There is still a place for romance in sports

With his victory yesterday, Rafa has proved that he is still the man to beat on the dirt. His stamina, defense and offense are still top notch. His knees also seem to be fine for all the running that he would be doing in the coming months leading up to his title defense at Paris. 7 consecutive losses to Novak with 2 of them coming on clay don’t seem to have diminished Rafa’s appetite for a fight. With each loss, he has found some reason to fight on and continue pushing the limits.

All that effort culminated in a grand effort yesterday as a 6-3, 6-1 result would testify. Agreed, Novak was not at his best thanks to some lackluster previous rounds and also the untimely death of his grandfather. But, this is not to take anything away from the Spaniard as Nole himself graciously pointed out. If Rafa had lost yesterday as I feared, it would have meant much more than all the previous 7 losses put together and the consequences of that loss would have been deadly even for a mentally supreme sportsman like Rafa. But, there is still some romance left in sports as the tennis Gods didn’t want to barge into the lion’s den. They deemed it fit for the Spaniard to continue his love affair with Monte Carlo.

8 victories on the dot in the same venue. This is something that is rare to all of sports. This victory will address any demons that would have lurked in some tissue in Rafa’s body and the king will remain king on clay for some more time to come. Rome, Madrid, Barcelona and Paris follow next. Rafa needs to snatch the titles at Rome and Madrid away from the Serbian. This victory would be that much needed shot in the arm that would propel the Spaniard a notch higher and faster than he already is.

If he can maintain the same hunger and fitness through the remainder of the clay season, the grand clay sweep can’t be ruled out too. This happened in 2010 when it was Rafa’s grand comeback season after an injury marred 2009 season. Monte Carlo followed by Rome followed by Madrid followed by Paris followed by London followed by New York. Gosh, takes so much effort in just documenting these places.

A repeat of that season seems too far-fetched in 2012 with Novak being the man to beat on all the places mentioned before. But, at times all it takes for a sportsman is a small reinforcement that he can still conquer his biggest rival on the big stage. Not that Rafa needed any proof as such, given the terrific fight he already put up at Melbourne earlier this year. Still, the human mind works in crazy ways and even Rafa is no exception to the workings of the human mind. Yesterday’s victory might just be THAT moment that would make the difference in the final equation as these two young gladiators get ready to add on to their 30 plus matches rivalry to a further plane.

Let’s wait and watch!