Sunday Rafa-interview ...

Into the second week ...

I only saw the third set yesterday and very brief highlights, but Rafa looked good. Or good enough. The footwork is still good, the forehand looking fine, the boy's done well this week. And as important for me, Rafa is looking relaxed and happy.

We know that with Rafa's form this clay season he can swing from one match to the next, but there's no complaints from me with what I've seen so far. Yes, it's a different story in the second week and I know we take each match as it comes, and there's one to be played before Wednesday, but he's doing his best and I can be happy with that.

Good luck Rafa! Keep it going!!

Did Rafa shoot Bernardes' cat ... ?

OK. Let me explain.

Years ago when I first dipped my toe into commenting on the world-wide-web regarding tennis and Rafa in particular, there was this fabulous poster called AIR. AIR was a Rafa fan who utterly loathed Smugley, but his put downs were of the PseudoFed variety. Hilarious. Following the annihilation handed out to Federer at the French Open of 2008, the BBC's cameras went back to the studio and as AIR described it, Sue Barker [the BBC presenter, abject Fedtard and former player] had a look on her face "like Rafa had just shot her cat". OK, my bad sense of humour, but ...

Poor old Rafa. As Umpiregate continues to rage and felines dive through their cat flaps in order to seek cover, Christopher Clarey from The New York Times posted this very sanguine article, and shock! horror! ...

Believe it or not, umpires avoid certain players more than players avoid umpires. My piece post Nadal-Bernardes http://t.co/ddo1x758Yb

— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) May 29, 2015

Within the article, the French Open's tournament referee - Stefan Frannson - seems completely non-plussed by it all and when he responds with comments such as:-

“There is the perception sometimes that if the player just says, I don’t want an umpire, then it happens. That is not true, because if they say they don’t want this official then we find out why they don’t think they should have him, and we look into why he thinks so. We might agree. We might disagree.”

then it must be a situation he has encountered. Equally the article goes on to explain that:-

"When they [the umpires] arrive at a Grand Slam tournament, Fransson said they were usually asked to provide a list of players who might be problematic for them to umpire, as well as a list of any recent issues."

So this backs up what was reported in l'Equipe yesterday, that in reality, it's mostly the umpires who advise who they don't wish to umpire to the extent that they are even asked to provide a list to the Tournament Referee of a Slam.

Next up the article introduces us to Gayle David Bradshaw - Executive Vice President for Rules and Competition at the ATP - no less, who talks about "vacations" between players and umpires. You can read his comments for yourself. So ... if a Slam tournament referee and some top bod concerned with the rules at the ATP talk about players having breaks from umpires like it's the most normal thing in the world, why were the top 3 players [seemingly] in complete ignorance of this?  And just because they were, why does that - once again - make Rafa = wrong, and everyone else = right?

And what happened to common sense, or the infamous umpire's discretion? What broke the camel's back for Rafa started with this. It was Rio; it had just gone 3 am in the morning - yes, 3 am in the morning and they're still playing tennis. Rafa had levelled the match with a 7-5 set; it's extremely humid and he had sweated like a pig. He goes off court at the end of the set to change his kit and realises once back on court that he's put his shorts on the wrong way round. He asks Bernardes if he can leave the court to sort them out, and he's told he'll get a time violation if he does. It's just so stupid, isn't it? But it's trench wars and stuffed shirts ...

And speaking of time violations, Murray got a couple yesterday. The second was because he was steadying himself to serve the next point but they hadn't finished showing a replay on the big screen of the previous one. So he stopped, and then got himself ready again - and Pascal Maria gave him a time violation. Stupid. If that had happened to Rafa, I would have been raging. But this Murray incident made the national TV this morning in the UK discussed as being some outrage delivered to him. The trench wars and stuffed shirts taking a different stance for the rules being applied to this player though. The "journalist" from The Telegraph who broke the story of the Rafa/Bernades situation also continued to outrage in his column about what happened to Murray. No mention of the validity for the other time violation given out because, umm ... was he slow? Did he break the rules? And do you know the underlying reason for this journalist's furor?

