1. The Fall and Rise of the Spaniard Spartan
The Return of Rafa, The Kingof Clay reignssupreme...came acrossthisheadlineonmanyof the sports
sectioninnewspapersandblogsaround. However,the questionwhichstill stands isthatwill the
Spaniardbe able to rule inFrance once again?
Honestlyspeaking,thenwhile writingthisarticle,nobodycanbe happier thanme.The reasonfor thisis
because Iam a hardcore Rafa fanand he is a role model tome.The wayhe usedto play whenhe was in
hisprime wasso fantasticto watch.He still hasthe one of the bestFH inthe businessandwheneverhe
playsthat,you can't resistyourself fromsaying'Wow'!!Suchisthe charismaof thisplayerthathe simply
dazzlesyouwithhisshot making.Apartfromthis,the one factor whichusedto separate Rafael Nadal
fromhis league of playersishisnevergive upattitude.He will force hisoppositionforplayingone to
twoextrashots to wina point.He will runlike amachine fromone court to anotherto fetchthe ball and
put itback in the play.
Thiswas the Rafa, whichwe usedtosee more oftenthannot. But fromthe last couple of years,he has
losthispanache somewhat.We have notseenhimdominatingthe matcheslikethe wayhe usedto do.
It was mainlydue tothe fact of the injuryhe sufferedinhisknees;he wasn'table tomove acrossthe
courts as fluentlyashe didbefore.Now,if youcutout a person'sstrength,he isboundto suffer.In
Rafa's case,hisstrengthwere hislegs.Andonce thatwere hampered,howeverhardhe tried,he still
couldn'tplayto hisbest.
Also,the likesof DjokovicandMurray and Wawrinkahave come throughthe ranks andplayed
exceptionaltennisinthe lastfewyears.Mostly,it'sbeenthe Djoker'sdominationoverthe men'stennis.
He has beenthe undisputablekingwhojustkeepsonwinningonwhateversurface he plays.So,this
past week,whenhe lostinthe secondround(whichwasjustshocking) of the Monte CarloMasters, it
openedthe doorforRafa to winthe title fora mind-boggling9thtime.
AlthoughDjokerwasout,itwasn't an easyroadfor Nadal to winthe crown.In the quarters,he was up
againstStan the animal.Not manywouldhave givenhimthe chance towinagainstthe defending
Frenchopenchampion.
To everyone'ssurprise,RafabreezedpastStaninthe firstset,winningit6-1. He didn'tdoanything
special inthatone and it wasmainlybecause of the unforcederrorsthatWawrinkacommitted,washe
able to winthe firstsetso comfortably. Forehandsandbackhandswere exchangedinthe secondset
and the Spaniardhad tobattle it outagainstthe Swiss.Inthe end,itwas a satisfyingvictoryforRafa.
The most pleasingaspectof hisgame beingthe wayhe movedaroundthe court.
Nextupwas the epicclashagainstthe World no.2 Andy Murray. Rafa holdsa staggeringwinrecordof 7-
1 againstAndyonclay. Thisisenoughto prove his sovereignty againstthe Scotonthissurface.The start
was notas good as he wouldhave liked,losing2-6inthe openingset.The Scotplayedsome sparkling
shotsand didn'tallowNadal toplayhis'A' game.The nextsetwasmuch tighterandRafa gave Murray a
run for hisownmoney.There were the long,exhaustingrallies,whichare a trademark of Rafa’sgame
whenhe isplayingwell.Inthe end,the Spaniardmanaged toholdonto hisservice andwonthe second
set6-4.
The final setwas all Nadal.Itappearedtobe if Murray had lost the steam while onthe otherhand,Rafa
isplayingin top-gear.Terrificcomebackfrom himafterlosingthe firstsetandconvincinglywinningthe
nexttwo.

2. The Fall and Rise of the Spaniard Spartan
As a resultof twohuge back-to-backwins,Rafawasin the 100th
final of hiscareer– a staggeringrecord
that one!- Andto winit,he neededtogetpast the sturdyFrenchman, Monfils.The same Monfils,who
defeatedhisfellowcountrymenTsongainthe semisandwaslookinginred-hotform.Rafaknew thathe
was infor a fightandto get past Monfils,he needed tobe at the top of hisgame.It was justsizzling
tennisfromboththe playersrightfromthe start. Forehandswere exchangedbetweenthe twoandit
was like rocketsfiringfromone endtothe other.To summarize the match,itwasbreakafter breakafter
break.Both the playerswere justnotable toholdon to theirservesandas a result,the firsttwosets
wentuntil 12 games(7-5, 5-7).
The third set,however,wassimilartothatof the semifinal.Rafaonce againdominatedandthistime
round,capitalize oneachandeverybreakthat he got. There waseverythingat display;the mightyFHs,
the drop shots,andthe approachtowardsthe nets. Itfeltlike thatoldRafais back inthe house.
Afterseeinghimplaylikethis, one thingissure that he will be a toughnut tocrack at the upcoming
French Open.Djokovic,are youlistening?