i cannot BELIEVE this match ended in straights

i can't decide whether it's encouraging that he staged such a comeback, or worrying that he got himself into that position in the first place

i'm gonna go for the middle ground and just say... entertaining match and bring on the 3rd round

Why is everybody so negative?? I am RF fan but i have to admit that the two matches rafa played are the best matches so far!! Everybody expects to much, we are always thinking that the big three ( as of late the big two ) always win their matches comfortably. I think it is more fun to watch when they struggle then that they win their matches in three easy straight sets! I think that Andujar played a great match, fun to watch. For met his is one of the most excited Roland Garros in years, i have no idea who is gonna win. Tomorrow we have two great matches, which can g either way.

Yeap, I think this FO is unpredictable, so no one knows who will survive till the end. Both Fed and Nole were not tested so far, tomorrow may be the real test for them. Murray also struggled a little bit today, so there's nothing for sure these days, not even for the king of clay. Rafa has to fight hard to win his matches, just like his 2005. He's amazing during all these years, that he's not being pushed so hard like this year and only has his first five set match after dominating for 6-7 years, and lost only one match during the same period.

taxon, I so agree with you. It's hard for fans of any top players to watch them fighting hard against lower ranked players but it's boring when there is no contest. The spectators get their money's worth with matches like these because they don't feel short changed. They will always remember this match, I'm not so sure a 61 63 60 by Rafa would have been very satisfying.

It's a best of 5 sets, so what if it goes to 5 sets. We do expect too much of the top players. When they come across a lower ranked player for the first time they have nothing to go on, on the other hand the other player has seen them play umpteenth times and will probably have over a hundred videos of their matches to play to plan their attack.

If Andujar didn't play well then there would be cause for concern, but no one can say he was an easy opponent. Let's not forget that Rafa won this title the very first time he played it and I'm sure at the start probably no one even mentioned his name in passing as a possible winner.

Taxon, I understand what ure saying but its ok for me if Rafa plays 5 sets playing good tennis, but it becomes a concern when he is streched to five playing poorly, or making very unusual errors..........we Rafa fans are just not used to that!

But I do hear you when you say that it gets boring when our fave wins all the time in straights, and like I said before, its good for Rafa to be pushed in the early rounds, bcos it only gets tougher from here on!!

VAMOS Rafa!!!

"Let's not forget that Rafa won this title the very first time he played it and I'm sure at the start probably no one even mentioned his name in passing as a possible winner"

Nadal was the favourite to win RG in 2005

I'm one of those (despicable) Rafa fans who always thought he'd never win the USO so I won't say that he will not win this year's RG.... but it doesn't look pretty, that's for sure, the FR crowd must be enjoying themselves watching Rafa suffering so much, they get they're money's worth.

We've been here before.

Rafa struggling like he did against Verdasco in AO2009 and then came out to beat Fed in the final.

People forget that when the player struggles and win, his survival instinct is well on and it;s sometimes is better to have this matches because a player gets used to the back-and-forth of a see-saw battle and will boost his inner confidence that he will win if he just stays in it and compete.

What Does Not Kill You Makes You Stronger.

hear hear!
It seems as if Nadal isn't so confident about his own chances either.
I've read an alleged interview in which he's said that he's just not finding his game and that if he has to go home in order to improve (meaning if he has to lose a match) then that's what he'll have to do.
This isn't the kind of thing us fans like to hear from a 5 time champion :(

@Sherling - I think Nadal said that he will have go to home if he doesnt improve.
His English can be a little suspect at times:-)

I think Rafa, for the first time, is suffering from his transition from hard court to clay...........he seems to have simply lost some of his skills on clay, or what part of his clay game to implement esp now that a lot of the players are playing a hard court game on clay, and that perhaps sometimes takes Rafa offguard!

I think there is something strange about the French Open this year.

@ holdserve...............i think there's something strange about tennis this year..............PERIOD!!!!!

I've not written this for a couple of weeks.... but still wonder whether there is more to Rafa's form than a drop of confidence. Sure that is part of it. And luckystar has been writing about not being at the same level of fitness as he used to be... and perhaps he is still not there. Tignor wrote a few weeks ago that there may be a bit of mental tiredness of competing so hard at the top level for so many years... and I keep wondering whether it is the mix of those three reasons and the wall that is Novak these days... or whether there is an additional reason in the mix that we don't know about. The former reasons could very well explain it all... once a few things don't go so well more difficulties creep in. The good thing is that Rafa has practiced mental toughness and never giving up since he was a little boy so he will salvage as much of this RG tournament as he can no matter what... and given his fight yesterday he still has all his chances to make it to the final.

In the meantime I think that Roger must like his chances for a second RG: they are not overwhelming or anything but they exist.

I think it's mental fatigue on top of his earlier fitness issue. He was looking good during the exho in Abu Dhabi early this year, moving well, striking the ball well and serving well. The season looked promising then, but after Doha, with his virus infection and injury at AO, everything started collapsing. I mentioned before, that his missing on his Rafa slam might have hurt him. I seriously don't know how he felt about missing the Rafa slam. Would he just blamed it on bad luck that he got that virus infection that affected his fitness; or would he live with regret that he missed this chance, for he might not have another chance at it?

So we see him affected by the miss (of the Rafa slam), his own fitness issue and at the same time the rise of Nole and him losing to Nole four consecutive times in finals. Added to these, I believe the Rafa camp has not figured out an effective game plan against Nole and Rafa would have to carry the mental burden of meeting Nole in more finals and prepared to be beaten at the same time. His own game is not helping him either, as his backhand, ROS and serve
deteriorated since his illness and the injury layoff. So it's multiple problems all coming at the same time, no wonder he mentioned that he sometimes has concnetration problems during matches.

I think the way out for him now is to continue to work on his game and plays well here and defends his FO title, against anyone. I believe that's the quickest way in restoring his confidence. Meeting and beating Nole can be done later on, on the grass courts, as I think Rafa is the better grass court player of the two. I'm looking forward to Rafa winning the channel slams again this year and have things restored to order.

^^ tall order

here's hoping...

There was an order in tennis? had no idea until now.

^^ nice question :-)

I think that luckystar means that Rafa's own tennis life would be restored to order.

Novak restored his own with his wins at the Davis Cup (and with everything else he did).

I see some people can only have one track mind. Thanks chloro.