Wasn't expecting Rafa to win this match considering his current form but he played better today and put in a good five aces too, so it wasn't a slaughter from soderling being the swedes favourite surface and all, in fact when he broke Robin a couple of times I even had a glimpse of hope he might just grab a set, but if was not to be, glad to just see him playing well though and staying positive for next season...

Yes I agree with you afrodite7. He didn't play badly, as he had said it himself, just one thing that wasn't clicking, ie his serve. If he can serve better, he may be able to push the match to 3 sets and anything can happen after that. Too bad, its not meant to be. Hopefully, he can improve on his game in the next two RR matches.

I found it interesting that he said he was nervous. Not often he admits that.

Yes he seldom admits that he is nervous, even though we know that sometimes he is, eg during the Wimbledon final last year. I think he is getting sick of being asked the same questions time and again about his confidence level after he comes back from his injury, so he might as well admit it (that he's nervous due to his 'out of' confidence).

I was at the O2 today and I also thought Rafa was nervous. He got a tremendous reception from the audience, and they were rooting for him, but he made some errors at key moments, and with a best of three match, one little mistake is all you need. Rafa just needs to win a tournament to get his confidence back. His confidence has taken a real knock because of the physical and emotional trauma he has had to cope with. In any case, indoor is his worst surface, and I also noticed that the court was a bit cramped, there isn't enough space behind the baseline for Rafa to set up camp.

This is not to take away from the fact that Soderling played well, and he was calm so he had the edge.

I'm learning to accept Rafa's losses with calm, and not to get too upset about them. He will regain his A game soon.

VAMOS RAFA!

I was at the O2 too + the reception + support he got was wonderful..inc many Vamos Rafa!'s coming from the children ..He may have lost the match but he must know that he won + continues to win the hearts of the people...Really like what's written in the comments here so far..so thanks for the grt comments. Lucky you cheryl ..you got to interview him.

I think it is quite interesting that Rafa admitted that he has lost his confidence and "calm", as he likes to call it. I really think his problem is simple right now - he has lost that aura of invincibility. Fed lost for a while after Rafa beat him back-to-back at RG and Wimbledon in 2008. Now Rafa has lost it after the knee injury, getting knockec out of RG in the fourth round, not playing at Wimbledon and then having yet another injury. On top of that, his parent's divorce seemed to knock the foundation out from under him. I think his family is a big part of his strength, his belief in himself. He may feel he has lost it. This is so traumatic for him. But he will survive and hopefully come out even stronger.

His problem is in his head right now. The game may suffer, but it's the mind that is causing it. It's been said that tennis is 90% mental. I think that's true. Rafa can still find the mental toughness to come up with some big wins, but it's not happening on a regular basis and not against the top players.

I am so grateful that Rafa got a lot of love from the crowd. It can only help him right now. Rafa needs a win, but he has to have that confidence to get it, and he can't get the confidence until he gets a win. It's a vicious cycle. But I know Rafa will find a way to work through this.

Rafa DID have a difficult half of 2009. I don't know how anyone can expect him to come out swinging and win everything. His parents' divorce must be extremely difficult seeing how they are a close-knit clan, and Rafa IS only 23 years old. I tend to forget that because of his maturity in carrying himself, but it is a young age (younger than myself even LOL) and it must be hard dealing with such a significant change.

I think all he has achieved so far since coming back from injury - to be able to keep up the consistent level of play to achieve semi-final finishes, that in itself was amazing. I do hope he will build his momentum steadily so as not to risk more injury.

Am quite ugh that Bobby Sod posted a straight sets win over him but as many have said, he didn't play badly. It is Sod's favourite surface after all, and he was better at the big points and crucial moments.

I hope Rafa will maintain his confidence going into his next RR match. I still want him in the finals at least! :)

HA! It seems that our Rafantennas are picking up the same positive vibes! Great posts form you guys, you pretty much covered everything I was thinking and voiced how I feel. :D

After watching the match, I was disappointed that Rafa lost. But I felt differently after this particular loss than I did after the others. My initial thought was (awww, Rafa's so sweet signing autographs for the fans. Even in his disappointment he finds a way to rise above it. <3)

My next thought was, he lost, yes, but he didn't get steam-rolled! Unlike in his matches vs Cilic, Davy D and Djokovic, I felt like he was in this match with a fighting chance! I feel like the match was a lot closer than the score indicates. Like many of you already pointed out (and Rafa himself candidly admits), he just didn't play the big points good enough (and his serve let him down.) But I like how he was standing up near the baseline and he was attempting to attack second serves more. Once he finds rhythm on his serve, and get enough of them in, he'll have more opportunities to come up to the net.

