Sunday Morning Quarterbacking Sunday, September 04, 2005 Now that we have gotten over the "shock" of Rafa's to loss to American James Blake in the third round, we can analyze it better. First, we must admit, even if just to ourselves, that the loss was not a shock. As Rafa readily admits, he did not play very well in the first two rounds. It was enough to beat two much lower-ranked opponents, but we all realized he was going to have to play better to beat an in-form Blake on Blake's favorite surface. He raised his level in the first two sets against Blake, taking the second set, but unfortunately, Blake upped the ante himself. His forehand was firing all day, hitting 53 winners to Rafa's 29. He imposed his game on Rafa, instead of the other way around. If anything was surprising, it was Rafa's lack of self-belief in the third and fourth sets. Yes, he was being beaten, but usually he's able to dig in and play better, or make his opponent work harder. On clay, he has the confidence to do that, but he isn't quite there on faster surfaces yet. Some people are pointing to this and saying, "He's a claycourt specialist. He'll never be anything else." One poster on a messageboard suggested it's time for Rafa and his coach to go back to the "drawing board," as he's nothing more than a pusher and retriever right now. It's a bit too early to say that a guy who just turned 19 is never going to get any better. As Brad Gilbert said recently, "I've never seen a player who was complete at age 19. Time is on his side." And it is. Regardless, I think most players would sacrifice their all-court games for Rafa's "pusher and retriever" one if they could post in their careers the results Rafa has posted in just one year. He has won to date nine titles, including a slam and three masters events. Not only did he win a hardcourt title, but it was a big one (AMS Montreal). He also reached the final in Miami, and the fourth round of the Australian Open, where he had Lleyton Hewitt on the ropes. He isn't going away. To the contrary, he is going to get better. Players say they learn more from their losses than they do their wins. Rafa will learn from this. He learned from the loss to Roger Federer in Miami that when he gets an opportunity to close out a match, he better take it, or he may not get another chance. He put that experience to good use in Monte Carlo when he was in nearly the same situation, and he thought to himself, "It's Miami all over again." Instead of panicking, he dug in and closed out the match. It's been a long year for Rafa, with many successes. We are so used to seeing him win that we sometimes forget how young he is, and that his game is still a work in progress. The loss yesterday doesn't mean he won't win the U.S. Open. It just means he wasn't ready to win this year. He has the fall to develop his game on hardcourts, and it won't be long before he's back on the slower hardcourts of Australia, where he'll be ready to do some damage. Vamos, Rafa!!! posted by Susan @ 4:04 PM