Magnificent Seven? 2012 French Open - Rafa Round 1

(Playing Pretty In Pink!)

Ladies and Gentlemen, Our Hero, Rafael Nadal, has begun his quest for a record seventh French Open title this week. He looks to be in great physical and mental shape and he is he favorite coming in to the tournament. Being the favorite doesn't always mean much. Serena was the favorite on the women's side and she sadly was bounced in the first round. Shocking! This year Rafa is back wearing a pink shirt and pink shoelaces as part of his ensemble. The last time he wore pink here was the only year he lost. The superstitious fool in me is wondering what the superstitious fool in him is thinking. Maybe he truly doesn't care, but it makes me NERVOUS.

Luckily his first round match did not prove a horrible challenge for him. He took out Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. Rafa raced out to a 6-2, 4-0 lead and then suddenly lost a little focus. It can happen when playing a long match, especially when your opponent is not really threatening you. Bolelli broke Rafa during that lapse and them held serve. Then he had 4 break point chances to bring it to 4-3 on Rafa's next service game, Bolelli couldn't convert them though, and Rafa held. Then Nadal just ran away with the rest of it. One match down, six to go until he is Champion once more!

Next up he gets Denis Istomin from Uzbekistan. Shouldn't present a big challenge, but I'm sure Rafa will take nothing for granted. As the saying goes, you can't win a Grand Slam in the first week, but you can definitely lose it. I believe Rafa will persevere! VAMOS!

Rafa's Road to Paris Leads Through Rome!

(Rafa and Rome: Two great tastes that taste great together!)

It's been a very rainy week here in NYC. It's been SEVERAL rainy weeks here in NYC, to be honest. Luckily, the weekends have been gorgeous, but the weekdays have been downpours. One thing that made this past Monday a little less soggy and gloomy was the fact that Our Hero, Rafael Nadal, won the Rome Masters Event over his most-recent greatest rival Novak Djokovic. Such news was brighter than sunshine!

Rafa took the championship match 7-5, 6-3. It was sweet revenge as Novak beat Rafa here last year. The win did a number of other things as well. It further reversed the trend of Rafa losing Finals to Novak. After having a dismaying 0-7 Final Record against Novak spanning back from 2011 (and including three Grand Slam Finals) Rafa has now beaten Novak 2 Finals in a row - Monte Carlo and Rome. Monte Carlo was an important test for Rafa, to be sure, but Novak was so emotionally and physically drained from the passing of his beloved grandfather, it wasn't the best indicator of what their match up on clay would look like in 2012. This convincing win gives Rafa the edge again on red clay. Physically and mentally he looks fantastic and is definitely in prime position to win his 7th French Open in the coming two weeks. 

It also bumped Rafa back up to No. 2 in the rankings, after Federer briefly climbed past him for winning Madrid last week on the blue clay. That will put him back as the No. 2 seed at the French. Open. Having him be the third seed when he's won the tournament 6 out of the last 7 years would be sorta absurd.

Winning the Rome Masters also makes Rafa the most winningest player at Masters 1000 events, now having won 21 tournaments - 1 more than Federer. He's cut into Novak's lead in the points race to No. 1 as well. He won't be able to overtake him at Rolland Garros, since Rafa won last year and has to win to defend all his points. Unless Novak falls unexpectedly early, he will probably retain all his points from the tournament this year as well as a former semi-finalist.

Still this has been a very good week to be a Rafa fan, basking in the glory of his victory as the heavens upon up around us. I wish him so much success next week in Paris. I hope he makes history winning his 7th trophy there. VAMOS!

Rafa Gets Smurfed in Madrid

(The slippery slope of converting to blue clay.)

Ahh, blue clay. Looks pretty on camera, no doubt. But after a week of controversy, and a lot of negativity and early exits from the game's top players, will we ever see it again? I wonder. I feel like the safety of the players should be paramount, not making the ball clearer for those watching on a TV screen. If they wanted to change to blue clay, why didn't they start fixing the courts well in advance so that people could play on them and adjust the court composition as needed? It just seems weird and rushed to me. I feel like I've been following the blue clay drama for a while, but the details and thought process behind the necessity for the change happening right now still seems muddled. Or maybe it's clear enough and I just don't think it was worth it.

The week in Madrid saw uncharacteristically early exits from both Our Hero, Rafeal Nadal, and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, both of whom faced off in last year's final. Rafa suffered an astonishing collapse to Verdasco in the third round and Nole lost to Tipsarevic in the quarters. It was one of the rare times when I was actually frustrated with Rafa. I'm sure the court conditions were frustrating, but I felt like he (and Novak) just didn't want to be there. Usually competing and winning is most important to them and the way they went out, I felt like on at least a subconscious level, they just didn't want to be there. Demonstrating how bad the blue clay was seemed more important than winning the tournament on the surface. This was not a preoccupation for Federer, who won the tournament and moved passed Nadal to be ranked No. 2 in the world. With No. 1 ranking back in his sights.

Now we have already moved on to Rome, one my favorite cities in the world! The red clay is back and it seems Rafa and Novak are ready to put the blue clay fiasco behind them and get back to competing. I'm all for innovation and making the game more accessible for home viewers. But I think it's wrong to do it in a rushed way that is opposed by the players. I've been watching red clay tennis for years and I've never had a problem with it. Hopefully, tournament heads will consider more thoughtful approaches to court enhancements in the future. And here's hoping that Rafa can return to his winning ways on clay this week. VAMOS!