((((( 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
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