Bonne chance ...

I don't think I have much to say in my post tonight. We all know the stakes ... and they are high. There is heart and head whenever Rafa plays and never more so now. One player is having one of his best seasons ever ... one player for the first time on clay doesn't even hold a title. Both players are going for a title that has "1" in it - significant for one player because it will represent finally the achievement of his Holy Grail and a Career Grand Slam; significant for the other, because it will represent an unprecedented double digit figure of titles won at one Grand Slam. For one player his chances have never seemed greater, for the other, for the first time in years they are seriously in doubt.

I've just watched a whole series of former players be asked who they think will win. Some can't call it, a couple said Djokovic, the majority said Rafa. I have a fear that this tournament has come just that bit too soon to find Rafa at the level he needs to be to beat the current world's best player, but I have faith that at some point, he will get there ...

For me, one of the over-riding things about being a Rafa fan which remains as prevalent now as it ever did is because of his character; because of his incredible will; because of his fighting spirit and his "never say die" attitude; because he lives and breathes for matches such as this; because Champions are born and what they possess isn't made; because of all that ... it's still very, very difficult for me to turn off that little switch inside of me ... that switch called "Hope".

Because ...

"Assume you have no hope. If you have no hope, you have nothing. If you have nothing, there is nothing holding you back. If there is nothing holding you back, there is nothing stopping you. If there is nothing stopping you, there is nothing saying you can't. If there is nothing saying you can't, there must be something saying you can. If there is something saying you can, you can do anything. If you can do anything, you can dream. If you can dream, you can hope. Therefore, there is always hope. There is always hope ..."

Rafael Nadal may not walk off court tomorrow being the French Open champion.  But neither will Novak Djokovic.

I wish you the best of luck tomorrow Rafa. Have courage, be brave ...