BY HOWARD FENDRICH
PARIS (AP) — The noise was loud and relentless, a chorus of thousands of belting out “ Ra-fa! Ra-fa! ” whenever their guy found the occasional moment of brilliance of the sort he has conjured up so often at the French Open and elsewhere through the years.
The 15,000 or so on hand roared their support when Rafael Nadal stepped out into Court Philippe Chatrier on Monday, voices echoing under the closed roof of a place he called “magical for me.” When the 14-time champion at Roland Garros approached the net for the prematch coin toss. When he took his swings during the warmup. And, especially, when he whipped his trademark topspin lefty forehand or chopped his two-fisted cross-court backhand or placed a volley perfectly to claim a point.
The problem for Nadal, and for his fans, is that there were not nearly enough such points for
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