Monte Carlo: Rafa Powers His Fifth Through a Gutsy Nole

What a match and what a victory!

Untiring, relentless, gritty and adamant pursuit of the goal can be best described for Rafa's performance today and though he lost a set, the way he demolished Nole in the third to win the Masters was the sweetest compensation.

The scoreline was a bit different from the usual Rafa clay "Perfect straighters," and he wasn't the Rafa that the world is generally used to seeing in a clay court. But the manner in which he took home all the glory due to his perseverance and hard work was the best bit of the match.

And it must be noted that this was his toughest conquest this year at Monte Carlo. After destroying his earlier opponents as mere skittles, Rafa came across a new in-form Djokovic; a Djokovic who played better in Monte Carlo than he played anywhere else this season.

To give him some credit, Nole did manage to grab a couple of break points in the second set to wrench it from Rafa 6-2, and had he saved his own break of serve in the fourth game of the third set, the match would have probably extended longer.

Both the players matched each other point for point, rally for rally so much so that almost every shot was pure and sheer brilliance. No free chances were given and each player had to fight tooth and nail for every point.

This is where Rafa showed his mettle and class. Today's final was not about "Whether the best clay courter can do it once again" but  rather a mind game: At certain times during the course of the match, Rafa was clearly struggling with his rhythm and yet ultimately he emerged as the winner!

Why so, it was because he was mentally confident about his victory. In spite of the second set loss, he was able to nudge Djokovic into a corner forcing him to commit errors and the more Nole tried to retaliate, the more he found himself paying the price.

Rafa's body language displayed no sense of anxiety or nervousness. He was calm and cool, not to mention patience: While Djokovic was fidgety after every point; Rafa appeared to be concentrating and channelising on just a single track agenda.

Novak Djokovic could have dealt with the physical aspect but the unseeing he was ill-equipped with; his post match speech conveyed that when he said,"Congrats to Rafa and his team, what to say, you guys are amazing" or words to that effect.

When a dent is caused physically, it's easier to mend it but if it is a psychological trauma it takes a hell lot of time to recuperate and Rafa's current solid form is an evidence of the psychological mark.

And in Rafa's case, so far this year there has been a lot of tight spots from where he has managed to wriggle out; his haters might proclaim it as "Winner's luck" but I wish to view it as his spirit and the effect that he has on his opponents. Its not fear, its a sort of anxiety that overrules their playing capacity and their entire focus.

Midway till the last year, Federer had enjoyed that sort of domination over his rivals, beating them not just in a match or a slam but defeating them mentally, putting the fear of God in their minds; and almost a year later Rafa seems to be doing the same thing, though a notch better. Unfortunately for me as a Federer fan, I find my favourite included among the overruled marring my appreciation for the Spaniard!