CAMELOT FANTASIES

Not too surprised by Andy's loss really especially given what happened in the final set. Got broken twice back to back while leading the set. Technically Andy's serves are now his biggest liability. And the other biggest liability is his mentality.

Andy's serves started deteriorating right after the 2nd set. In the first set, his first serve was 77%; in the 2nd, 64 % (still good considering) but it then totally collapsed in the final set, 55% only. He was leading Raonic in the first two sets but dropped considerably in the 3rd. Raonic, on the other hand, continued to serve better and better and served highest percentage in the final set. So while Andy dropped his level, Raonic simply raised his.

Raonic hit 15 Aces with only 2 DFs while Andy served only 4 Aces with 3 DFs. Andy served 0 Aces in the final set and yet double faulted twice.

So in retrospect while Andy's game remained okay, his serves really let him down (on both 2nd and 3rd sets and it deteriorated only after a couple of sets). He's not going to win any title until and unless he takes his serves to a more consistent level. I said before the match that this would be the key problem and it was.

But in order for his serves to be really effective and consistent, he'd have to adjust his mentality first. This is no longer an injury issue or fitness issue or the level issued.  Personally I don't think he'll be ready until the grass season where his motivation will automatically kick in and he'll start feeling confident once again.

I am not counting too much towards Miami at this point although the thought might cheer him up, somewhat.