commies - when discussing the top players - significantly seem to leave out the name of Nadal whilst multi - sorry two-time Slam winner Murray gets a mention. And his victory in Argentina only had him as a short lived all-time record leading champion with the most titles on a clay court, till the ATP miraculously found an obscure other 3 to add to Vilas's tally. See ... they try to make him second best, even on clay. And whilst he is now racking up great stats for match victories, they're then brought back down as not that great really because - you guessed it - most of them are on clay. You know, the surface that doesn't count, but it counts enough not when Rafa wins on it, but when someone stops him winning. And it counts significantly for the Prince of Darkness to attain one win on the terra battu of Roland Garros, but funny old thing ... not when someone else might attain ten. I wonder how Smugly would have been treated if he'd ever been good enough to go for 10 titles on the specialist surface that is grass? Quite.  And the vultures are debating the potential rankings plummet because of all the points Rafa has to defend from now until Wimbledon. Really? For the first time in 10 years Rafa will actually find himself in the position where he might actually gain! Monte Carlo, Barcelona AND Rome, you fools!!

So let's hang on to that thought as Rafa tries to work it out over the next coming weeks. None of us know how he will fare, but because it's clay, we hope for better things. However last season showed that even the best can be vulnerable. Last year he had physical issues, but he also had mental ones too over the loss of the Australian Open. He still managed to win Madrid and the French Open, but it was a stark reminder that even if he is Rafael Nadal, some things might just not last forever. Irrespective of his current state of mind and when we allow ourselves to be realists, we needed to perhaps temper our hopes for this clay season anyway.

And even in Rafa's current state, a number of pundits will probably still have him as the favourite to win at the start of the up-coming tournaments, but then they'll go on to spend most of their time and studio hours trying to predict and talk up a new champion so maybe this will take some of the pressure off. And for the first two tournaments at least, Rafa has everything to gain, so he may take some of the pressure off himself. And usually when Player X steps onto the court against Rafa, he plays with total freedom because he's never expected to win. So he hits as hard as he likes for as long as he likes and ends up playing "... the match of his life", because he has absolutely nothing to lose. Why do these jokers immediately lose in the match after beating Rafa? Because there then becomes expectation and pressure that they might win - and instead of just hitting serves and trying to blast winners, they try to play some tennis. And get defeated. So maybe, just maybe, they stand facing this Rafa knowing that he is vulnerable and so don't actually have the freedom to play as they once did before because now there will be some expectation of them. To seize the initiative, to put some pressure on Rafa, to test him, to push him, to maybe even play some tennis when doing it. They may over-think their strategy, they may know that this could be their best ever shot at beating him so rather than going out thinking they will most likely lose so to hell with it, they're facing a whole new ball game in that they may have a chance to win. And so they are dealing with mental pressure and expectation that they just haven't had to cope with before. Let's see how they fare.

Just a thought ... 

I hope we get the opportunity to see Rafa glide this Springtime. I hope that from somewhere he finds the joy again. That would be a start. That he can find a way to iron out the furrow in his brow, to calm the demons in his head and prove once more what a fabulous Champion he really is. Good luck Rafa. We're with you every step of the way ...