Monte Carlo thoughts, and some recent Roger pics

A few thoughts on how things are going at Monte Carlo. For me this week has been all about where things stand with Rafa and Nole. In my mind by Sunday afternoon we would have a good idea of where we're at in the Nadal-Djokovic saga. It Nadal was able to pull out a win, that would show that he has the determination to fight through and find a way to finally get past this guy after not winning a title in over 10 months. And if Djokovic were to win once again in the place Nadal has owned the last 7 years, well, that would definitely say a lot. However, to me, that has changed due to the death of Novak's grandfather this week. I'm sure you are all aware that he learned the news that his grandfather who he was very close to passed away just hours before his first match. Great effort to play in spite of his grief! But while he was able to get a 3 set win against Dolgopolov, it wasn't the Djokovic we have gotten used to seeing. There were many errors and he was fortunate Dolgopolov wasn't playing his best in the 2nd and 3rd sets. It was an emotional win for him and you could tell how much it meant to him.

Today there were still many errors against Haase, and though the score says it was an easy win you could tell he was still distracted, for obvious reasons. Tomorrow will be a challenge against Berdych, if Berdych is in the form he was in today, even if Novak can regain his focus. But even if he makes it to the final, if he is still obviously distracted from his personal loss, does the win by Nadal mean much? To me it doesn't. I mean, of course it would be a huge accomplishment to win a title 8 times in a row. But as to whether he has solved the Djokovic problem, in my opinion that will only be shown when Novak is fully focused. My hope is that he will be able to focus his attention on winning this tournament in memory of his grandpa, which would be a very special win indeed. Here's a picture of him with his grandpa and one of his trophies:

And even though none of this is about Roger, for me tennis is always about Roger, so I have to include a few recent pictures of him, one from a hockey game in Zurich, one from a recent practice session, and a couple from a commercial he's working on: