Rafa's Indian Wells title defense ends.. but the future looks bright !

Hey everyone,

After a promising start at the IW 1000 Masters Tennis tournament, Rafael Nadal has lost to Milos Raonic in a grueling match in the heat of California. And with it melted my hopes of a Rafa vs Roger showdown. Rafa started the match in a very lively fashion and it looked like he'd run away with this match in no time. Every stroke of his had sting in it and Raonic had no answers. He broke Raonic's serve that wasn't broken throughout the tournament till today's match in the 3rd game of the match. Rafa then held off a stiff challenge to win the 1st set 6-4. 

It all seemed to be working just as well for Rafa in the 2nd set too, but he couldn't find the break of serve despite holding break points on quite  few occasions. To his credit, Raonic brought his A-game and dictated points with his serve in those situations. With neither player willing to surrender on their service games, the 2nd set went to a tie break which was a tight and tense affair throughout. Both players had their chances to take the tie-break. Rafa had his share of match points. But it was Raonic who kept fighting and closed out the set by winning the tie-break 12-10. The third set was the same as the 2nd one with both players trading blows. Sadly, Rafa surrendered his serve in the penultimate game of the 3rd set and there wasn't much chance of winning it back then. Raonic sealed the set and the game with a service hold. 

Ironically, Rafa was better than Raonic in the stats over all of the 3 sets, except for the Ace count. But he ended up losing the contest. This was Rafa's 1st major challenge after the Australian Open to gauge himself and I'm very glad that he did give a good account of himself. Rafa did show glimpses of the Rafa I have seen for years.  He did fight for every point. He seemed focused. But it was the inconsistency in his execution that let him down today. He played brilliantly to win a point, but then followed it up with an uncharacteristic error each time to allow his opponent back into the game. He just couldn't sustain his usual level of pressure on his opponent for long periods and that has cost him. But this was just his 1st challenge. Rafa now moves to Miami for the next 1000 Masters tournament, hopefully with lessons learnt and a stronger desire to get closer to his "phenomiNADAL" levels. vamos Rafa..vamos!

Thanks for reading & cheers! See you soon. 

-yps05