I don't even know what to say.
Still processing my thoughts.
I could give you some meaningless drivel about Rafa being off his game, his balls landing too short, being imposed upon, playing too far back, but the simple fact of the matter is he was outplayed, by a man playing out of his very thick skin...
There's little love lost between these two.
You didn't need to get a look in at the contemptuous handshake at the end of the match, to infer that strangely significant iota of trivia.
The scary part is how infrequently Robin came to the net, the supposed recipe to bringing down Rafa on clay.
There's a strange eerie silence that descended across all of the stadium, that still hasn't lifted despite play being well under way in the Sharapova and Li Na 4th round encounter, the next scheduled match on court.
I heard all of the players came out into the players lounge to witness the biggest upset in clay court history.
Will Roger be buying Robin drinks this evening? Doubt it. I should imagine he wanted this particular win for himself. Maybe he also doesn't want the very large asterisk that will inevitably be placed against his name, should he go on to win this thing.
Can you imagine the emotion laden atmosphere in the changing rooms right now?
Here's hoping the two are kept well apart. A calming presence like Nikolay might be needed, except he's playing Nando out on Lenglen.
Rafa looked as upset as I think I've ever seen him as he left court, refusing to sign any of those annoyingly large tennis balls being waved around in his face.
Can you believe Elena Dementieva predicted this? Or near abouts. Are you in touch with the netherworld girl!? The funny thing is she mentioned how 'physical conditioning' was responsible for her upset yesterday; fitness and Dementieva are virtually synonymous in some lesser known dialects of Russian - so I wasn't taking anything she was saying that seriously, much less a prediction of the greatest clay court upset of all time.
As I say it's pretty meaningless to make any analysis right now, but I will offer up these few post-Rafa thoughts, though you're free to shove them straight through your virtual paper shredder:
-- Once again it's a flat hitter that causes Rafa trouble, deeply pummelling virtually everything that came his way, keeping Rafa pushed well back behind the baseline - and we all know what happens then...
-- Robin Soderling played like he was in league with forces not entirely of this world, somewhat similarly to Phillip Kohlschreiber yesterday. The commentary team were trying to think of a player left in the draw that hits so flat, so aggressively and and so consistently off both wings: No joy. Zip. Nada. Or should I say Nada(l).
-- And he did it with the UGLIEST forehand I've seen in around 20 years worth of tennis viewing. I hope that colour expresses just how ugly I think it is.
-- I can't help thinking that the mutual dislike between these two subtly played on Rafa's mind. The only parallel I can think of is Roger losing to Djoko - a loss that caused him to break his racquet in Miami. No love lost there either. It's just that as the match progresses, and more and more balls whizz past you, the thought that 'I really don't wanna lose to this particular guy', just has to prey on your mind. And that only makes the pressure worse. I would say Roger's loss at Wimbledon last year was a little less painful, coming as it did against Rafa, a guy he likes and respects. I believe he said as much when he lost the #1 ranking to him.
-- And on that subject, Roger, if you don't win this thing now -- with Rafa AND Djoko out -- I might just reconsider that bandwagon arrangement you and I have...
-- It's either that dislike of Robin or the pink shirt wot did him in. I really shouldn't make light of this. Au Revoir Rafa. My heart goes out to you.
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