" ... Rafael Nadal – the slowest player on the men’s tour – got away with multiple breaches while Andy Murray was penalised twice ..."

Diddums.

I don't know why I persist in writing posts on a subject such as this because in the face of such overwhelming media and stuffed shirt bias, it doesn't change a thing. Everything that Rafa Nadal does is wrong, and every other single sodding player is right. But if a lay person who had no care about tennis looked at these incidents without the trench warfare and emotion, they'd surely think, "C'mon mate. Just let the guy quickly run off to the tunnel to change his shorts round. Give him a break." ... or "Really? How can you penalise a guy for not starting the next point when last the last one is still being shown in his face? ... and, "Look. Just because someone does something more than the next guy who does exactly the same thing but just less, it's still all breaking the rules, isn't it?"

It does make we wonder where all this will end up. But till then, I'm off to herd some cats ...

Post match interview ...

Utterly charming. Love Rafa speaking in his dreadful French - LoL.

Fabrice brought out that even more than before, he seemed to have great support, and with a shrug and an embarrassed smile, Rafa proceeded again to speak in his dreadful French about how special the court is and the public support and I could melt with every smile and every word.

Maybe there could be some truth in what Fabrice is saying. Who knows? Maybe it's just *meh* to win number 6, 7, 8 or 9. But maybe now when Rafa is on the precipice of something extraordinary, which is going double digits at a Slam, he has a little bit of support because the French would like to see this achievement at their event. Anyhow enough of that, let's just concentrate for now on today's loveliness. 

That will do ...

Absolutely lovely match today from Rafa.

Nico Almagro has had his own ranking issues due to injury and surgery and he's spending this year working to get back to his best - but he played a real high quality match. This wasn't your usual standard, second round stuff - that match was right up there.

The only blip today from Rafa was losing his serve when serving for the first set. And yes, he faced a number of break points, but as much as Rafa can craft a point whilst playing on clay, equally his opponents can craft points against him. But other than that game, he survived them.

Some things I enjoyed from the match today. Rafa's movement - it was excellent. His feet were moving quickly to get himself into position and run round his shots. It was lovely. His forehand was nice and there was even a lovely cross court backhand winner and a backhand down the line winner to enjoy too. His defence was outstanding. Fabrice Santoro said in commentary that you can't win the French Open without having fantastic defence, which is the reason why someone like Tomas Berdych is never going to win it. And speaking of defence, whilst many of the commies still like to spin this myth that Rafa runs down every ball and chases after every lost cause - which he probably hasn't since 1986, but hey ho - I did feel today that Rafa really did try to reach for everything. Whether it's because he has the space to do it on Philippe Chatrier so he's more able to slide into those shots, I don't know. But that was noticeable to me. Rafa was so good in the second set that even Nico had to smile when he lost it, and then went into a bit of a free fall. There was no coming back for him on Rafa's performance today.

There's still too much emphasis on Rafa of old vs. the Rafa of now. Comparisons aren't worth anything any more, just enjoy what we're able to watch and today was one of the much better ones and a lovely match. More steady progress, and I think Rafa will be thrilled with that performance today. Damn good show Rafa. Onwards to the next round!

Rafa Y La Decima ...

I think someone's been reading my blog and stolen my "La Decima" title. LoL.

Earlier this week, BBC Radio 5Live broadcast an hour long special on Rafa as he goes for his 10th French Open title. It's been massively well received, although I've yet to listen to it myself. *blushes* You can find a link to the podcast here - just scroll down and find the appropriate title. It works OK for me here in the UK, but I've no idea if it will do the same for you guys overseas, but give it a try.

Failing that, here's a link to the BBC article about it. Enjoy!

Tick tock, tick tock, of a different variety ...

For a change ...

I'm loving these publicity shots from Richard Mille's latest campaign.

The Bernardes affair ...

