CAMELOT FANTASIES

from what i am reading, this may have been his best match of the tournament.


congrats to rafa and his fans at Camelot.

all the worry and fears about the terrible blood blister on the left hand are over.


i think he will ready go really hard in the final now. stan is serving amazing and playing the best tennis of his career.


i think it is going to be an amazing battle between the two.

Actually blistergate isn't over. Rafa was fortunate to tough that match out. During the telecast they said the blister had gone from a blister to  a wound. There was also an article before the semifinal reporting on the actual state of the injury. So, hopefully the wound will heal sufficiently to allow him to play his best game in the final.

Stan is playing well and we don't know how his confidence may help or hinder him. I hope it will be a good fina, (and that Rafa will prevail).

Why Federer might have upper hand
The 17-time Grand Slam champ renews an old rivalry with his archnemesis

Updated: January 23, 2014, 8:51 AM ET
By Matt Wilansky | ESPN.com

http://espn.go.com/tennis/aus14/story/_/id/10337676/australian-open-why-roger-federer-upper-hand-rafael-nadal

If Roger Federer has an ounce of gratitude, he might want to think about sending Rafael Nadal's racket one of those ironic but heartfelt thank-you notes that Jimmy Fallon has made famous.

What began as an innocuous callus on his left hand turned into a gaping wound for Nadal against Grigor Dimitrov in the Australian Open quarterfinals. It eventually produced a pool of blood and, in some minds, represented a potential field-leveler. It remains a painful, performance-impeding blister, all because of the repeated rubbing between Nadal's palm and his Babolat AeroPro Drive.

It was a grisly scene actually, at least in the relatively modest terms of tennis lacerations. Nadal, who is famously focused, was visibly bothered by the discomfort. It didn't help that he was on the court for 3 hours and 37 minutes, during which his gash was re-taped multiple times.