US Open 2008 - Week 1

I suppose it must have been a good week when our major concern was Nike's proposal to change Rafa's image. The argument raged for 20 pages on our board. Of those who expressed an opinion there was a small minority who liked the new look and a few who thought it made no odds as long as Rafa was happy with it. For most of us, though, it was a travesty and the collective sigh of relief when he walked on court on Monday in the blue and white was enough to start a small typhoon.

It is, of course, the tennis that matters most and that first round match was a bit of a nail-biter despite the score. Bjorn Phau threw all he had at Rafa and kept him fighting for more than 3 hours. Rafa's expressions say it all.



Rafa said of the match "To win in three sets is always a good result. I had some difficult moments, so that's going to help me a little bit to be prepared for the pressure moments (later in the tournament). I played well today when I had the pressure moments. I think I helped him a little bit to play to this level but he's a good player and he played well today."
Score 7-6 6-3 7-6

After that they gave him two and a half days off; something that bemused Rafa. In his blog he wrote "One thing that is kind of weird is that I played my first round on Monday and my next match, my second round match, is tomorrow, Thursday, and it's the last match!!! Not second or third or even fourth ... last match.
"From a technical point of view it doesn't make much sense but I do understand it is a TV thing and also the tournament has told us that it is because they wanted me to experience the night match and the crowds here at that time. I understand although as I say it is strange to have such a big gap during a tournament to play."

Despite the late hour it was a much easier match against another qualifier, Ryler De Heart.



De Heart put it succinctly afterwards - "Rafa is a different level than me."
Score 6-1, 6-2, 6-4


Round three pitted him against Viktor Troicki who had given him a tough time for the first two sets at the Australian Open earlier this year. In some ways this was no different with the first set hinging on just the one break of serve. Rafa had to regroup after dropping his serve in the second set but did it so well he took the last 11 games of the match.

These two images sum up the match for me. Rafa celebrating his breakthough service break in the second set, with a trademark running forehand down the line, and sitting with an icepack on his head to counteract the heat.



""I am starting to play better," he said "Today I played better than the last days. I started playing well and today I served very well."
Score 6-4 6-3 6-0.

No round up of the first week would be complete without a couple of gratuitous shirtless pics. These are from kellybr.


She also took this pic which illustrates just how popular Rafa is wherever he plays.



So now he's into the second week for the third year running. As always we in the Vamos Brigade around the world will be biting our nails (and in some cases skipping sleep) as we cheer him on his way. We'd all love to see a 6th star on that Babolat bag but so long as he is happy, we will be too.

Buena Suerte, Rafa