Gutted. That's the only printable word to describe my feelings. I could rant at length about the crowd. The same people who jostle for position at Rafa's practice sessions, pushing and shoving to get an autograph were either unable to get into Centre Court on Thursday or decided it was much more fun to cheer extremely loudly for the "underdog". I do hope it was the former, otherwise I'd be even more angry with them.

He looked fine (in more ways than one) at his warm-up session on Tuesday...


...but he looked more than a little stressed fighting his way off court with the security guards begging people to stop pushing. (And for the record, I was standing way back with my camera held above my head on the zoom setting. Just in case you believe the pot is calling the kettle black.)


I may be over-analysing things and it could just be one of those freak moments when you catch an odd expression but he looks a bit out of sorts even before playing Bellucci.


I'm convinced that his tentative play in the first four games of that match was due to being worried about how damp the grass might be. (The preceding ladies' match had been halted for the covers to go on and then had continued through a very light drizzle.) He never looked that happy and I noticed that his footwork was not what I would have expected or he would have liked.



Still, he righted the ship, eventually...


...and we were treated to a shirt change. (THough if you look carefully at his left knee in the second pic you can spot the telltale signs of treatment.



He had to move quickly off court though he did stop to sign stuff as usual.


If I'd known what was to come later, I probably wouldn't have been so delighted by the opportunity for a very close encounter on the Aorangi Park practice courts on Thursday. Or, quite possibly, if I understood Mallorquin, I might have been better prepared.


Of course, we will never know if the decision to close the roof at the end of the fourth set affected the final outcome of the match. It is fairly obvious from his expression, though, that Rafa was not happy with it.


I'm not going to dwell on the match. The baying of the crowd for Rosol is something that will stay with me for a long time. It says much for Rafa that he still stopped to sign autographs after the treatment he'd received from them.


So it's onward and upward from here. We all hope Rafa is making the most of his time off and enjoying himself at home.

And, as Benito tweeted just after the match, now more than ever

¡Vamos, Rafa!