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!!

The kindness of strangers

Over the past eighteen months, my expectations of support from people I know have become as permanent as the footprints left on a sandy beach. But when one door closes another opens and it's the kindness of strangers that has restored my faith in humanity. I believe in helping when I can and its karma that in my times of need, strangers have come through for me.

Je remercie les deux hommes qui m'aider la dimanche dernière et l'homme qui m'aider à l'aéroport il y a six mois.