I'm still reeling from Rafa's loss last night to Andy Murray. Having picked Murray to win the tournament, I wasn't the least bit surprised that the Scotsman defeated the Spaniard, but the way it went down left me feeling quesy. Murray has matured into a player that should absolutely be winning major titles, his game clearly superior to Nadal's on the Australian Open surface. He had an aggressive game plan and executed it perfectly. After Murray won the second set, the writing was on the wall for all to read. But then Rafa got hurt. He tweaked his knee hitting a forehand winner and immediately called for the trainer and walked to the bench. After an injury timeout to receive treatment, Nadal came back out and tried to break Murray, but failed and retired from the match right then and there. For the very first time, I got the sinking feeling that Rafael Nadal may never again be the player he was from the beggining of his career through his thrilling Australian Open title last year. Since the retirement of Andre Agassi, Rafa has been my guy. I root for him over all others. But it makes me physically ill to consider that he could be on the downside of a brilliant career at 23. For the sae of the entire tennis world, heal that knee, Rafa. This vamos is for you.
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