this is his 4th comeback after sustained injuries and setbacks.
he is not young anymore. natural levels of VO2max start to vanish with age. you have to work much harder on the fitness front.
he really let his fitness go after the end of 2010. he has been losing ground ever since then.
and nole--as you have correctly pointed out---kept taking his fitness to higher and higher levels ever since the end of 2010.
and now just about all of them are ultra fit. guys close to 10 year older than rafa are fit and winning titles.
injuries and setbacks came as a result of decisions to drop some fitness and on court work. thrown in the mad obsession for hard courts and you have what you have.
a dramatic drop in his ground game with little or no confidence in it.
clay is the wellspring from which he flows.
he has to regain his fitness and his physicality and then start winning on clay. that is the only way he can get back into the swing of things.
he also just has way too many other interests and obligations that could have waited about 3 years.
rafa ia rafa. he will do things his way.
what was the reason to not practice his return for 2-3 days going into the berdych match?
why the need to push so many backhands against Anderson when he knew he would need his topspin backhand against berdcych and andy murray?
I am sad and upset. he wont change a thing.