Carrie, the fact that "there isn't enough space behind the baseline for Rafa to set up camp." is a good thing! We don't WANT him to camp behind the baseline and make friends with the lines people. We want him attacking and being more aggressive, remember? I felt that he had that intention and was executing it at times during the match, so that's a very good sign. I think that his biggest problem right now is consistency. Once he finds his range and is able to hit his shots with more conviction and confidence (like he did vs Tsonga) then he will score a win.

After his loss today, I had a positive feeling that this is a catalyst for him. It is the most unlikely and most bizzare catalyst, but I feel that after his match today, he will only get better. :) We all know that you don't give Rafael Nadal a second bite at the apple, and that's exactly what this RR format does. He was full of energy and was pumped up to play. That is always a good (and scary) sign.

Hit the practice courts tomorrow with "positive attitude", then bring on the next match! (vs Davy D?)

I, too, thought Rafa played pretty darn well today. Better than he did against Djokovic in Paris, where I thought he was much more mechanical than anything else. Here, today, he played some pretty smart tennis and mixed up his shots...very encouraging to see, given the slump he's clearly been in lately.

When he improves on that serve and upon his volleying skills, he'll regain that confidence easily. A month in Mallorca will do miracles!

Good posting rafans:)
It's tough to see Rafa struggling and sad because he's had to go through a lot this year.

He's just such a nice and humble young man and to see him struggle is hard because he has worked so hard all his life, lived in federer's shadow for so long,he's had to endure being called names and made fum of because of his habits and when he finally has a break threw then his private life and health falls a part.

But if it didn't kill him it can only make him stronger.There's a lot of positive things he can take from his match today.

And yes..MiniArbre,we definitely don't want him to be making friends with the lines people:) i too was so glad that he was moving up.

He can only improve from here.Think happy thoughts and let's all leave Rafa messages on his WTF blog and facebook page giving him our warmest wishes.

i was disaapointed too but like some people here, i didn't feel too bad about it like i have his other losses. not sure why. maybe i didn't really expect him to come out with all guns blazing after some difficult months and injuries. i believe he'll get his confidence back. he's gone through injuries and losses before and in good time has come out strong in big moments when he's 100%. he knows his fans are behind him all the way and he knows how to win. he said he was so grateful for the messages when he was having a difficult time. sounds like a great crowd who appreciates a great champ.

this is exactly why i said it would better for nadal to take the rest of the year off after the US open finished.
he has lost ALL his ability.
he cant serve.
cant hit a proper forehand.
cant hit a proper backhand.
cant hit a proper slice.
cant hit a proper volley.
cant beat a top 10 player.

he came back from injury too fast, now his reputation is in tatters, his aura in tatters and his career in tatters.

thats what happens when u are greedy. he was greedy in the earlier part of the season when he played every tournament there was and got injured, knowing full well he returned from injury from the end of 2008 and refused to change his playing schedule.

if i was in nadal's position i would annouce my retirement if i dont win the french open next year. simple as that.
if i cant beat top players for big tournaments(slams) then i wont bother hanging around for no reason trying to eek out a career based on a glittering array of past statistics.

he is doing more harm than good to his reputation. he should do what borg did and retire once he knows he cant beat the other top players for big tournaments. u see borg didnt hang around until his reputation was reduced to mere dust like sampras did for 2 years trying to eek out a small win to impress some clueless fanbase.
borg left early while on top and he had that mystery with him, that aure, sampras had lost that aura, he was nothing, he hung around far too long.
unfortunately as hard as nadal may try, its getting worse, the harder he tries, the worse the thrashing.
its a clear sign rafas time on the tennis scene is over. he has lost that abilty that made him a top player. he is just another player. his ranking will plummet once the first 5 months of 2010 are finished. there is no way in the world he will even get close to winning the aussie open title.

we can hope he returns to the rafa of old, but that is just hope, not reality.
he should drop those t-shirts and go back to the muscle shirts, its more intimidating and he looks bigger in those.
he should wear the same type of outfits tha he wore in the french open and wimbledon last year.

this is a complete change of scene compared to the last article with the predictions of a score to settle . more like soderling cemented the French open win in everyone's mind . Congrats to him for a good game of tennis .

