CAMELOT FANTASIES

thanks for posting the awesome stats general masterclass.


there are some stats that don't get revealed. for example the returns during the clutch moments in the game and the match.


rafa used to be pretty damn tough in the clutch.


even my dad made this remark the other day. and he does not even watch all that much tennis. he said rafa is not as calm as he used to be in the clutch.


well that much is pretty obvious; there are simply too many things bothering him on the court in key moments.


but that being said, where he is really getting beat is at his own game: he is getting hustled off the ground by the lesser players.

he used to hustle them all off the ground.

take the rome masters final for instance. nole basically took control of the baseline battle in the last 2 sets.


so the matter is that of insufficient practice and insufficient training on the fitness front. nadal is not that old. if he can get back to focusing on his game and his fitness, he can start beating them all again.


nole does not allow for too many distractions and works like a dog on his game and his fitness 7 days a week.

in fact a lot of players like milos, ferru, dimitrov, and the others have stepped on their fitness in order to take it to the next level.


I am seeing a drop in nadal's supreme fitness levels. he needs his supreme fitness and his physicality. that gives him a decisive edge out there in the trenches.

if he can play on the hard courts then he can step p on his fitness also.

also he should be training longer and harder on the red clay on year around basis. that will put him right back in business.


so he wont have to make stupid remarks like these:

1. "get used to it" on his losing and having trouble out there
2. "I don't know if I can win another major again"



that is fuel for the competition. and it also does not do much for your own confidence.


ferru and almagro hear these remarks and then go out there and push him around. nadal had not lose to them on the red clay in decades.


it is a confidence issue only because he is making it a confidence issue. of course it hurts your confidence if you getting bossed around in the baseline rallies by the players that have no business taking more than 2-3 games off you in a set on the red clay.


but what has led to that dropped confidence is just 2 simple factors:


1. he refuses to put in the work/hard yards on the practice courts like he used to
2. he refuses to train harder and longer on the fitness front to keep up with the competition


there is another factor: too many outside distractions and too many extracurricular activities which can wait. soon he will have over 60 years to do all that outside stuff.


how many players will ever find themselves in a position nadal is to challenge history? I will say just one and that is nadal.


the sport has become too demanding. nobody is ever going get near the slam record again.

nadal seems to be walking away from perhaps the greatest challenge ever offered an athlete. he needs to embrace it and then go after it.