Rafa out of US Open

Sorry that I'm releasing this news late. It's taken me a while to get my head around this. Today at 2pm GMT, Rafa announced via Facebook his decision to withdraw from the US Open 2014. The full statement is below.

I am very sorry to announce I won’t be able to play at this year’s US Open a tournament on which I’ve played 3 consecutive finals in my last participations. I am sure you understand that it is a very tough moment for me since it is a tournament I love and where I have great memories from fans, the night matches, so many things… Not much more I can do right now, other than accept the situation and, as always in my case, work hard in order to be able to compete at the highest level once I am back.

The news is obviously very disappointing for Rafa fans. However, I had a feeling that this news was coming. First he postponed the decision further, which I presume was due to unsatisfactory test results, and then he was still practicing with a splint even today. 

No Rafa = No tennis.

The news was not a shock, but it still hit me harder than I though it would. The North American hard court masters withdrawals were bad enough, but having to withdraw from the USO was devastating. Rafa will lose 2,000 points as he was defending champion.

This affects the rankings. Over the last 3 tournaments, Rafa was defending champion in all of them, so he will lose 4,000 points overall. This closes the gap between Rafa and Roger. 

The number 1 priority is health, of course. I do not want him playing until he is pain free, and he doesn't want to either. It's been a very unlucky year, first we had the issue with the back at the start of the year. Then, around RG and Wimbledon, his health was getting to a point where it wasn't an issue. All of a sudden the wrist injury occurred. 

The return has not yet been assigned a date, the only thing we can go by is 'soon'. I am confident that he will return for the Asian Hardcourt Swing. However, we cannot predict. I'm not saying that this injury is on the same scale as the knee, but its the same kind of issue. The recovery looks quick at first but there are complications, and more tournaments can get cancelled as time goes on. Rafa is still practising hard, so i doubt the injury layoff will be that long. 

Rafans reacted today, and the feeling is mutual. We are all disappointed, but we agree that health is the most important thing. 

For me personally this is disappointing because I am due to fly out to NYC this weekend. Unfortunately I will not be visiting the Open, but I did my research, and it turns out Rafa and I would be staying in the same hotel (well, very likely to be.) A selfish part of me is disappointed about that, but the whole picture shows that it is not the thing to focus on. 

We now have to wait for Rafa's return… once again. We know that injury makes Rafa stronger, 2013 anyone? The back injury earlier this year was an exception, but that is likely because it occurred in the middle of a slam final… 

Keep strong Rafans, its not an easy time for us, but together we will support each other and come through it stronger, just like Rafa.

Love to you all. 

Grace x

@rafanadaladdict

Wimbledon Men's Final 2014- OVERVIEW

Wow, that was incredible. The best mens Wimbledon final since 2008. A match full of incredible moments, and that 4th set comeback from the legend that is Roger Federer. PeRFection.

Both players were incredible, Novak fighting and Roger hanging on.

After just under 4 hours, Novak won the championship 6-7 6-4 7-6 5-7 6-4. A scoreline to remember.

Roger won the first set tiebreak, fighting to the end, serving beautifully. The next two sets were won by Novak, he was really firing up, which gave him a lot of ability to produce some breathtaking passing shots. Then, in my opinion, one of the best sets of tennis I've ever seen, the 4th set happened. Novak seemed invincible, gaining championship point. I thought it was all over, but no. On the other side of the next was Roger Federer. Roger won 4 straight games and took the set 7-5.

The whole of centre court was backing the 7 time champion, and when the first 5 set Wimbledon final since 2009 became a reality, the atmosphere was incredible. The 5th set was very close. Roger held at 4-4, saving 3 break points. Novak then won his service game and broke to gain his 7th grand slam title. He then proceeded to eat the grass, which was a little worrying.

An incredible match, which I'm not likely to forget. Novak Djokovic will now overtake Rafa as number 1 so will enter the US hard court swing as the top seed. The rankings are very close however, with only 460 points between them. This is good news for Rafa fans however, as there is still only 3 slams to 'catch up' on to equal Federer's slam record. Rafa performs equally as good, if not better, as the number 2 seed, so all in all, I'm fine with the situation.

No more grass for another year, now its time for the hard courts. Bring it on.