CAMELOT FANTASIES

There is your answer folks if anybody thought Rafa is back on track.

He was 6-0 against Andy on clay prior to this.

Now Rafa drops to number 7.


Should be out of top 10 soon at this current rate.


He should have gone to estoril for more matches.


Beating Berdych was not exactly a huge achievement. Berdych had lost 17 matches in a row to Rafa before the Melbourne win.

Congrats to Andy for the big win.


This was the match Rafa had to have. He even had more time to rest after yesterday.


More time to rest as well more time to practice.

It is going to be a long hard road back.


People just don't realize his dramatic drop.


80 percent of all this because of the diminished fitness and physicality.

Yeah, only Rafa can play his best and worst matches in the span of 24 hours! This was probably the worst match on clay I have ever seen him play. He picked up his level in the middle of the second set and then inexplicably started missing by a country mile.

I believe that this is rock bottom for him and he will realize it soon. There is no way but up from here.

Yeah, only Rafa can play his best and worst matches in the span of 24 hours! This was probably the worst match on clay I have ever seen him play. He picked up his level in the middle of the second set and then inexplicably started missing by a country mile.

I believe that this is rock bottom for him and he will realize it soon. There is no way but up from here.

I am not really sure if he fully realized that he really can't win any tournament in his current state.


He lost this badly because he was spent.



He won even when limping around and in great pain in the past.


Right now he has no health issues.


It is all the inactivity that is killing him.

He won't win unless he starts training 6-7 hours a day.

There is your answer folks if anybody thought Rafa is back on track.

He was 6-0 against Andy on clay prior to this.

Now Rafa drops to number 7.


Should be out of top 10 soon at this current rate.


He should have gone to estoril for more matches.


Beating Berdych was not exactly a huge achievement. Berdych had lost 17 matches in a row to Rafa before the Melbourne win.

Congrats to Andy for the big win.


This was the match Rafa had to have. He even had more time to rest after yesterday.


More time to rest as well more time to practice.

It is going to be a long hard road back.


People just don't realize his dramatic drop.


80 percent of all this because of the diminished fitness and physicality.

Very disappointing performance. But, oh well. Nothing we can do about it.

Yeah, only Rafa can play his best and worst matches in the span of 24 hours! This was probably the worst match on clay I have ever seen him play. He picked up his level in the middle of the second set and then inexplicably started missing by a country mile.

I believe that this is rock bottom for him and he will realize it soon. There is no way but up from here.

Excellent post. There is no way but up.

One last card left to play:
RG.


I can't see him taking Rome but with a great deal of luck he might be able sneak into a final at RG.


I will hold on to that little bit of hope.


Let's start facing the facts. Our player is losing because of too much inactivity and not sufficient focus on his game and his fitness.

One more chance until RG, but it's the inconsistency that's so baffling to me. One day he plays great and the next day he can't hit a ball in the court. It's weird.

Both Andy and Federer took in small events to put a few more matches under their belts.


Rafa needed matches far worse than those 2 and he would not go.


Again I saw all these trends developing ages ago.


I think it is almost too late.



He is not stupid. He is very bright and very intelligent.


He knows he lost his consistency and his once absolutely formidable ground game.

Uncle tony has come out and said that as well.


There is no way out of this.


He has to dedicate all his time to tennis for a year effective right now or drop out of top 20.

Hi all! 

Well, I was waiting for the end of Madrid to say anything due to the up and down nature of Rafa's comeback this year.

And it manifested itself again.

But let's look on the bright side for a moment, shall we?

1. Rafa made it to the semis in Monte Carlo and lost to Djokovic - which was like playing a final.  He got 4 matches in.  He disappointed in Barcelona only getting 2 matches in, but in Madrid, he made it to the final and got 5 matches in. That's 11 matches.  If he can get 4 or 5 matches in Rome, that gives him 15/16.  If he can make it to the QF at RG, he'll have 5 more in for 20/21.  That's enough to win RG, if he plays well of course.

2. He looks to be pretty healthy.  He is gradually getting more fit.

3. From his effort, it looks like he is gaining confidence though still not sure of himself against the top guns, because he hasn't beaten them recently.

Unfortunately, there is a down side, as you all have pointed out.

1. Inconsistent play - looking great on some shots, but horrendous on others, and too many of those.

2. He has gotten outplayed by lesser players at the business end of the match indicating insufficient fitness still.

3. His confidence is not all there, even on clay with 46 titles and 9 RG.

4. Technically, he is still suffering.  Don't let his wins over Berdych or Dimitrov fool you.  He took advantage of Berdych, who doesn't move well enough and therefore defend well enough to compete with the best on clay.  As soon as he reached both a competent shot maker and defender in Andy Murray, Rafa's weaknesses were all exposed for all to see.  He couldn't match the Murray backhand to his forehand exchanges, which was a huge factor.  Why?  Rafa's forehand was just inconsistent.  Balls were flying on him and sailing out. But I believe the reason is that Rafa hit too many off balance, due to not having the speed/fitness to reach them.  Rafa's backhand and return were extremely short, those that went over the net giving Murray time and opportunity to step in to the court and hit wider angles deep to Rafa's forehand or backhand.  Rafa was often on the back foot meters behind the baseline.   

The bright point was Rafa's play at the net.  He won virtually everything there.  The trouble was that he didn't get more than 10 or so opportunities there. 

His forehand was inconsistent at best.  He hit many long or wide.  His backhand was woeful at times, I think at least a couple hit the bottom of the net or didn't make it there.  After getting broken in his first service game of the first set, Rafa hung in the set well on serve, but couldn't get through on Murray's serve.  The second set started the same or worse I should  say.  He couldn't hold his serve the opening two service games, and couldn't make a dent in Murray's. 

Sure, a lot of this was Murray's good, aggressive play, especially on his backhand wing.  The trouble was that Rafa couldn't take his opportunities, and they were there.  Murray's serve wasn't particularly good, hovering around 50% first serves in much of the match, ending up at 59%.  And Rafa let Murray get away with winning 80+ percent of his second serves by standing too deep, instead of standing inside the baseline and whipping Murray's 84 mph serves back at him, like most of the rest of the tour has been doing. When Murray embarrassingly missed a drive volley in the second set at 2-0 his ad on Rafa's serve, it seemed a great opportunity for Rafa to turn the match around.  Instead, he meekly lost his service game.  Rafa just didn't play well enough to string a few points in a row and get enough rhythm. 

Rafa said he just wants to delete this match from his mind and focus on his good matches.  Well, good luck with that.  You can't hide from your poor performances.  You have to look at them in cold light and make the improvements necessary, or else you will run into those problems again, the next time you meet a top player.

We've said it before, Rafa needs to work on his fitness, his return of serve, and depth of shots.  If he can't solve those, he won't be winning against top players, and he can lose to anyone who moves well on clay (like a Fognini).

The good news is there is still a little time, and he can make improvements if he works hard. But that window is closing fast.

Respectfully,
masterclass