Australian Open 2018: A tough moment for Rafa fans

He started the Australian Open 2018 tennis tournament's journey being the World No 1. If not the firm favorite, he was billed as 'one of the favorites' to win the prestigious tournament. Each and every fan of Rafael Nadal (the bull, as some of his fans would wish to call him) had high hopes of him winning the trophy, there by creating a unique record of winning all the grand slams at least twice and the only man to do so in the history of men's tennis.

He looked in good shape - both physically and mentally. The aggression remained the same as ever and every one could see the fire in his belly to rule the tournament.

In his first round match, Nadal cruised past Víctor Estrella Burgos with an impressive 6-1, 6-1,6-1 victory. Then, he swept past the Bosnian, Damir Džumhur with yet another dominating performance, the result card displayed 6-1, 6-3, 6-1. There was a slight challenge posed by the Argentinian Leonardo Mayer, but nothing could stop the bull as he won 6-3, 6-4,7-6.

Nadal faced a stiff challenge in the form of an exciting youngster named Diego Schwartzman who was pouncing on every opportunity presented by Nadal and delivered some sensational baseline winners with some skillful play near the nets.

He was on his way to push Nadal to the limits, but the World No.1 got back to business immediately and brought down the swashbuckling Schwartzman with a slightly hard-earned 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 victory. By this time, probably, Nadal - as a seasoned campaigner - would have known that he would face a stiff challenge in the quarter final match.

Cilic consoling Rafa- 2018 Australian Open - Day 9

Rightly so, he was up against the charismatic and talented Cilic. Nadal's followers were hopeful of a clear victory against Cilic, despite some stiff challenge by Cilic. At the end of three sets, Nadal was leading by 2-1 and looked good to me. Then, came the heartbreaking moment with Nadal going down in the fourth set. The most crushing of all the moment was still waiting. Nadal had "Retired" because of an injury!

In his post-match conference interview, Nadal did not wish to call it as a "frustrating" moment as such, but surely a tough one to accept. He is a positive thinker and hopes to come back stronger in the futuristic tournaments.

Like the protagonist, "Andy", says in the movie Shawshank Redemption, "Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

We hope for the "Bull" to fight as he has done in the past with the same aggression, passion so that he may go on to win many more grand slams in future. On the way, he will have another chance to achieve that unique record of winning each grand slam twice.

All the best, Rafa!