Roger and Rafa - Round Two

As expected, Rafa won the Spanish leg of the Match for Africa exo mini-tour, which is a perfect result. This may be the only time you will ever hear me say that a Roger loss is a perfect result, so cherish it! If one guy had won both the exos, people might start to talk about these matches as some kind of foreshadowing for Australia. I don't think these matches are about competitive tennis at all.

No. They're about charity, they're about entertainment, and I'm a bit convinced they're about Roger and Rafa bro-ing out together.

I said this yesterday, but I cannot get over how awesome it is to have these two dudes at the top of tennis. Seriously, you could not hope for two nicer guys. These matches weren't about competitive tennis - they weren't about Slams or ranking points or the rivalry or anything - but there were about tennis as a sport: as something sporting, about being a good sport, about using what you have to help others. There are not many players who would give up time in their off season - especially this close to Christmas - to play some exos. But these two...

We saw it at Hit for Haiti - and Hit for Haiti redux, where the bromance was thrown into sharp relief by the animosity seething between their predecessors, Sampras and Agassi. And now we're seeing it again. We're seeing that sport doesn't have to be about hatred and that competition can be healthy. And that that the competition inherent in sport can be used to do huge amounts of good.

Roger and Rafa have raised enormous amounts of money with these exhibitions. And hey dudes, if you want to do another Hit for Haiti-esque charity event right before the Australian Open again... I WILL BE THERE.

Roger and Rafa - Round One

From the bottom of my heart, I would like to say THANK YOU to Roger and Rafa for having these exos. Quite apart from all the money that they have raised for disadvantaged children in Africa, they have given me something to write about for the next couple of days.

I don't even want to pretend that the tennis played in these exos means anything. Roger has won the one in Zurich and it's a pretty sweet bet that Rafa will win in Spain. I don't want to say that they're scripted or anything - but, yeah, this is hardly the time to bring out any ultimate tennis weapons. These are matches meant to entertain, matches to make people feel good, and I think that that goal has definitely been reached.

So if we're not going to talk about the matches, what are we going to talk about?

Well, it's pretty easy, really... it's time for a Fedal love fest. Yes, another one.

Seriously, how lucky are we to live in an age where we have both Roger and Rafa at the top of the sport? One of them would be a blessing, two... well, it's more than a mitzvah. It's hard to think of two more sporting, awesome guys. And despite the fact that they have one of the most intense rivalries in sport, it doesn't exist off court. On court, they are fierce competitors. Off court... they have a rad bromance. And anyone who saw those pictures Roger took yesterday of him all excited off to meet his mate Rafa... well. There's no doubting that these two were, in some senses, Meant To Be.