Soderling actually won the game yesterday ....he was attacking like crazy , pounding one ball after another trying to get winners . I really dont get what is the appeal in Nadals game . I mean seriously , we are talking about tennis , and when it comes down to it the defending game really does not work . The only way it works is if you play against someone who is having an off day .
I remember thinking and hoping to myself while watching the match everytime ( regardless who was serving ) that soderling would not miss the shot .it was simply because he was an the aggressive side ..always had the upper hand ...and nadal would only win the point when Sod makes that error in the winning shot . is that really how tennis is suppose to be played ? hoping that your opponent that is pounding balls left right center against you makes a mistake when he goes for that killer blow .

Nevermind that , the next 2 matches are actually more important ....if either of his opponent has an ON day ....does not make many mistakes , he is doomed no matter how well he defends ..it will be a repeat of the same thing . His victory is dependent on his opponents form ....this is what bugs me.

I can accept players having off days ...going for their shots but not making it . Everyone has those ...no one is exempt ...but at least you lose because of your own doing ( or what u were not able to do come to think of it ) . You dont go on court and hope that your opponent craps out .

He needs to change this , and change it quick . If u were supporting soderling yesterday , what im saying would be clear as day cause you would have kept saying to yourself dont miss that shot please , dont miss the killer opportunity... ...all night long. attack attack attack .

Anyways , I hope he comes out with a different game plan against the other 2 in the group . Based on yesterdays performance between Novak and Davy , they are already launching missiles from the back of the court . There is no room for defensive slices and loopy forehands when you have a rocket launcher the other side.


C'MON !

fedexfan, it's not that Rafa didn't want to play aggressively. If you serve poorly and your second serve is always under attack, you'll be busy defending all the time. During the match with Tsonga, Rafa was able to attack more frequently and hence won the match because his serve was clicking so well then. He was able to mix things up, kept Tsonga guessing, and he was able to come to the net to volley and attack.

So in conclusion, Rafa can play aggressive and attacking tennis, but in order to do so, his serve must be clicking well so that he would not be busy defending his weak second serve. His forehand down the line and cross court backhand passing shots have to be in place (we see some of his great cross court backhand passing shots during the Soderling match) and he has to maintain his level of consistency. I see from this match that he is slowly getting his game back, things missing: his serve, his consistency and his self-belief. I hope he comes out playing like the way he played against Tsonga, when he faces Davydenko and Nole.

When Rafa loses I need some time to recover...it may sound pathetic, but I refrain from commenting and keep all my thoughts for myself for a while, just to think it over and rewind his game in my head...it is very difficult, though, since in the place where I work people know about me being dedicated Rafa?s fan and they tend to ask questions, looking for my opinion and analysis...the questions most asked and I hate to hear it over and over again are:? what is happening to him? Why does it take him so long to come back in shape and be the old Rafa again??...

Well, I read all of your posts and I must admit I do not take comfort from Rafa?s game w/Soderling! He could have done better! I expected he would win this one. Soderling was not at all that stunning and great as he could be, but Rafa failed to prove, first to himself, and to the rest of the world that he is back, alive and kicking as he was assuring us in his press conferences...I agree confidence is a big issue, and also staying calm in those critical moments, but, hey, remember Almagro and Robredo? Rafa was mentally strong and confident in those key moments and where did that go away? Again, my opinion is that he is yet to find his game...his shots were too short and easy for Robin to return: it comes from the fact that he is not as strong as he was, given the obvious weight lose although for some strange reason he denies it. He is yet to accommodate to the new circumstances; it is more difficult that he expected. He must accept change! He does not need to return to the old tee-shirts, although I liked those sleeveless better, but he will have to play new tennis. As I stated before he is completely new player: with less force and big muscles to support it, he will have to rely on his techniques and his tactics...In fact, it was easy for Toni to develop a game plan when Rafa was hitting the balls all over the place and running and catching the corner shots...he is now not allowed to run that much, and he can not hit that hard! Toni?s tactics may have to be carefully developed and will play bigger role now...

luckystar ...saying rafa and good serve in the same sentence does not make any sense to me . he has a decent serve with reference to the top 100 . If you looks at the top 8 , his serve is almost the worst , even on his best day . Murray , the only other passive player has a GOOD first serve . The rest of them mostly attack and when thier serves are working ...you know its working !
Rafa has an ok serve even on his best day . So to say his game is not working because of his serve ..i dont think so ! I did not watch the Tsonga match to be honest , but i'll give you the benefit of the doubt . But even then , this one match you keep reiterating with regards to his serving is in no way a reason to say he has a good serve . 1 game with good serving does not classify you as a good server .
Nadal is a grinder , its no secret . And to do that he has to defend . That game plan will just not do it . It hands the decision of the game to your opponent ...if he is ON ...and makes the winning shots ..its history no matter how well you defend. Depending on your opponents UE for your Win is not smart at all .....winning the match while hitting winners makes the probability of winning higher and is always the smarter way . Its a simple fact . You control your faith . and like i said above , i dont expect everyone to be ON everyday , you have OFF days and its fine to lose then .

