Well well. Of course the outcome was like totally predicted; Nadal IS back, perhaps not at his best-ever, but certainly good enough to reclaim his title of undisputed King of Clay in 2017.
Reaching no less than FOUR finals on HC already should have been a tell-tale for anyone who still doubted him.
As such: congrats to Rafa, and get that #10 tomorrow! (I'll be mighty surprised should he fail at this...)
Awww... Goffin - it's been a very long, long time ago that I've ever seen a player get ROBBED like happened here.
I wasn't able to watch this match live, but darn, I saw the rerun of this incident, and it made my eyes bleed.
Absolutely ridiculous, and I guess even an ATG would have been rattled after such a stupid mistake, let alone a fellow reaching the semi of a Masters for his first time ever.
I can well understand umps, linesmen, and even players making mistakes at times - they're all just human beings after all.
But this... that ball wasn't even being CLOSE to the line, it was at least 10 cm behind!
Not a close call at all, in fact even a Stevie Wonder would perhaps be able to have called it correctly.
So not merely an ump having dozed off on the chair, but also a linesman (who refused to point out the ump that he was pointing at the wrong mark) with a questionable attention span.
I barely ever say things like I do now, but I think neither of the two should be allowed to referee/line-judge any top match for the upcoming season anymore.
BAN THEM!
That boo-ing and whistling Mourier got from the crowd? Totally and absolutely deserved.
Goffin's outburst / implosion thereafter may not have been very 'professional', but it is totally understandable.
Mind you, I'm not saying the outcome of this match would have turned out any different if this incident hadn't happened, but it's just something that should not happen at this level of a top tournament. I can totally understand it if Goffin might have thought, "well, apparently the outcome of this match has already been decided from the ATP PTB beforehand..."
At least Goffin can find some comfort in the fact that the crowd was totally with him. I hope so.