Rafa Bags 6th Roland Garros Title

Despite the series of defeat, Rafa made sure he bagged the French Open title for the 6th time, making him at par with former World No 1 Bjorn Borg. Although he had some problems with John Isner from the start he was able to do better in the next games. He was told by Uncle Toni that he wasn't going to win the Cup that way...and Rafa needed to relax. As the video shows, Rafa has really felt the pressure although even if he lost the French Open title he would still remain the top-seeded.

Roger Federer though has been doing good. In fact he broke Djokovic's winning streak when he won the semis. It's just that Federer has not won over Rafa in Roland Garros but even Rafa has said that yopu never know. He came into the game knowing he might win or lose but did everything to win. But if Roger have won...he would have been considered the greatest player having won at least 2 championships in of each of the four majors. Rafa's victory made him still a part of the equation.

Either way, I think one of the winner in this game was the sports apparel worn by the 2 players. One can easily notice that both Rafa and Roger were wearing the iconic swoosh on all their sports gear, from the headband to the shirts, shorts,socks down to their shoes and jackets, differing only in color with Federer in red and Nadal in blue.

Rafa Slides Past Soderling into Semis

Defending champion and World No.1, Rafa Nadal defeated Swedish fifth seed Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (7/3) on Wednesday afternoon to reach the French Open semi-finals and improve his career record there to 43-1. The top seeded Spaniard, hoping to emulate the great Bjorn Borg as a six-time Paris champion (the most in history), will tackle Andy Murray for a place in the final.

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(via RafaelNadal.com)

Rafa Improving Play at Roland Garros 2011

Some tennis experts are saying that its going to be Federer and Djokovic on the finals...semi-finals may be but it's too soon to say that it's going to be them at the last match. Even Rafa is saying he has been playing better.

Am scared though because Soderling, whom he plays against today, is one of the best players on red clay and the only man to beat him at Roland Garros. But if Rafa wins over 5th seeded Soderling then he only has to worry about Murray. Rafa definitely looks better unlike the matches before when his sports apparel was super wet with sweat, like he wasn't used to playing and tired easily. Soderling is much more dangerous on the red clay, but then so is Nadal. And so where this one promises to be a real nail-biter, Nadal is expected to reign supreme and in four gruelling sets to book his last four berth. I truly hope what tennis experts are saying are true.

The funny thing is Rafa has been hearing a lot of criticisms from people and he has pointed this out:

I play six finals in a row this year. I am having a very good year. One player is doing better than me. That’s all. But I’m in good position to finish the year in a very high position of the ranking.

I guess fans and people around him has set the standards so high for him that even when he is playing well, though not at par with his playing before, he gets criticized.

Those who know better still believe he is World No 1. Here is what Soderling has to say regarding Rafa:

"No, seriously, he's a great player, I think everybody knows what he can do. He won here so many times."

Both players possess destructive weapons and great playing prowess which they can deploy against each other. And though Soderling is an erratic player who can floor any player on his day and Nadal may not be playing at his best (that is compared to last year) but he is definitely improving with every match and is still the favorite to emerge victorious from the clash.

Djokovic on the other hand has more free time and more reason to smile since Fabio Fognini of Italy withdrew with a torn left thigh muscle giving him ample time to rest.

As a Rafa fan, Djokovic may be hungry for this win but Rafa is certainly doing everything to hold on to the title. And I am personally keeping all my fingers crossed that he does.