Wimbledon ahoy!!

I'm savouring this feeling ... calmness. Rafa's about to embark on 12 months' of tennis where he has potentially everything to gain and simply nothing to lose in every single tournament he plays. The fruitless clay season is over and it has finally been proven to the hatahs, media and naysayers that yup ... shit really can happen. Even at the French. And guess what? Rafa survived, we survived and we now all move forward.

I love Wimbledon. Probably because it's my "home" tournament, probably because it's what we oldies in the UK grew up on before satellite TV and internet streams meant that we could pour over every single stroke of every single tournament. I even remember as a teenager keeping myself awake on Sunday nights before school because the BBC World Service used to announce tennis results before midnight and it was the only way I could find out whether my [then hero] John McEnroe had won. How times have changed ...

But more than loving Wimbledon, I love Rafa in it, and frankly with the exception of the 2009 injury, Rafa spoiled us with final appearances from 2006 to 2011 until it started to go slightly array. If all things come to pass, I don't think Rafa has got a bad draw at all this year. Sure, he's got the tricky quarter final again, but you've got to beat these kind of players at some point in the tournament and what will be will be. See, how calm is that??

We've had no salacious breaking press news this tournament - the heat being on Djokovic this time because of his own coach breaking the story of their on-court "communications". And when I watched Rafa at The Boodles on Friday - now are sitting comfortably for this - he completely cut out his tic routine when serving and was taking an average of 15 seconds between points!! Could it really be that Rafa now flies under the radar? 

I hope as always that Rafa has a good tournament. And if he doesn't? Well, it's not going to be the end of the world, is it? I like to believe that at some point he's going to surprise a lot of people. Whether it be this tournament or the next or the next ... there will be one. 

So in the meantime, let's strap ourselves in, let's hope for a good one ... and let's try to enjoy it!! VAMOS!!