Sony Ericsson Open 2008
Well we didn't get the trophy biting pic that we hoped for but there are many positives to be taken away from this tournament.
It all started with interesting pictures of Rafa and Serena on a very watery tennis court that many of us believed to be an early April Fools' joke achieved with the aid of photo editing software.
It was real, though. Made possible by placing clear acrylic platforms under the surface of a swimming pool on top of the Gansevoort South Hotel in Miami.
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The proper tennis action started in the second round for Rafa. He overcame what the BBC called "stubborn early resistance" from Benjamin Becker to win 7-5 6-2. No one saw fit to televise it so we were left with a few still images from which to draw conclusions about his form. This one, though, gave us all hope. rubytuesday spoke for us all when she posted "I'm hopin' this represents his attitude for the entire tournament." |
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Doubles came next and his pairing with Tommy Robredo came so close to causing a major upset. They took the Bryan Brothers, long rated the best doubles pair in the world, to a deciding third super tie-break set which sadly they lost. The final score was 6-7(5) 6-3 5-10 and the stats show that they won more points in the match than their opponents. |
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On a side note for fashionistas - we are loving the new colours and especially the bandana. elise waxed lyrical when she posted "The bandana (not just this one, but any bandana) combined with his longer hair makes him look like a medieval prince with a circlet crown." |
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Back to the action and the third round against Nicholas Keifer. Rafa easily won this, their first meeting 6-2 6-4, despite having to cope with a rain delay. He never faced a break point and hit some amazing forehand winners for a total of 22 winners to 15 unforced errors. He also served well with 6 aces in this match. A good result considering Keifer's resurgent form in the last few weeks. |
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On another side note - what is it with the US that not only do they get Rafa practising shirtless but he also wanders shirtless around the grounds? That never happens at any of the tournaments I go to in Europe. Not that I'm at all bitter, you understand. |
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On to the fourth round and things were getting tougher. You never quite know with Paul-Henri Mathieu. Although Rafa has always managed to prevail in the past he had been playing well in the tournament so far. However, Rafa played another beautiful match and came out a relatively easy winner 6-4 6-4. His only slight falter was when he dropped serve when serving for the first set at 5-2. Paul-Henri played well but Rafa played better. |
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Then it was the big one. The quarter final against Rafa's bête noire - James Blake. Rafa had finally beaten him at the Pacific Life Open but James still held a 3-1 advantage in their head to head. But once again Rafa stepped up his hard court game and defeated him 3-6 6-3 6-1 After suffering a quick break in the 8th game of the first set, Rafa rallied to push Blake throughout the second set, finally breaking him in the 8th game of the second set. After a hard fought third game of the third set Rafa was finally able to break once again. He then took control of the match and dictated play as if he was on a clay court And boy was he pleased! |
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So now it was the semi final. He had never beaten Tomas Berdych on a hard court although he had won their last two meetings. The first set was tight and Rafa missed 6 set points but he prevailed and just stepped up his game to steamroll the second set in just over half an hour. Final score 7-6(8-6) 6-2. And again you can see from his reaction just what it meant to him; both to beat an opponent who had been playing out of his skin all week and to reach the final. |
Well done, Rafa, for toughing it out through the long months of the back to back hard court seasons, for beating so many of your demons in the last couple of weeks, for coming through that land mine draw that no-one thought you could and for finishing on such a good note.