To be honest, I don't really know what to make of it all.

Clearly matters had reached an absolute boiling point - literally - in Rio this year and Rafa followed through by putting a request to the ATP that Bernardes doesn't officiate his matches for the foreseeable future. What astounds me is that the ATP actually met that request. The inflammatory headlines regarding this request are hilarious beyond belief - as is the usual jumped up, stuffed shirt, pompous reaction borne out of the usual trenched warfare with anything associated with the name Nadal. But I think it all goes to show that there must be a number of things that the ATP isn't transparent about. As it is now "le subject du jour", of course it's being raised in press conferences inviting people such as Djokovic to comment that he wasn't even aware that you could do it and that it isn't really fair. Well Novak, seeing as umpires turn a blind eye to the abject filth and obscenities you shout out [because it's in Serbian] along with your racquet smashing, bench breaking and time taken between points - you've not really a cause to complain, have you? I can't wait for Smugley's take on it all ...

But back to the transparency thing. As much as I was surprised that the ATP met with the request, I was also surprised by something that was posted in VamosBrigade yesterday. It was a scan of an article in l'Equipe - which, correct me if I'm wrong, is a noted French sports news publication - and within the article an "international umpire" was quoted as saying something like 90% of the time it is the umpires who request not to officiate certain players, either because they're from the same country/area or because they sense a player has a friction with them. He went on to say that before each tournament, umpires fill out a "No" list, where they enlist their wishes. 

Who knew???

Now pity - of course - that this said, "international umpire" hasn't the balls to come out and be named so in certain quarters these quotes will be rendered as piffle.  But then again, you can't make this stuff up, and indeed, why would this individual want to be named if his livelihood is the ATP and there's obviously reasons why the ATP doesn't wish to make every single request and matter public. And in terms of livelihood, Carlos Bernardes is alive and well and calling the score in Paris so no, Rafa isn't taking the baguette from out of his mouth either. I'm sure player requests range from the extreme to the banal, and if ATP representatives were required to come and announce that Roger Federer has requested to play his match second today (which I'm sure happens) or that Fabio Fognini has stated that pasta isn't just pasta and has requested that a variety of penne, fusilli, orecchietti and pappardelle be served in the canteen at ATP tournament, then they'd be very busy with the media indeed.

And as for the stuffed shirts, well there's outrage that Rafa can ban an umpire from his matches because he simply applied the rules against him. Hhmm ... there's been one or two ATP Masters since Rio and for instance, time violations - and time violations on key points - have been regularly applied. What's Rafa going to do? Ban everybody?? Equally I didn't see those same stuffed shirts who are so keen on rules being applied jumping up and down when Fergus Murphy "didn't see" Nicholas Kyrgios smack a ball out of the stadium which would have resulted in his third code violation and him being defaulted in Estoril recently. Or similarly when racquet and equipment smashing is going on, or when Roger Federer is audibly shouting the word "scheisse" from under his towel as he did yesterday. 

Because it's all a storm in a teacup really isn't it? And trench warfare. And of course my ambivalence about it could have the accusers saying the same about  me. As much as I understand it, and understand the long history that Rafa has with Bernardes, I think he should perhaps just get on with it. But Rafa asked, and this time Rafa got - who cares? In a nutshell, this situation has the name "Nadal" at the centre of it. Take that name away and it would have had as little attention or traction as many of the other wrong-doings that occur in tennis does. Time between points will die away as soon as Rafa leaves the game, nobody gives a tinker's cuss about other things that go on that aren't possibly correct unless associated with the name Nadal. How I wish he were Mr Perfect on Earth ...

Anyhow, there's a Slam being played. So let's move on ... 

Rhapsody in blue ...

I'm loving Rafa's Little Boy Blue outfit ... what do you mean? The picture's incomplete?

Whoops.

