French Open: Rafael Nadal had it both ways

There was a lot of buzz regarding Rafa losing the first set consecutively in the first two matches of Roland Garros against Daniel Brands and Martin Klizan respectively. But for the champion he is, he rises up to the peak right when it’s truly needed. Nadal has aced through the round 4 match against the Japanese phenomenon Kei Nishikori to face Stansilas Wawrinka in the quarters.

Although there was a moment in the first set, when Rafa was 1-2, 15-40 down, and a fan from stands shouted “Break time!”, the Spaniard did not seem to be in a mood to joke as he turned the fates around in the next set when the Japanese player was down 15-40 in his serve!

The world no.15 might have been able to get those two break points but Rafa came back with a bang in the second set as he won it by 6-1.

After that, it seemed as if the ball was simply obeying his commands and the spectators were witnessing some top class tennis action in the Philippe Chatrier court!

The 23 year old Nishikori could not reciprocate Rafa’s forehand and we could well witness his sharp downfall.

Nishikori said, “I started well, trying to use my backhand crosscourt, and everybody knows he’s gonna try to hit forehand and try to open up the court. Then one bad game for me, and he started playing well.The second set, I was a little too passive, defensive. He was hitting more (on the forehand) and I was running side to side more than in the first set. His ball was bouncing up and moving around – everything was on his side.”

Rafa finished off the match with a huge cake coming his way and his birthday was celebrated on the court itself, with the Paris crowd singing their usual chorus – Joyeux anniversaire, in the spur-of-the-moment.

The newly turned 27 year old Majorcan is on a 25 match streak and fans will expect that he would have more wins than the candles on the cake by the time Roland Garros reaches its end!

Speaking about his opponent, Rafa says, “He’s a candidate to be top ten without any doubt, If he can just play a little bit more consistent, that’s the only thing he can improve. I played much better in this match than the first three rounds, no doubt about that. If you told me two days ago I would play like this, I would say ‘Give me the paper and I will sign’.”

Winning a match astonishingly on his birthday? It is rightly said, Nadal had it both ways!