C'MON !!

And you may call me crazy, but I kind of understand how attacking.etc feels at the moment since he is, believe it or not, Rafa?s fan...but he is frustrated, disappointed, surprised and maybe shocked with the fact that Rafa is simply not finding his real form yet...that imposes doubts and fears in the minds of the people who were so convinced that Rafa will supersede Federer and become the best ever... people just became used to him wining and had such great expectations...but, looking back, Rafa did not let us down. He may have asked for more time than we expected to recover from what has happened to him in physical and emotional way, but he certainly WILL be back! I know that for sure! When he played Montreal, his first tournament after the injury, I was surprised of the low level of his game...he did not play, he actually was vegetating at the court, struggling with himself, finding his way out...at that time I was telling my friends, admirers of tennis like myself, Rafa may not be back with his form and game before the Australian Open. It seemed so pessimistic back then and I even tended to forget that I said it...however, now that I witnessed his end of the season I must admit I was thinking the right way...I expect him to be back to defend his aussie open title! And one thing I would put on the list of Rafa?s MUST DO is win the French Open! King of Clay can not just disappear! Don?t give me that! If he fails to do that, then...well, Attacking I would not be as harsh on him as you, but I would definitely be more than disappointed...

Why does Rafa slice the ball so much, there were times when he simply gave Sodder an easy ball to do whatever he wanted. He should watch his matches afterwards to see where he needs to do something different.

Rafa has played some stunning matches since his comeback, he's beaten Tsonga, Blake, Gonzalez, Monfils and others. OK, they are not top 10 players at the moment, but they are no pushovers. His match against Monfils at the USO was one on the best he's played this year, so it's all there, he just needs to get his head together, maybe once he settles down to his now family situation (which can't be easy, given his family background) he'll be OK. I'm sure he is still hurting.

Vamos Rafa!

Sod was hitting hard from the baseline, rallying all over the place, that is just the hard court style of playing, while Rafa was aware of his forehand errors and his shots came short many times...so, he simply wanted to change the rhythm, and slices are used to give him some time to adjust and to maybe force Soder to an error, given that Sod is tall and he needs to bend in his knees to get those slices right...it works for Karlovic and sometimes with DelPo, but it could not help with Sod as he did not make that many errors and he moved well and really fast...

fedexfan, if you have watched the Tsonga match, then you'll understand what I'm talking about. I'm sure those that have watched the match would agree with me. He served so well, ie with aces and good placement that Tsonga couldn't get to them or even if he could get to them, he could not return them. He didn't need to serve many second serves during that match, hence he is able to attack more instead of having to defend his weaker second serve. That's what I'm trying to say.

Good serving doesn't mean that one has to serve aces all the time, good placement is also important. Rafa's serve before his injury is good enough where placement is concerned. After his injury and his abdominal strain, he had twitched his serve motion a bit and we see the current inconsistency in his serve. Yesterday's match against Sod has shown us that his serve is not there yet, serving so many second serves (worse still, many weak ones) is really heading for disaster.

One more thing fedexfan, during the Tsonga match, Rafa has some 20+ winners versus less than 10 unforced errors (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong here), and he attacked and volleyed many many times. Against an attacking player like Tsonga, that's very impressive, and he beats Tsonga in straight sets 7-5, 7-5. Which is why after that match, we are so happy and thought that the Rafa of old has finally come back. However its not meant to be and we see a subdued Rafa against an agressive Nole. So the inconsistency continues at London...

