Rafa broke Fed's streak of six straight years as the players' choice for the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award. So can Rafa fans use the same "Oh yeah? If he's such a bad sportsman how come the players voted for him? Surely they know better than we do" argument to defend their boy? Yeah, probably not.
Oh, and please tell me it came down to Tomas' vote:
“I was trying to just decide between two names, him and Roger. I just decide to go for Rafa. I think he really deserves it. Just was a little bit disappointing after what I read in London, when I play against Roger and beat him. He was a little bit complaining about how he was injured and stuff like that. It was just kind of surprise for me. So maybe that was just the reason I vote for Rafa.”
*ear piercing hawk cry* Berdy grew claws.
The comment is particularly apropos given Rafa's post-match comments on whether fatigue affected his play against Fed:
"I'm not going to say I lost the match because I was tired. I feel I lost because I played against a very good Roger Federer on one of his favorite surfaces. And when he's playing like this, it's very difficult to stop him, no?"
It's never too early to start campaigning.