Vamos Rafa!

I have not made any post on tennis since US Open ’09 started. Being at home today, gave me an opportunity to watch Men’s 4th Round, where Rafa met Monfils at Arthur Ashe Stadium , USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

What a pressure game at first, I must say. Rafa tried so hard to take Monfils hit by making too many long shots. Monfils seemed to have more things to offer. Anyhow, Rafa who was known as a player that never gave up to his match, risen and tied the game. And believe me, my heart was pumping and jumping for every points that he tried to steal! Macam haram! Sampai la Monfils won the first set by 7-6.

Second set has revealed that Monfils was not in shape. Unlike Rafa, recovered from his knee and abdomen injury, didn’t show that he still having them in this game. Running back and forth, left and right, he controlled the set by 6-3. At this moment, he started to smack his Spanish chest and confirmed for the third set! Yes! Go Rafa! Go Rafa!

The thing that Monfils didn’t have was the endurance to play for more than 2 sets. Based on his records for US Open, he can only hammered all of his matches up till 4th Round. Vice versa, sape tak tau Rafa HANYA kalah dengan Federer kat Final (well, Fed has won 5 times in a row at US Open, what can I say…).

Patu nampak sangat Monfils tak larat. He was catching breath here and there, siap terbongkok-bongkok. Everytime time out je, dia mesti akan bangun lambat dari Rafa sampai commentator tu kata Rafa should have challenged for that. Haha! Umpire pun ada tegur Monfils sebab took time to start the game.

Come to think of how funny he was on the 1st set (Monfils siap suruh crowd buat bising a.k.a kasi semangat la and jerit-jerit macam dia dah menang), 2nd set and 3rd set dia sangat hilang focus. Muka mintak simpati balut wrist tangan kiri menjadi alasan untuk dia curi masa lagi. Kelakar sungguh!

Yet, another French musketeer ni tanak gak mengaku kalah, selepas another musketeer si Tsonga, tumpas kat tangan Spanish Gonzales. Vamos! Vamos! As of 4th set, Monfils was fighting so hard to claim the points, to level the game. If he loses, Rafa will go for Quarter Final. If he wins, they gonna fight in the 5th and final set! Owh goddd!!! Lagi pressure aku camni!

Another craze to highlight, New Yorkers ni merupakan satu crowd yang sangat maniac. They will stand up and dance whenever a song is played, they gonna shout whenever the player is tossing the ball (nak-nak bila ada Will Farrell datang), they gonna boo the linesman whenever they do it wrong. You won’t have this in Australian Open, LEBIH-LEBIH lagi, kat Wimbledon Open. Nak mampos buat bising depan Queen! Haha! Tapi US Open ni lebih santai la…macam they let loose all the granny knots as if to show the world that they practice democracy la (pirah! Haha!) Tapi, French Open, audience dia lebih unsupportive rasanya, kurang ajar lagi ada la.

…pause…

YES! Rafa menang! Vamos Rafa! Itu lah beza nyer. Ketahanan. Sebab Rafa tak main aces (Roger bleh buat 58 aces in one game ok!), so dia betul-betul kena pandai buat drop shot ke apa ke, untuk menang. And of couse, dia lebih ‘rajin’ dari Federer bila bab amik bola kiri kanan sebab dia akan sungguh-sungguh lari pegi amik. If federer, dia biar je if tak leh amik, tak yah susah-susah, sebab dia main strategy.

For now, let’s do the Span-nis (Spanish Tennis) dancing! (Not hungga hungga!) Murray ngan Roddick dah kalah, harap-harap dapat jumpa Federer kat Final ye Rafa! Biar je Djokovich si Serbian yang pandai immitate orang (tapi memang kelakar bila dia tiru gaya player lain...hahaha!) Owh, tak lupa, tak sabar nak tengok budak baru si Oudin in Women's Quarter Final. She's gonna be BIG if she wins this! (Venus ngan Safina dah kalah, tinggal Serena and Clijsters, who just got back from 2 years off...cuti beranak).