CAMELOT FANTASIES

Maybe not a good time to say it now Lady TT, but on the bright side, Rafa still seems healthy enough for another run at a Roland Garros title.

Congratulations to Novak Djokovic and his team and supporters.  It was a good week in Rome for him. Can he do what he hasn't done yet, and carry that through to Roland Garros?

Condolences to Rafael Nadal, and his fans.  He'll be back.

Respectfully,
masterclass

I get over things quickly. My area of expertise lies in observing things on an emotional level. I didn't think Rafa would win, because:

1. He's been in a mini slump all year. He's played horrible for his standards.
2. He played all of those three setters without any rest in between.
3. He had to take down Murray after a 2 1/2  hiatus, and the papers would've had a field day, so that match was emotionally charged and draining.
4. He was lucky to have such an easy time with Dmitrov, but Grigor overplayed too much, which played into Rafa's hands immensely.
5. Plus he had the burden of stopping the young gun.

All of this without a day's rest in between to beat his nemesis.

So, I have to pick which losses bother me the most. So many times, the preceding weeks before a major are not an indicator of what happens during a major. In fact, this is the same scenario we faced last year, when  Nole won Monte Carlo and everyone thought he was a shoo-in to win the French. It didn't happen, so in retrospect I was glad that he got that loss out of the way, because that would sharpen his hunger. The same thing with USO 2013, people though Rafa would lose that to Novak too, but when it came to a major, all bets were off.

If also brings to mind Soderling's win in 2009, Rafa had just beat him a week or so before love and one, (I think) but it had no bearing on RG, where Robin won.

Sometimes losses are strategically and universally place. Knowing that you're going to have some losses against Nole, I'll take this one with a grain of salt. I'd rather get the loss out of the way.

That's the thing about sports. They're unpredictable, and things never go according to plan.