I've been away for a couple of days enjoying myself in a fabulous country hotel in the Lake District so I didn't see Rafa's first match live and have only caught up with the first set.  Steady I would say, and steady is good enough at the start of a Slam. He'll have a bigger test against Almagro ... or you tend to think Rafa will have a bigger test, but then you have to factor in that Almagro is also coming back from injury. So we'll see.

Vamos Rafa and rock that kit!!

La familia ...

Black and white and gorgeous ...

(2/3) Rafael Nadal - Lancement de la Montre Richard Mille Tourbillon RM 27-02 #rafaelnadal @rafaelnadal #watch #richardmille #tennis #rolandgarros #watches #watchporn @richardmilleofficial #sport

A photo posted by Marco Strullu (@marcostrullu) on May 24, 2015 at 1:45am PDT

Gorgeous!!

Watches!!

Parisienne Gala for Rafa's Foundation ...

Well, a fabulous gala night has occurred tonight featuring Rafa, Xisca, his Mum and his sponsors. It was all in aid of his charity as Rafa's foundation aims to help socially discriminated children and teenagers through educational programmes with sport as a common denominator.

He looks fabulous. Xica looks fabulous. His Mum looks fabulous. The event looks fabulous. And I hope the event was fabulous for his charity. And how many times can I use the word "fabulous"??

Nike Tennis ...

"It’s only when you stir up the dust and let it settle that you learn who will own the baseline. Follow along as Rafa Nadal begins his historic journey as nine time defending champion in Paris." ‪#‎nikecourt‬

The Three Racqueteers ...

I fancy RAFOS!!

Hehe ... a bit of fun before it all gets serious.

Nadal - A decade of Roland Garros ...

Yes ... get in! A d.e.c.a.d.e. of Roland Garros. Simply enjoy ...

"Grand Vermeil" medal ...

I know I'm a few days late in posting about this, but I wanted my little blog to record that Rafa was presented with the "Grand Vermeil" medal, which is the most prestigious honour that the city of Paris can bestow onto an individual.

Very well done, Rafa. And very well deserved.

Roland Garros is one of the oldest and most traditional of all tennis tournaments. It's played on a surface considered for "specialists" and certainly during my time growing up and following the game, it was one of those "meh" tournaments that obscure Europeans won and were never to be heard of again outside of a clay court. But Rafa changed all that. I'm sure that at the start of his career, he was just considered likewise but history has proven different.

In my opinion, he single-handedly brought the French Open back to the prestigious level it values today. Never before was there the interest in it that it holds now, and sadly for Rafa, its always from a negative angle. It's always about who will beat him ... not about rejoicing in his achievement. But it is what it is, and it's still something very, very special to him and frankly the tennis world will probably never see the like of his record at a single Slam ever again. So I'm pleased that Paris at least has honoured him.  Bravo Rafa!

 

La Decima ...

Seriously folks ... who didn't see that coming?

I was convinced that Rafa being the 6th seed instead of the 7th would alter fate and hand him the tougher draw, but the reality turned out to be only a swap between his potential quarter and semi-final opponents. No, it's not great - especially when you see the cakewalk handed to Smuggles - and I know that there are four matches to be played before the quarter finals, but chances are that Rafa and the PoD will be in it.

I've already cast my doubts that Rafa will be the French Open champion this year, but then you never know. Maybe this might be something that ignites the fire in his belly ... maybe he will do something magical to amaze us all, just when we think we've seen everything you could possibly imagine from this very special of players in his already glittering career.  I've seen it said that it won't exactly be the draw that Djokovic would have liked either, but I'm not so sure about that. There could be the tiniest of niggles in that vortex of a brain of his, but his abject arrogance and the obvious confidence that his form this season gives him will no doubt quash it. That, or a sip of his bloated, puffed up coach's heavy Burgundy will. Still, I hoped that if this were the year that that twonk-faced twonk of Twonkington won, I didn't want him to beat Rafa on his way to doing it. Not beating Nadal would always take some of the gloss of it, noh? But hey ho ...

