Well Done Rafa.



Vamos!

Hopefully Rafa will win his third title for this year tomorrow. Also I'm sure Fed will fine tune his game and be ready to face off with Rafa at Rome, so Rafa please win tomorrow in the shortest time possible, gain more confidence in your game, tighten all loose screws, especially your backhand, and be ready for Rome and FO title defence. Please Rafa, stay calm, don't get nervous, go out there and win as much as possible to stay ahead of the pack. Vamos!

i like rafa's picture for this article on the homepage. blue suits him.

It is depressing to see Federer playing and moving like this. Retired players such as Canas and Moya would move better on court that Roger.

I cannot believe how bad he reaches balls, he moves like a retired player and abuses of this brilliant hand.

I'm sure he won't win any more GS unless he decides to train harder than ever, but he never did so, so there's no reason to do so now.


I feel sad for him, honestly. I remember his prime moments and how well he defended, how well he moved on corut, passing shots everywhere... and now we got this version....

Sorry, but i really think this guy is over. And I'm not saying this for this match, he has been playing (moving) HORRIBLE for the last 2 years, and these past 3 months this has been depressing.

There won't be another player with the talent of Federer, and that's the worst thing for tennis.

When they started showing the match they played a short documentary of Seve Ballesteros who died of brain cancer and Rafa had tears in his eyes...the commentator said that he wonders how will Rafa start the match given his emotional side and that this event stressed him very much and may jeopardize his game...

I think Fed played brilliantly most of the time in the match...I guess playing Feli in the first round was a very useful practice for Fed as Feli is also left-handed... Rafa raised his level and still had to fight hard...well, it's good for tennis to see Fed back...it will make Rafa play better and improve his game more...his backhand was weak today and I am so worried about it...the serve percentage was high and that is good news...I think Rafa underestimated Fed a bit which was wrong...I was nervous about this match...Fed could never be written off...

However, this is a great win for Rafa! Tomorrow's match with Nole is more mental than physical...Rafa has to be calm, has to trust his game and it will come, and he will emerge victorious...VAMOS RAFA!!!

Rafa had tears in eyes before the match and while giving an on-court interview after the match. He knew Seve Ballesteros personally, he had played golf with him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3dXao9y-S0&feature=feedu

ht tp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ2G7gB5KEo&feature=feedu

Have to say that with the h2h now at 16-8 with still Rome and then French Open to come, Federer will have to start to get used to losing to Rafa more often than not. With his no3 ranking, he's likely to meet Rafa in semis now rather than finals. There's a good possibility that Rafa will beat Fed on all surfaces in this year alone.

Federer will still remain a competitive threat, but he's going to have to take second billing between the power struggle that is Rafa vs Nole. Certainly for this year at least.

I finally had a chance to watch my recording of Rafa's match today. I didn't see Rafa as nervous at all in the beginning of the match. I think he came out serving very well. I think at one point they showed the percentage of first serves and Rafa had 83 or 85% to Fed's 38%. Fed is the one who seemed tentative and slow to get his game going. I thought that Fed took his opportunity to level the set at 4-4 with some amazing winners. Rafa didn't lose that service game, so much as Fed won it. Rafa had his chance at 5-5 when he had Fed down 0-40. But Fed hit a few great first serves to hold on. Then he had the chance to break Rafa and again hit some great shots to get the first set.

What I missed was that big first serve that Rafa had at the USO. I didn't expect to suddenly see it reappear, but being able to hit some big first serves in tight service games might have enabled him to win that first set. Rafa responded like a true champion in the second set and started blasting winners and taking control.

I think Fed did well to hang in there in the third set and not go away. I had a feeling that this might be a competitive match. I thought it could go three sets, but didn't say it here in my pre-match prediction. Sometimes I feel better keeping those thoughts to myself.

