Of Random Thoughts & Musings

It pains me to see that Rafael Nadal, World No. 1, had to lose to the ranked 16 Simon Gilles during the semi-finals of the Madrid Masters Series. It was a battle for dear life, no doubt. To say that Nadal did nothing would be unfair. He gave it his all. In all fairness to Simon, he played well too. What made the little difference was luck.

Nadal lost by merely two points. The final score in the 3rd set tie-breaker was 6-8, in favor of Simon. To top it all, the last point was really controversial. The big passing forehand of Nadal was called in but Simon challenged it. Heavens was really on Simon’s side as the ball just missed the line by roughly an inch. Knowing that the Official Review would have the final say, Nadal just had to call it a game, come to the net and graciously congratulate the more deserving winner of the both of them.

I did not see the live coverage of the match because Star Sports had to cover the Barclays Premier League instead. So, during the wee hours of the morning, I have to make do of the live scores in the official website of the tournament, which by the way, took time before scores were updated.

I was so confident Nadal would win. I even told a friend that the match would prove to be easy for Nadal, because Simon was unseeded. Then the most unexpected thing happened, the World No. 1 lost by a mere two-points. It seems as if my world crumbled. I could not believe it.

During the delayed telecast of the match the next day, I had to convince myself to watch it. Just to see what really happened. I had to battle with myself because watching the game would only break my heart once again. So I had to muster all my strength knowing that despite the loss, Nadal would still be No. 1.

And I saw what happened. It was not a lack of effort, nor of fantastic shots, nor of hometown support. It was just not meant to be. Too many times, the ball caught the net and fall short on Nadal’s side. All Rafa that could do was watch in dismay. Simon respectfully asked for apologies everytime this happens, as tennis etiquette requires.

The good news to all of this is the fact that Rafa maintains his current world ranking until the end of th season. There was nothing Federer can do to regain the No.1 status, at least for this year. Rafa, once again, made history, by being the first Spaniard to have the top spot by the end of the season.

Anyway, there are still two tournaments, the Paris Masters Series and the Shanghai Masters Cup. I know that the loss would be because Rafa would win if not both, but at least one of these tournaments.. Vamos Rafa!

BTW, did I mention that Rafa was injured since his 3rd round match with Gasquet? Well….

8 Responses to “World No. 1 Till the End of the Season”

Leave a Reply