However should he get there, the quarter final has seen the ignition of some of Rafa's greatest matches and play in Slams previously. As I get used to this different Rafa, that's more my hope than the reality. But if there's one court in the world he knows his way around then it's Chatrier, and of course ... we wish him well.

Looking at it in other ways, should the quarter to end all quarter finals happen, it's on a week day and I won't be able to get time off work to watch it live. I never shy away from watching Rafa when a match is live and I have the opportunity to see it, but at least somehow my nerves will actually be put to bed because Livescores will spare me the agony. Equally, my friends who have Final tickets will know early if they still want to have a little weekend in Paris or simply just not go. But better still, if Rafa succeeds, at least they know they won't have to endure a match featuring that djerk.

And best of all, a quarter final match will end with the shake of a hand at the net and as much as the PoD may rip open his shirt, lick the red dirt and join in a joyous embrace with his team - an act he has been practising for the occasion all week - it will all feel a bit previous and Rafa won't have to stand there watching with a silver salver whilst that vulgarian parades the trophy in his face.

I feel better already.

All that aside, the French Open is a marvellous tournament. The grounds are small, but there's a lovely intimate feel about it. The architecture of the courts is so much more pleasant in real life than it appears on the TV screen and I just love the history of it all. It is a place that a Spaniard helped to put back on the map back in 2005 ... and the tournament has never looked back since. It has never really appreciated its most notable and extraordinary of victors, but Rafa Nadal has made Paris the focal point of sport in late May and early June like no-one else before. Sitting here tonight I am with colm, and looking forward to the tournament in a perverse sort of way. I really don't think there's very much pressure on Rafa ... his form going into this tournament has led everybody to believe that he won't win. Maybe like his beloved Real Madrid, who had to wait some time before they won the prestigious European Cup for "La Decima" - The Tenth - he may have to do also.

Or maybe he won't ...

Good luck Rafa. We shall be with you every stroke, every point, every time violation and with every ounce of blood, sweat and tears there may be along the way. Love you, just be brave ...

Paris Players' Party ...

I wouldn't mind this result again this year.

Rafa rocking la Tour Eiffel. As Milozzzzzzz Raonic has pulled out, Rafa is now No. 6 in the draw which takes place tomorrow. He won't bother, but I'm sure there are others who will be very twitchy about him being in their quarter of the draw. And that includes the PoD ...

Good match, bad match but ...

((((( group hug )))))

I can't fathom how one minute he goes from playing a match without a single error in open play to then be in a position where he breaks his opponent twice, can't consolidate the break, holds a 6-2 lead in a tie-breaker and yet doesn't take the set. Having break back points is meaningless if you play them from the backboard and invite your opponent to hit and hit and hit at you till you can't handle the onslaught any more. Backboard baseline play is something we've seen for years now when Rafa is either injured or playing with no confidence in his game - the latter being the case now in spite of displaying the exact opposite in his previous match, just like last week in Madrid. Rafa was quick into the presser and quick to extol that he was happy with the way he played and that he's only had one bad match in the past two weeks. Who am I to say otherwise if that's what Rafa feels, and rather words such as that then anything else to feed the journalists in the now up-coming frenzy we'll be subjected to in the lead up the French Open. I only ever speak as a fan and by the sheer nature of that, I was disappointed in his tactics and that he couldn't make it work for him. That's how I felt during and afterwards, but that goes away eventually as a sense of balance starts to kick in.

I'm not going to gild the lily though and do a rounding post that none of this matters and it's only Paris that counts. Time to be realistic. These build up tournaments should have been enough of a stepping stone to help Rafa get to where he needed to be following Miami. And I'm neither fearful nor hopeful of what Paris might bring because I don't think he's doing enough to be champion there this year. There, I've said it out loud and I'm sorry to do that because I've got friends who have final tickets, but I think it's too much of a pipe-dream to hope that he goes on winning there till #shhhh that thing happens. *winks* I do, however, believe that Rafa is going to get his 10th French Open title ... just not this year.