The one thing that was lacking from Rafa was aggression in key moments of the match. There was one moment when Rafa hit a great forehand into the opposite corner on Fed's side of the court and didn't follow up by moving into the net. He lost the point and they showed Uncle Toni looking not very happy. This is the element that was missing from Rafa's game. He seemed content to stay on the baseline and try to outhit Fed. Fed was the one moving into the court to close out points.

I think Rafa needs to come out strong and aggressive against Nole tomorrow. He needs to continue to serve well and get a high percentage of first serves in, as he did in this match. Rafa didn't play his best and he still beat Fed.

I don't think for one minute that Rafa underestimated Fed. He knows better. I am expecting him to come out ready for Nole tomorrow. This is the time when Rafa responds so well to a pressure situation. There is a lot on the line for him, but also for Nole. However, I am not willing to say that a loss here will destroy Rafa's confidence. He will go out and do his best to win. I think if he plays the way we know he can, then he will win.

Thank you so much, Augustina, for finding those clips.

"However, I am not willing to say that a loss here will destroy Rafa's confidence. He will go out and do his best to win. I think if he plays the way we know he can, then he will win. "

NNY, I'm so glad you said this. I'm a little tired of hearing otherwise from people.
(Not to dismiss what Rafa said in his TTV interview about Nole being the favorite, because of the surface. I never want to discount his opinion, for obvious reasons. Yet and still ... )

mara002,

I also read that interview in which Rafa said that Nole is the favorite because of the altitude and fast speed of the court. I think that this is what Rafa likes to do before a big match and maybe it takes the pressure off him. If it helps him to go out there and play well tomorrow, then it's all well and good.

I just don't like to deal in absolutes. Saying that this will destroy Rafa's confidence, that it will mean the end of his dominance on clay, that he will lose the #1 ranking for good, all of this is what I call awfulizing. If we were talking about the final of RG, then I would definitely feel that a loss would be significant.

I want Rafa to win. Nothing would make me happier. I just don't want to see this as the be-all and end-all for him. There is a lot more tennis to be played this year. It would be hard to see Rafa lose three times to Nole in a final, especially on clay. I don't want it to happen. But I also don't want to think that that world will end if it happens. As long as Rafa goes out there and gives it his best, that's all I can ask.

Talking about his match today, Nadal said he played more ?inside? the court and more agressive in the second and third sets and that made a big difference in his win over Roger.

I have noticed that when Rafa has a bad patch he usually changes and adopts the above game plan to win. My question is, why does he not go with this game plan from the get go?

Emiliano is quite right actually - there used to be a time when Roger seemed to be dancing while on court. He hasn't had that fluidity in a very long time. It's difficult to see him bettering Rafa now when he couldn't do it at his sublime best.

Rafa's interview on May 7, 2011

<<Q. Hello Rafa congratulations. In the case that Djokovic gets to the final how do you expect the final to turn out?
A. Like always, I've got the illusion of winning, of playing a good game, the illusion of being competitive, as I always do when I go out to win a match. I'm very much aware that in the last 2 finals against him I lost and maybe the conditions suit him a bit more now because of that. Here I think the conditions here are a bit more in his favor, I'm not going to go about the match a different way. I am going to try to go out there and play with what I know which is play with intensity, play aggressively, play with my drive and try to have hit better points than him. He is moving very well, he is shining a bit now because he has a lot of confidence now which is important. I plan to accept this and all the difficulties that will surely be there and accept that this is going to be a very complicated math that I could lose even playing well. I lost 2 finals, I could lose a third. I will continue fighting continue working no matter what. For me to start the clay season with 2 victories and now a final one in the third tournament which may be less favorable for me but its also a very good result. I have to make the extra effort and tomorrow will be an important match. The fact that I am playing at home is special and well its another final in the Master 1000 and I will fight until the end.