To say that Rafa only defends all the time is also wrong, just go and watch all his FO 08, Wimbledon 08 and AO 09 matches, and see if he only waits for his opponents to make errors. The defensive plays that some people keep mentioning are those from his earlier days when his game is still not complete; and also his plays lately since his injury and I think those are due to his lack of confidence.

if nadal cant beat davydenko, then dont even bother turning up to play djokovic.
just go back to mallorca.
it will ruin his head to head record agaisnt djoko.

how anyone can lose to soderling on any surface is beyond me. soderling is a talentless, mindless, clueless ballbashing mug.

and how did NADAL lose to him AT THE FRENCH OPEN?
i mean comeon, at the french freaking open?
get outta here.

that is beyond ridiculous.
i still cannot belive how he lost to soderling on clay, and on paris clay.

federer would never lose to these other mugs even when he is playing badly. federer had mono at the aussie open 2008 and was pushed to the limit by tipsarevic but roger still managed to win that match.
thats how champions plays, greatness.

nadal will not be remembered as a great player, he has had far too many bad beatings in his career to be up there with the greats.
nadal is so inconsistent, win a good match against tsonga, and then lose to a mindless ballbasher like soderling.

these losses are unforgivable, no matter the reason, good players just dont lose to inferior players like soderling and davydenko. they are journeymen.

Well, that same Davidenko recently beat Djokovic in Shanghai! If I am correct, he won 7:1 or 7:2 in tiebreak! And gave such a hard time to Nole yesterday! Well, I hate predictions, but I would really like to see Rafa win against Davidenko! I am more than certain he can do it! He did it so many times before, even at previous world tour finals, he should be able to do it again! I hope he is aware of it! I am so tired of reading Rafa?s statements on ?lost confidence?! Why?! For one, he is better than all of them! He has nothing to lose, since he is not defending any points! He has had one of the best end of season for a long time now, and he is still afraid?! Of what?! He should stop fooling himself and making it harder on himself! He should just go out and play his game and see what happens! If he loses, fine, it is not end of the world, but at least he has tried to be confident and believed in himself! How does he expect to do well in Davis Cup if he lives in fear? Where is Uncle Tony now to play that moral-mental-psychological support? Rafa has to beat Davidenko! And I do agree that Soderling is far beyond Rafa?s level and I certainly hope Rafa will never lose to him again...

natashao, you are right. Playing tentatively is not working for Rafa, so he should just go for it, what does he have to lose. He's tried the being careful, and he comes out losing, so my advice to him will be GO FOR IT, swing freely and attack.

I wonder if Rafa reads tennistalk, all this free advice on here is going to waste.

Vamos Rafa!

if he has a confidence issue, he'll need a bit of time and some big wins to regain it.

carrie, i hope rafa doesn't read tt. imagine what he'll think seeing some of the posts! if he does, he'll read the spanish version but i'm sure he knows better :)

Rafa's serve has never been "big", in the sense that it was never a very fast serve.
The average speed of his serves is slower than the other players.
What makes Rafa's serve so good is the PLACEMENT and VARIETY of his serve and the wonderful element of surprise. He has the ability to mix it up and catch his opponents off guard (one of my favorites was when he came back from 0-40 during the AO final, he served an ace up the T catching Federer by surprise, it was on a second serve no less!) That is an aspect of his game that was always underrated in my opinion.

According to the Stats on the ATP site, Rafa is actually 6th on the list of (first serve percentage, the only other two top-tenners ahead of him - A-Rod and Verdasco.) But to put things in perspective, he is 35 on the list of (points WON on first serves, Ivo - Jo Willy - Federer top the list.) Things get even more interesting:

When it comes to points won on 2nd serves, Rafa tops the list. (Federer and A-Rod come in second and third and Andy Murray comes in seventh.) As for RETURN of serves, Rafa's absolutely remarkable in that department. He tops the list in all departments, with the exception of points won while returning first serves - he comes in third after Andy Murray and Davy D. (The return of serve is also a part of his game that has deserted him since his injury comeback.)

The thing is, his serve has always been the shot that came to him the least natural (some specualte that it has to do with his natural coordination, him serving lefty when he's really a rightly.) But just add the fact that he is now tinkering and trying to change and improve that shot....it's only normal for him to have trouble! It'll take time for things to come together.

Rafa always uses his serve to set up the point. But he's evolved that so that he can now get cheap points off of it. He seems to be attempting to evolve it even further so that he'll get even more aces and give himself the opportunity and ability to end the points more quickly. I think it's great! It's also very brave, it shows his detection and determination. This whole process that he's going through right now will only make him stronger and better. I just know it! I can't wait to see it all when it finally comes together!

BTW, excellent points Luckystar. Right on the money.

Nothing I like more than a poster with FED/Fedex/Roger in his username bitching about Nadal's ugly and defensive game. Well, that defensive game was enough to beat their idol's beautiful/attacking one more often than not, no?