6 days, many cramps and a few fist pumps later, Rafa remains very much a contender for Melbourne 2014. He's battled hard to reach the fourth round, but his performance so far has been very impressive.
Before the tournament started, the consensus was he would go early or go deep. Rafa's survived the first few rounds and is now just 3 sets away from the second week. Good news.
A first round encounter with Mikhail Youzhny was a dangerous match up, but our nerves soon turned to confidence, as he easily progressed with a 6-3 6-2 6-2 win. The rust we saw in Doha was clearly reduced and we saw a lot of good glimpses of the in- form Rafa we like to see.
A second round qualifier turned out to give us a quite the shock. Tim Smyczek from America didn't seem like much of a challenge, but damn, were we wrong. Rafa won the first set well (6-3) but it all seemed to go downhill from there. He showed signs of weakness and dizziness in the second set and onwards. It was incredibly worrying. He continued to go off court after each set, apparently to throw up. He lost the next two sets 6-3 7-6. At this point it seemed like the match was only going to travel in one direction, and that was away from us. An unhealthy, clearly very unwell Rafa was not good news. Then, something magical happened. I knew Rafa would fight as he always does, but there was no way I was expecting the dizzy and tired Nadal to come back in the way that he did. In an incredible battle, he won the next two sets 6-3 7-5 to win the match. Rafael's mental strength and resilience was tested again that night, and he performed beautifully. He never fails to impress me.
Even though he was through to the next round, the relief was slightly overpowered with worry. There was only a day of rest before the next match. However, he took it easy and recovered very well. In the 3rd round match against Dudi Sela, Rafa won 6-1 6-0 7-5. It was fantastic to see him playing so well and into the fourth round.
As the matches go on, I want the title more and more. We have a very long and tricky road ahead, so nothing is certain whatsoever. I'm delighted Rafa is into the fourth round, it just shows hard work pays off. I'm not happy with just that though, I aspire to see him fall to the ground once more and pick up another title.
Every now and then I have to think sensibly and realise just how difficult it's going to be. Let's take each match as it comes.
Rafa's next match is against Anderson, who is playing very well at the moment. It's going to be a tough one for sure.
I'll be awake at 3am ready to watch and tweet the whole thing, so join me on @_phenomenadal_
Melbourne has been wonderful so far. I've really enjoyed the first week, and I'm excited to see what the next brings.
Vamos.
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