Q. Two things, the first in respect to Djokovic, more to do with his confidence than his winning streak, up to what point do you think he has changed? For example being more aggressive on the court?
A. Who, Djokovic? I think its completely the opposite. I don't see him more aggressive. I think he is less aggressive now than a few years ago, he used to me more aggressive, he used to not let you play sometimes. I can be wrong but from my experience playing 2 matches against him, I didn't see him more aggressive than before. I actually saw him less aggressive than before. Maybe he is making less errors than before and his defense is better now. He is starting to serve very well which last year and the other year, he didn't do so well. He is a good player, he has always been a good player and now he is arriving with a winning streak and that gives you a boost in your confidence and security in yourself. That's all, I think he really is one of those players that comes up every few seasons because of his talent and the good hits he delivers from positions that look very simple but are actually very difficult because he manages to hit the ball very soon, very much in front of where he is and with little effort. He seems to always have enough time to complete a stroke and hit the ball right when it goes towards him and that's a privilege that few players have.

Q. Are you surprised about what happened there because its not the first time?
A. I'm not surprised, only that there at that moment I was losing more time than I wanted to, because I was a bit nervous, it was the last game in the match but I accepted it and didn't let it get to me. Honestly it bothers me a lot more that the umpire decides something like that in the second set, than in the last set of a game, which happened to me a few years ago, because there you can either have 3 points left to make up the difference or 3 games left. Basically you don't want to be on his bad side the entire match.

Q. What do you think was the key after the first set when you were both tied and then Roger ended up winning. What happened in the second set that allowed you to win?
A. Well I don't think it was our best match for either of us, I think we both made some errors, more than usual. In the first set, in the first moments in the match I should have done another break because he was playing weaker and then he started to play better, he began playing more aggressively. And after 5 - 5 he had 0 - 40 and the normal thing would be to win the point especially playing aggressively, he had gotten all of the points and played very well. I think evidently, tennis is a game where bad luck doesn't exist because you play point after point very consecutively and by the way the set went, I think it would have been more logical that the game went more on his favor than mine. It didn't go his way even though I think I was playing a bit behind. I haven't spoken with my trainer or anyone yet but from what I analyzed, I think I was playing a bit behind, from what I could feel from inside the court, I thought I was playing a too far back, I wasn't hitting the balls far enough, he could have gotten in front of me more. In the beginning when he was making mistakes, it didn't matter, but when he began to improve his game, there wasn't any room for me. All I thought was of what I had to do, try to hit longer shots and to do that I should have stepped forward a bit more during my serves. The problem here is that the ball bounces so much that you have to turn to your right and if you serve from the front, it's basically impossible because the ball goes way too high. I decided, well, if he serves to me with his backhand, I will be backwards but if he serves to me with his forehand, I will be forward. I think that was a key, I wanted to recuperate too fast when he hit his serves to me. I was focusing on coming back to the center more but I gave up on that because I ha to be on either side of the court. After that the points were neutralized, he continued hitting backhands to me and I had to keep putting up with him. By then it was harder for him to gain points against me but if he does you applaud him and period. But what you cant have is that he hurts your game with half shots which is what was happening in some moments throughout the game and that I did recuperate.

Q. Rafa. Can you correct me if I'm wrong? I believe that Federer didn't do a single ace in the entire match. Are you surprised? And on the other hand, do you have the feeling that on that first set when he came back he showed his best tennis regarding the last matches he played against you.
A. Well he didn't do any aces because I was returning from the very back; it's difficult to do aces this way. To Feliciano the other day he made 25 aces, or 26 but Feli was returning closer. I think that we are different players and I believe that the vision of the court changes quite a lot. It's true that he has done very good drives at the end of the first set I opened very well with my backhand. I think that I have helped him to have done that with fewer problems. He was playing short and I was playing from the very back. He had a lot of time to watch the ball coming, whenever someone plays at the back you have a lot of time to step in and position yourself. From my point of view that is what was happening. There have been many moments where I have played really well, I started returning very well with my backhand, I started doing that more than in other matches. I am not going to say that I didn't make any errors with my forehand but he was playing very aggressively, when he had a ball to his forehand he was trying to neutralize the game, he tried to play the ball hard, when he did it correctly I suffered and after when I stepped back in I started playing a little bit longer you know he couldn't see the spaces so easily; he has suffered a little bit more I believe. I was trying but then I was making a couple more errors.