It's easy to say we've been spoiled by Rafa, and we have. We've had many, many a moment watching him glide across the clay to title after title on the red stuff. It co-incides with one of the loveliest times of the year in the most beautiful cities of Europe and weekends have normally consisted of settling down on Saturday afternoons to watch lovely tennis followed by a Sunday of cheering him on to victory and the bite of another trophy. In some ways and for many reasons, I will seriously be glad when the French Open is over, simply because I then think it will allow Rafa to just ... be.

He can get Wimbledon out of the way, he can start work with his new racquet. He will then have 12 months of absolutely no focus and a freedom to play with precious little to defend, and for once, this will also include clay points. This time, the media world has finally got what it's been predicting for year after year after year ... Rafa Nadal defeats on clay. It may even get that new French Open champion they so crave. As ever, if you say it long enough and often enough, the law of averages means that you'll get it right one season. Took 10 years to happen, so it has been an insufferably long time for them all to wait ...

But I think it's also given us the opportunity to get used to this Rafa, a different Rafa. He's not currently just the product of a wrist injury and an appendectomy. He's the product of the toll it takes of many an injury overcome; of the setbacks and disappointments, the searing pain that has been endured; the pressure of being on the precipice and of being the one player who whether you're a tennis journeyman or the world's Number 1, it is somehow always deemed the most joyful to beat. He's now years older and he is just simply ... different. 

If things don't go Rafa's way in Paris then it won't exactly be a complete shock because of the way his results have been going this season. I'm therefore glad that some of the lustre will be taken off it. And I will be glad when it's all over. God, I sound like Pollyanna playing the "Glad" game - lol. But I think it will be good for Rafa to have 12 months away from the pressure, maybe find in his new racquet the power that perhaps his body on its own can't give him right now and to hopefully find the joy of winning again.

When I started this post I didn't know where it would end up. It's not often I find myself screaming at Rafa like I was last night because of the way he was playing and I didn't want to write a rainbow and unicorn sort of post because that's not the way I'm feeling. I know the media have destroyed some of the joy I have over watching Rafa, but never the  man himself. I have never invested so much energy and time in a sportsman before but in a way, I'm very glad I have because he is very, very special. I think we rally together as his fans because of the abject polarisation he has caused and we feel it together. Let's cherish this different Rafa and enjoy every opportunity that we have when seeing him on the court. Of course I always want him to win, and I wish he always could, but the dawning of that day was always to come at some point. Let the media continue to fawn over their Smugly as they will never cease to do and champion their new metronome darling in all of its disgusting foul language, racquet and bench smashing "characterful" glory. And if this reads like a obituary, it's not meant to. We've had the best of times watching this treasure that is Rafa, and perhaps our journey can help us to be even more appreciative of what is to come. 

See you in Paris ...

picture via Flo on VB

Relentless ...

That was Rafa today ... relentless. Yesterday I described him to my pals as "solid" and yet thought that kind of flattered him, so I was a little worried about today against Izzzzzzzner. I know he's never beaten Rafa, but Rafa is always quite reflective when he describes playing him. He knows he has to serve well - which puts pressure on him - and he knows he has to take the few chances that come his way because a serving tree does exactly that to get himself out of a hole. At best, you're in a tie-breaker and that just means a shoot out that sometimes could go wrong - as it nearly did in Paris a few years ago. How could we ever forget.

And although Rafa made an excellent start going 0-40 up on Izzzzzzner's opening service game ... Izzzzzzzy got out of it.  However, Rafa's own play was awesome today. He only made 3 errors (all double faults) his length was great, he ripped his forehand and his backhand was pretty on song too. He broke in both sets with awesome shots and never even faced a break point himself. His strut was back, the body language was good ... and his play even had Toni out of his seat. The only dampener of the day was Molay - who has gone from hero to zero - giving him a time violation when serving for the match. It's getting beyond a joke now.

