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.