Q. You've said that it wasn't your best game, nor Roger's. But without being your best game you have been capable of handling the match against the 3rd ranked player in the world. Secondly how did the roof affect you game, does it change a lot when the close you the roof 3 minutes before the start of the game?
A. Well I knew this could happen, I was prepared, and obviously it doesn't help me in any way. First of all I couldn't see the ball properly, when he was serving, the ball was on the light's way and I couldn't see. I could not see if he was coming up to the net or not. It was a bit of a problem for me and also the court changes a little bit when the roof is closed but it's not an extreme change. The difference between the good players and the best one is that when you play badly you win, that is what the best players do. At the end of the year you really don't play so many goo matches. You can have a perfect season but during your career you have moments where you play well, average? At those moments is when you have to continue winning matches. It's those moments that keep you up there and give you an opportunity. To do it better the next day I believe that the really important thing is to accept what you really have, to fight with what you have and if you can make it to a level 6, make it to that level. Don't become desperate and make it to a level 4, then when you reach level 10 you will obtain the victories because then it becomes much easier. That's the reality, what's really difficult is to win when you are at a level 5 or 6, it is at these moments where your ranking changes and then you are ready to see the world from a different point of view. You face the tournaments and you see that playing badly you can still win them. To obtain that, the most important thing is to accept things and continue with the appropriate attitude.

Q. Rafa, yesterday you already talked about him but today we have confirmed the news. I would like to ask you about Seve, today in the minute of silence we have seen you very emotional and you have been wearing a black badge. Can you give us some reflections?
A. Well I can give very few reflections. It's a sad day in general for Spain, for the world of sport. I think that he was one of the best golf players in history. He was one of the best athletes that this country has ever had. He was a pioneer. He was one of the first big athletes that we have had in Spain. I think that he has always had Great Spirit to overcome. I was talking yesterday with his brother, well texting with him; and he told me that he was critical; - and this morning the first thing I did was to turn on TV, and the first thing I saw was that he had died. It's a day of sadness - when you wake up with news like that you face your day differently. The only thing I can do is to give all my support to his family. It is a loss that they will never get back due to all the values that Seve had; he was a great inspiration for all of us and all the athletes. But luckily we have all of his videos and also we can remember him. Luckily one day I had the chance of playing 18 holes with him and it's an unforgettable memory.

Q. You have been saying that neither you nor Federer have been playing at your best level; do you think that he can be back at his best level for Roland Garros?
A. Federer made it to the semi finals. He suffered a lot against Feliciano. He played a really good match against Soderling. He's got a lot of confidence. Today at some point he was playing really well but Federer is a very special player. He is a player that can do his best and then change the situation. He has that ease to play this game. I've never seen someone like him play at such ease like he has. I think that this tournament and also Rome will be good for him and after 5 sets he is going to be well prepared. He's a player that in the grand slams he's always played very well and now he's going to fight to win Roland Garros, Wimbledon and to when to be in the top of the rankings for sure. And afterwards he will be playing for his goals whatever they are. Obviously he's been many years up there, let's see his priorities I haven't asked him but I think it will depend on his priorities, which position in the ranking he'll finish but knowing him I think I know him quite well, he is a really ambitious player, he's a player that likes to be up there and he loves tennis so I think that his objectives will be up there. He likes to win tournaments like in Madrid and Grand Slams so I think that he's going to be well prepared for the important ones.