But let's dwell on the super, positive play we saw today. Wawrinka is next up, and I'm a little bit disappointed that Rafa is the last match on and won't start before 9 pm - after a possible shriek fest between Azarenka and Sharapova that could on for 17 hours. Clay is made for playing with the sun on your back and believe me, it gets cold in the Foro Italico at night. So whether it's a habit I'm getting into of worrying prior to every single match these days, I don't know. But let's hope Rafa can bring the same to the court tomorrow night ... and that he has a suitable official standing by ready to write a full report to be delivered to The Hobbit should he have to leave the court for any reason - including the toilet.

Rafa's daily dose ...

"Practicing in Rome... in a beautiful environment!!"

And it most certainly is ...

I love those trees in Rome, and Rome was my first ever proper tournament in which I watched Rafa play. First time by the practice courts, first time ever getting up close to him, first autograph, first victory witnessed ... and this remains one of my most favourite photographs I have ever taken of him. Le sigh ...

And this ... when he had all that hair. *winks*

Rankings ...

... or wankings, as I called them yesterday.  *giggles*

If you skimmed through the tennis news you can't have failed to see the "Nadal drops to No. 7" headlines - and if you were lucky, you might have seen some reference to a wrist injury last year and an appendectomy - but mostly they were of the Nadal's-poor-start-to-the-season or Nadal-beaten-4-times-on-clay or Nadal-drops-out-of-top-4-for-the-first-time-in-10-years angle.  No reference to the fact that injury meant the loss of 2000 points for an undefended Slam win and a further 2000 points because he was unable to defend two Masters.  Or that his appendix and subsequent surgery meant he was unable to defend points at the China Open and at Shanghai or equally defend WTF final points. Or that returning from injury and surgery and with just an exho and a 500 series appearance before playing in his first Slam of the season meant that he wasn't able to hit the ground running and defend points won from the previous year's final appearance.

Rafa hasn't had the best of starts to 2015, but he didn't play too great in early 2014 either - the difference being that this time last year, Rafa still held all of his points from an unbroken 2013. Which leads me onto the subject of the Two Year Ranking system - probably the biggest straw that broke the camel's back and resulted in Rafa hastily leaving the ATP Council.

Now I'm not here to defend Rafa in any way or bear down on Smugly - who was its biggest detractor, obviously - because there's pros and cons on both sides and I'm not going to pretend I know or understand them all. But Rafa does have a point. The elite players are elite players because of the years of hard work, application and absolute talent they have. And the elite players deserve to be where they are because of the number and quality of titles they amass. Its not about "points making prizes" for them. They win Slams and they win Masters. But equally, when injury means they can't defend them, it's a big penalty for those players. And its also a huge pressure when they return from injury because if they don't win and win quickly, it makes a bad situation worse.

Of course the arguments against were that it stops new players from rising quickly. What new players I ask? Who are they? In Rafa's breakthrough year of 2005 he won 11 titles which included 1 Slam and yet it took him three years to become No. 1 in the world, in spite of beating Federer on a regular basis. People decried that under a 2 year ranking system Djokovic wouldn't have become No. 1 until 2012, despite beating Rafa in all those 2011 finals and clearly being the better player than him. No shit Sherlock, that's something we've never seen before. [sarcasm] Djokovic's breakthrough year could be seen as 2006, and yet it took him 5 years to become No. 1 and that's a under a 1 year ranking system. But as ever, Rafa was painted the bad guy whilst Roger came out of it smelling of roses because (as per some quarters) all Rafa [the permanently injured player] wanted to do was introduce something that was self serving. Hhmmm ... is it not self serving to seemingly do nothing to support initiatives to help those players who beat you in favour of supporting "the Little Guys" who don't .............. ??? 

“I’m not the only one who likes the two-year ranking. There are many other players who also do, and the two-year ranking has a clear side, which is to protect all players, not just the top ones." said Rafa at the time. There is such a thing as a protected ranking in existence now, to help those players who are coming back from injury. Nico Almagro is one such player currently as he's coming back from foot surgery ... his protected ranking has been such that he's faced Rafael Nadal in the first round of Barcelona and Novak Djokovic in the first round of Rome. That'll help him ...

