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!!

Vamos El Niño, viva España!!

Spain's victory over Germany yesterday to clinch their first major football trophy for 44 years was triumph for scintillating attacking football and El Niño scored the goal that mattered most. My money is on Rafa to do the business at Wimbledon and make it another glorious sporting week for Spain.

Viva España

It's shaping up to be quite a sporting year for Spain; they won the women's doubles at Roland Garros, Rafa has continued his tradition of winning the French Open and looks set to become the first man since BB to win Wimbledon after reigning supreme at Roland Garros. The Spanish football team finally overcame their mental frailty to beat the Azzuri and if they meet Russia in the final, Euro 2008 will have a fitting finale.

Vamos Rafa!
Viva España!

The Queen returns to hold court

Did you know that the Venus Rosewater dish has gone to a Williams SIX out of EIGHT times this century and that Venus Ebony Starr Williams has won 2/3 of those titles? Despite this impressive record, she is seeded a lowly seventh. The All England Club seeds the men according to their performance on grass over the past two years - they definitely don't apply the same criterion for seeding the women. No matter, V will dispatch all comers to win her fifth Wimbledon crown because no one can match her athleticism and all round court coverage on grass, not even her lil' sis.

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!!