Q. Rafa, is it fair to say that this wasn't the greatest match that the two of you have played?
A. It wasn't one of these but you know how difficult it is for us to play against each other - 100 times. We know each other very well and at moments we are thinking more about what we can do to bother the opponent that play our best. We know each other too well and it's very difficult to play very well in each match. In Miami I played fantastic, he didn't play very well. I think that at moments Roger played very aggressive and great tennis and in other moments he had more mistakes than usual so the match was a little bit up and down but for sure it's always a special match against each other. It's a pleasure to play against him - always an honour.

Q. If you play Novak tomorrow, you've got your long clay court streak, he's got his long unbeaten streak; will that make it even more special?
A: What makes it more special is to play another Masters 1000 final and to play against the best player of the year - Djokovic - and it play at home is always a very special feeling and the crowd always supports me here and hopefully tomorrow I'll have the crowd behind me, upporting me and that will be an important point for me. I think the match will be very difficult against Djokovic and I think if it´s against Bellucci too because he's playing fantastic. I understand your interest is about Djokovic - the thing is, when a player isn't losing it's because every day he is doing the right thing and hopefully tomorrow he doesn't always do the right things and I can play at my best level. Only like this I'm going to have chances. Let's try and we'll see tomorrow. I think that because he is undefeated this year and he has been in the last two finals he'll be the favourite for tomorrow.

Q. You said that sometimes when you play Roger with you know too much about each other; how is it with Novak? Do you know too much about Novak as well?
A. It's a little bit different. Sure we know each other well. I think that the match change a little bit because I don't have the tactic 100% right to play against him and he doesn't either. So in general, the match is a little bit different. Against Roger, I have played a lot of important matches throughout our careers and a few ones against Novak but I still haven't felt the pressure and the emotions that I have felt when I played against Roger - the Australian final, 3 Wimbledons, 3 Roland Garros´ - a lot of important matches and against Novak, I've played the US Open final and one Roland Garros but we've played a lot of Masters 1000 finals but the feeling is sometimes a little bit different.

Q: I think you've never lost against Novak on clay, can that be a psychological advantage tomorrow?
A: It can be if I didn't lose two finals in a row but with the last two results that's not going to happen - it's bad for me. He's coming with a lot of confidence. For sure he knows he can beat me and he did the last two times. I am here to try my best and to try to play aggressive and play good match and that's what I'm going to try. Let's see. I don't think that's going to have affect. >>

Thanks Augustina. A very interesting interview and some comprehensive replies from Rafa. I like the way he elaborates on the match details, how he felt during the semifinal match, what he and Fed did and did not do during the match. I also like the way he feels about his matches vs Fed and his matches vs Nole. I love Rafa for what he does on the tennis courts and how well behaved he is as a person.

Rafa has said exactly what I feel about Nole and his game now. Nole is beefing up is defence now and has played less aggressively. I did mentioned that he's playing like the Rafa of old, who relied more on his superb defence and the ability of converting defence into offence, rather than outright offence. That may explain why Nole is getting very hard to beat nowadays (as he can defend so well and he cuts down on any risk taking by not playing too offensively, like painting the lines for example). Rafa's take on the whole situation is spot on and he really takes a realisitic view of the big picture. I'm glad to know that he's ready to accept victories as well as defeats and ready to move on and takes the positives instead of keeps dwelling on the negatives. As his fans, we should learn from him and learn to be positive, good times or bad times.

OT: Rafa & Roger have been drawn to play in the same bracket again in Rome.

Just wondering if the French will put Roger on Rafa's side at RG.

tsk, tsk, tsk .... poor Roger.

Vamos Rafa!

The draw is random, so after falling into Rafa's half of the draw twice in a row, I feel that at RG, Fed will most likely fall into Nole's half of the draw. I'll be interested to see a Fed/Nole semi at RG, let's see the new improved Nole vs Fed on clay. Also don't underestimate Fed, after playing against Rafa in Madrid, I believe he'll fine tune his game and be ready to meet Rafa in Rome, should both get that far to meet each other. Rafa has to up his level and plays better than in Madrid to beat Fed.