CAMELOT FANTASIES

vo2max is the oxygen carrying capacity general.


the elite tour de france cyclists are blessed by the gods with it but they take it a lot higher with their extensive training. all of them are doing 30,000 miles a year in their training.


Rafa was such a man. he had unlimited vo2 max. it declined with age and he did not bother to keep it up.

he also took clay for granted while losing his ground game little by little by spending comparatively more times on the hard courts.


he got away with it in the old days because he had his fitness and his physicality so he would simply outwork his opposition on the red clay.

now they get to his shots with ease and just blast away.


the drop in his ground game and his fitness is quite dramatic. he cant beat the top players without his fitness and his physicality.

there is just not sufficient mustard on his shots.



he is also still insistent  on playing the game with his forehand alone while leaving immense space to be had. just take Fog again. Fog hit nearly 15 backhand winner alone because Rafa would leave the court open. and that is on the red clay.

Simon hit 60 winners on Rafa on the red clay in a best of 3 sets match last year. how the hell can that happen? only one way that happens. you don't move well enough and you are not doing much with your shots.


Rafa is struggling to get to the balls and it started long before the injuries. now injuries just compound the matter.

take this stat: Rafa won just 10% of the points from the baseline against Berdych at the Australian Open.

if that is not alarming then I don't know what is.


there is still a way out for him but he has to skip Miami and go get on the bloody red clay. he has to prepare properly for the clay season and just go take monte carlo, Barcelona, and rome.