Before the Madrid Masters Tournament began, Rafa was quoted as saying that he wanted to win this one for his loyal Spanish fans. On paper he had an easy draw through to the final, no top 10 players to meet on the way. It should have been a piece of cake for him, but he lost [...]

Only a select few tennis teenage phenomenons have achieved a similar result to that of Juan del Potro by winning 4 tournaments in their first full year on the tour. Those four are Rafael Nadal, Leyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. Not bad company for this 6′6” Argentinian who climbed from 81 to 13 [...]