The draw was very well balanced. No one had a day off in between and both players had to play four 3 setters and one 2 setter. It can't get any more even than this.
Nadal played Simon, Youzhny, Murray, Dimitrov and Nadal. While Nole played Stepanek, Kohlschreiber, Ferrer, Raonic and Nadal to win it. Very well deserved.
It was a very good tournament given that there were only a few withdrawals and the draw panned out evenly for everyone.
Besides, Nadal is the king of clay and no draw is tough for him or so I was told so many times in the past by his fans.
In any case, terrific win by Nole and kudos to Nadal as well. I don't think this has any bearing come RG though. Nole however has seen both sides of the coin so what will it be this time? I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I am glad though RG has a bit more potential this time around than before or at least hope so.