"OK Fates, next time get you act together better. Over to you ..."
The last sentence, from my last post. The beauty of writing this is that for this clay court season, Rafa didn't need the Fates.
He was just that damn good.
Some weeks have past since that historic 10th win at Monte Carlo, followed by the 10th win at Barcelona and here we are now, some days after the even more historic 10th win at Roland Garros. I don't really know that I can add many more platitudes to the countless words that have been said, and I don't know that I even want to try. But the tennis Rafa played at the French Open this year was nothing short of miraculous. I loved it when Rafa used to crush his opponents, absolutely loved it. And I loved having that feeling back again in the matches that he played. That semi-final match he won against The Prince of Darkness in Madrid ... he was having him. And wasn't it good to see? There was a bit of hype over Dominic Thiem before the semi-final due to his victory over Rafa in Rome. No chance. Crushed him. I initially would have rather Rafa played Murray in the final than Stan, a former French Open winner and someone who can do it on the day if he has that arrogance about him and the wind is blowing in the right direction. But there was none of it. Absolutely annihilated him with a Smugly scoreline. Rafa ... you were a perfect 10.
I think in reality though, I'm just so happy for Rafa to have this achievement, won in the right way by playing some of the best clay court tennis of his career. No-one is more deserving. He has single handedly elevated the tournaments and tennis played on clay courts. I remember when it was just considered a rough brand of tennis, littered by a number of European specialists that never won anywhere else and that the Tour was just grateful when it was all over and they could move on to historic Wimbledon then back onto the hard courts. All of that was, of course, until Rafa.
I think he brought an artistry to it. He taught me to appreciate the footwork, the movement, having the time to play your shots on the red dirt. Because he was so dominant, and so unusual in his younger days, it made people sit up to see what was happening on this surface. Then, of course, it brought out the competitiveness of the rest of the players. Suddenly one of the ultimate challenges in the sport was if you were able to beat Rafael Nadal on the gruelling clay courts of Europe. He made them make themselves get better, which raised the profile and the interest of the tournaments and actually put the French Open back on the tennis map again. All this, was because of Rafa.
I'm glad that he stands alone ahead of Sampras in the Slam count. He deserves to be. And I'm glad he achieved this spectacular achievement of a historic 10 victories at one single Slam, something which is not likely to matched or equalled in a very, very long time. He deserves that too. It's good to know that he can enjoy the twilight years of his career never wondering, "what if" or "I wish I could have ...". He just did.
And for Roland Garros itself, so long the place where I felt Rafa didn't get the appreciation or accolades from the crowd that he deserved, it took for him not to be the champion for them wanting him to and then be the Champion once again. They handled the occasion beautifully. The banners in the stands, the montage made of his victories and most lovely of all, a replica trophy to mark his Decima awarded to him by his Uncle Toni. It was just absolutely perfect ...
Due to the standard of tennis Rafa has exhibited during the Spring, how he seems healthy and confident, you do wonder if there's more in him yet. But all that is to come, I'm still basking in the now. So bravo on La Decima, Rafa ... and finally maybe clay court titles DO count.
VAMOS!!!
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