Roger kicks Rafa's butt at the Olympics

There's a headline to put a smile on the face of all Federer fans. But of course it was only Rafa Arevalo. It was pretty comfortable for Federer although the once mighty forehand continues to mis-fire at times.

I also watched a recording of Hewitt v Nadal. It reminded me again about the small margin between victory and defeat in tennis. Hewitt didn't play badly - quite the opposite - but Nadal was ferocious. With his forehand down the line hurting Hewitt time and time again.

Plus Nadal not only got balls that most players would struggle to retrieve, his 'gets' often turned into outrageous winners.

In the first set almost every game went to deuce but when it mattered Rafa had the edge and took the set 6-1, a harsh looking scoreline for Lleyton.

Hewitt gave it all but it was never going to be enough.

BTW - this was the first Olympic tennis I've ever seen. Amazing but true. I was on honeymoon in the US 4 years ago, Sydney and Atlanta were too late at night and Sky+ had yet to be invented.

So I've never really got Olympic tennis until today. And now i like it a lot!

Watching Nadal and Hewitt warm up in their national colours in front of their fans brought home to me how big an occasion it is and important this is to these guys.

That said handing out a medal for coming third still feels a bit lame!