Rafa is OUT...Who's next?

If Eiffel Tower had fallen down, or if the Leaning tower of Pisa had leaned further, I would not have been so shocked than what shocked me yesterday.

The unbeatable Rafael Nadal was shown the door at Philippe Chatrier Centre Court of Roland Garros by an unheralded 23rd seed Robin Soderling of Sweden yesterday in the 4th round of French Open.

The rectangle piece of clay which had become Rafa’s property where he owned every inch of the surface was finally bought over. No trespassing was allowed on it for the last 4 years and offenders were severely punished by the man the tennis world thought will never be able to defeat on this surface. But that equation changed yesterday and the result proved that Rafa is after all a human on the Roland Garros centre court.

Enter Robin Soderling. The 23rd seed walked in to the court, took his 4th round match as just another one, played the best match of his life and beat Rafa to hand over the biggest ever gift to Federer. We will know in the next seven days, whether the Swiss ace will make the most of this precious gift or in turn hands it over to Andy Murray.

The Roland Garros centre court yesterday had everything except Rafael Nadal!

A touch of magic, a speck of inevitability, a glimmer of hope, the joy of victory, a veneer of sadness…a plethora of class from the victor and the vanquished.

Life, often is karmic, comes a full circle. As opposed to the popular prediction of a three setter victory for Nadal, little did one contemplate a four-set blowout for the world No.1. The problem with blowout is, it is either excruciatingly painful or a connoisseur’s delight, depending on which side of the net you are on.

Quite a masterpiece it was, breathtaking clay court tennis showcased by Robin Soderling on the grandest of stages. May be Soderling didn’t want to let go his fellow country man and his idol Bjorn Borg’s record to be erased by Rafael Nadal this year—if that’s not motivation enough, what else could be? It was one of those rare instances, where the result of the match did not pivot on what the opponent did.

As Soderling muscled, intimidated, exasperated, and chased Rafa to submission, he reduced Mr. Invincible to an entity we have not seen in a long time.

He reduced Rafa to a little, lost, edgy, desperate, and indecisive tennis player, who actually did not know what to do on court. Rafa tried everything in his arsenal, but he had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide; and he was…beaten. Beaten in 4 sets with the score that read 6–2, 6–7 (2), 6–4, 7–6 (2).

As painful as it is, one has to wonder—did Rafa’s dream of conquering Bjorn Borg’s record faded forever? The answer is Yes.

Rafael Nadal now possibly cannot wait to board the flight to Heathrow, London.

I dont want to cry Fed!

The whole world is busy stocking up face masks as a precautionary measure to stay off possible swine flu epidemic. I am not. I am in fact stocking facial tissues instead because in a few days time the three things that I hate passionately will come and haunt me sizing me down to tears. The three things I mean are “Clay”, “Rafael Nadal against Roger Federer” and “Rafael Nadal on Clay”. I do have developed a bad habit of breaking down and have picked it up from Roger Federer. Yes I do cry and give Roger a good company whenever he breaks down. At the same time, I am hoping against the hope that my facial tissues won’t come of use this time in the hope that Federer beats Nadal at Roland Garros . So the next couple of weeks starting next week, I am doubtless I see my emotions flare, witness happiness and soak in sadness etc as the French Open at Roland Garros gets underway.

There was some respite coming Roger’s way last week when the Swiss Master beat the world no.1 comprehensively in straight sets in Madrid Masters Tournament. Although the surface was clay, the court was too fast paced unlike the one at Roland Garros and was to Roger’s liking where he loved the ball coming onto his racquet nicely as he always does. He made full use of the newly laid Monola Santana Centre Court conditions and beat the tired Rafael Nadal in the finals to win his 15th Masters tournament needing 2 more to break the world record of 17 Masters wins held by Andre Agassi.

While it’s good to have a win against Nadal on clay before going into the Roland Garros, Roger knows that it means nothing as he has experienced before. Roger beat Rafa in Hamburg in 2007 on clay before going into the French Open only to be beaten in the finals a couple of weeks later by the King of Roland Garros.

To add to his agony, the times have changed from then to now. Roger was focused and strong mentally then. Now, the super-cool, fiercely focused, unbeatable-in-big-matches Roger Federer – has been behaving strangely. Like losing his cool, losing his focus, and like losing big matches as easily as he once won them.

In fact, his behaviour has become as retro as those knitted cardigans and blazers that he dons at Wimbledon, taking back to the days when he did stupid things as well as anyone; when in his own words: "I was throwing my racket like you can't imagine … I mean, I was getting kicked out of practice sessions when I was 16. I used to talk much more, too, and scream on court."

The lack of a proper coach is also showing up with every passing failure and every little emotional convulsion, be it a smashed racquet, recourse to tears or dejected press conference. He sacked Peter Lundgren as his coach in 2003 and then, two years ago, parted with the astute Australian Tony Roche.

Despite all these problems, I do hope the Swiss Ace makes it to the finals this time surpassing the resurgent Andy Murrays, Verdascos, and Djokovics to beat his two nightmarish nemesis, clay and Rafael Nadal.

We will know in two weeks time whether Federer wins or did I use my facial tissues.