He came, he played, he conquered!!

At the age of 17 he won his first French Open and the deciding rubber that won Spain the Davis Cup. He successfully depended his French Open crowns three times and in the process surpassed Björn Borg's record for the number of consecutive victories on clay - they called him a clay court specialist, but by 2007 he had reached his first Wimbledon final on grass. In 2008, he would become the first man since Borg to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back, but only reached the semi-finals of the US Open - they said he couldn't play on hard courts. In January 2009, he won his first Australian Open title, on a hard court, but his renowned mental strength was sorely affected by off-court tribulations and he made an unexpected exit at the French Open, wasn't able to defend his Wimbledon title, only reached the semi-finals of the US Open and lost all his matches at the World Tour finals in November 2009.

Still not at his physical peak, he had to withdraw from his match against Andy Murray at this year's Australian Open, but by the time the clay court season rolled round, he was back to his best, becoming the first man to win all three clay court Masters titles in a season and in doing so he took his tally of titles to eighteen, surpassing Andre Agassi and Roger Federer on seventeen. At the French Open, he swatted aside his 2009 conqueror and illustrated the gulf between himself and Andy Murray in the semi-finals of Wimbledon. His straight sets victory in the final over Tomas Berdych secured him his eighth grand slam and having decided to focus his energies on the one grand slam to elude him, he arrived at Flushing Meadows ready to cement his place in history with a remodelled serve.

Up until the final, he hadn't drop a set, but his opponent who played his best match in the semi-finals to thwart Roger Federer's attempt to appear in a seventh consecutive final, claimed the second set. However, Rafa was not to be denied and he won the third and fourth set to complete the tennis grand slam.

As he still believes he can improve, despite being world number one, having won nine grand slam titles, an Olympic gold medal, eighteen Masters title and three Davis Cups, the chasing pack should be afraid, very afraid!

Felicitaciones Rafa!!

I'm back, he's back!

With his latest defeat of the Fed at the Madrid Masters Open, Rafael Nadal has become the first and youngest tennis player to amass 18 Masters' title. Yesterday's win saw him overtake the Fed and Andre Agassi who have 17.
His problems in the last year have been well documented and I suspect his personal problems affected him more than his physical ones.
I fully expect him to reclaim the Coupe de Mousequetaire at Roland Garros in a few weeks time.

Vamos Rafa!!

All good things come to an end

and so it was that on the Arthur Ashe court at Flushing Meadows yesterday Rafael Nadal's winning streak, that had seen him claim the number 1 spot, a Masters shield and an Olympic gold, was brought to an end by Andy Murray. It was a match too far for Rafa who has had a very competitive summer since winning Wimbledon and I've no doubt that normal service will be resumed when they meet again.

As for Murray, the guy likes Flushing Meadows as he won the US Junior Open in 2004 and he has the game to beat the Fed. I had predicted he would win the US Open last year, it looks like I was a year out.

Clay court specialist he is not

It bothers me that Rafa is labelled a clay court specialist as if that is the only surface on which he wins. True, he does have a remarkable record on clay, but he has beaten the Fed on hard courts (Dubai and Miami) and he continues to improve his performance at the Grand Slams with each passing year. His semi-final appearance at the Australian Open this year was better than his quarter final appearance last year - ditto for his performances at the US Open. In last year's Wimbledon final, he took the Fed to five sets which was a set better than the 2006 Wimbledon final. Now, he has just won his first grass-court title dispensing with The Joker, in a manner which underlines his Wimbledon credentials.

His inexorable climb to the summit of the men's game continues and I expect him to end the Fed's attempts to win a 6th consecutive Wimbledon crown and become the first man since the incomparable Bjorn Borg to win Wimbledon after winning the French Open.

Vamos Rafa!!

All hail the King of Clay, long may he reign

In the face of the Fed's relative slump of this season, El Pirata's steady but sure progress to the summit of the game has been overshadowed by the emergence of the Joker. Even his semi-final loss at the Australian Open was progression on last season where he fell in the quarter-finals. Now the tennis authorities, seemingly bored with his continued domination on clay, decided to make it physically impossible for El Pirata to defend his Masters' titles by scheduling Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome on consecutive weeks. As the defending champion in all of them, it was only natural that he would try to play them all. The blister he sustained in Rome was a consequence of too much playing, but if anybody thinks that it showed a chink in his formidable clay court armor, they've probably inhaled too much clay.

Vamos Rafa! Vamos!

Despite him having taken 3+ hours to see off the Joker, I expect him to dispatch the Fed with relative ease in today's final.

It goes without saying that Rafa is set to become the first man to win four consecutive French Open titles and given his year-on-year progression, he'll go on to win Wimbledon this year.