As I said, I can't honestly say whether this is a good thing or not and whether Rafa is right to vehemently believe in it. But what sparked this post was seeing the name of Milos Raonic at No. 4 in the rankings. Milos Raonic ... I'd rather watch a cat scrape its claws down a blackboard. And when you see that this guy has won precisely 6 titles in his entire career with 5 of them being obscure 250 series and in 17 Grand Slam appearances, he has 2 quarter finals and 1 semi-final appearance to his name, you do have to ask yourself what the hell is going on.

I do feel that Rafa will be alright in the end though. He will be ... 

So much to be positive for ...

And I truly believe that.

His tennis today was light years away from what won him the title last year. He just started slowly and nervously, and his errors were what gave it away, not Murray's play. And a forehand-down-the-line that was just a whisker away from making it could have got him that break back in the first set - that's what tennis is about, fine margins.

Rafa is final-rusty, and I think he fell to the pressure he put on himself early in the start of the second set. But do you know what? I would rather see him go down like that a thousand times over seeing him stuck to the backboards playing slice after slice after slice. Rafa really went for it. He was aggressive, he was determined, he mixed up his play. Missing the lines and going long is much more preferable that tamely putting it into the net. Through probably making a mistake of changing his racquet at the wrong time in the season and then going back to his old one means he's still got to find the feel and timing again. But he played some beautiful stuff today and I just hope that unlike after Monte Carlo, this time he does kick on from it. Viva Rome, eh? I'm not a fan of natural surfaces being played on going into the evening and at night. This is the first time Rafa had to face those conditions and it more likely made a difference, but again, a short feel of it might make him slightly more accustomed when in Rome.

But in conclusion, Rafa is now 10 years on from that long haired youth that lifted his first Grand Slam. Good old Smugly was 33 - so put that into context. And the clay court season always was going to change for us at some point in Rafa's career, so we learn to roll with it ... like he is. And this time after a long injury lay off has proved more problematic to return from considering at times his shots have lacked something due to his core strength looking less than it has been. That's what invasive surgery does for you maybe. The truth is, Rafa has just spoilt us. I don't know what Rome will bring, I don't know what Paris will bring. At the start of each tournament, I visualise him holding the trophy as a will to make it happen. And this season - if it doesn't - is just how it is and maybe how it's always going be from this point forward. But I just know that there will be that last hurrah. There just has to be, and it will happen. Maybe not in 2015, maybe not now, but it will. Or maybe Rafa will prove his naysayers wrong just one more time.

I wish you the very best of luck in Rome, Rafa. See you all again for the next turn on the rollercoaster. And Rafa ... be proud!!!!!!!!!!! 

An alarm just went off in the Players' locker room ...

So said Peter Fleming ...

This morning I said to my Rafateer pals that a Rome semi-final style performance from 2013 would do very nicely.  Never in a million did I think we'd get one.

I know you've watched, I know like me you thought he was awesome. I know you'll have been fist pumping those forehands just as I was. But one match at a time, although I will indulge myself in saying that's the best he's played this year.

The thing is though lovely readers. It's Spring ... it's the clay season ... and I get to settle down on a Sunday to watch Rafa in a final. As it should be ...

No words ...

Rafa does the Village People!!!!

Haha!!

Oh how I laughed today when I saw Rafa's latest Kia ads ... followed by a prompt THUD! as I decided which Rafa was my favourite.

Rafahawk wins ... LOL.

You can view all the videos at this link and whilst I've no real idea what's going on - the policeman is trying to get Rafa's autograph maybe?? - WHO CARES!!  RAFA IS WEARING A COP'S OUTFIT AND A RED INDIAN HEADDRESS!!

And with enormous credit to Natalie who posted these fabulous gifs on Vamosbrigade, let's enjoy them over and over and over again!!