CAMELOT FANTASIES

Quote from: masterclass on May 19, 2014, 01:22:37 am

General, Lady TT, perhaps it's all part of the master plan?  I think Rafa doesn't want to be seen as such a solid favorite going into Roland Garros anymore. It puts too much pressure on him.  He prefers being the hunter, not the hunted. 

He was light on matches and preparation going into Rome.  Now he has 16 matches on clay going into Roland Garros.  If he can get past the first 4 matches, he'll have 20 under his belt.  That should be enough.  Let's wait for the draw to see if there are any landmines he might have in the first 4 rounds. 

If for some reason Rafa doesn't win it and gets upset, then I hope whoever does win, plays well to win it, and not get it due to injuries and poor play by the opponents.  In that case, it would be interesting if someone outside the big 4 would win.  But I can't see too many players who fit that description.  Maybe Ferrer, maybe Wawrinka. 

Ferrer has put in the time and effort.  If anyone deserves a slam win, it is him, if he can do it. 

Wawrinka is up and down, but he seems to be up at the right moments lately. IF he were to win, it would be the first time in about 20 years that someone has won the Australian and the French Open double - Jim Courier was the last to do so in 1992, and have a chance for a Grand Slam going into Wimbledon.  Wilander was the only other player to do it since Laver, four years earlier, in his 3 slam year.  Trouble is with Wilander and Courier is that their grass prowess was not so good. The same holds with Wawrinka.

Nishikori might be a dark horse, but he just seems to get injured too much to win 7 matches in a row.  He is certainly competent enough on the clay.  I can't see any other non-big 4 member getting it done.

Respectfully,
masterclass

I think that back injury set rafa back. he was not able to play or practice for a while after that.


he barely got by in Rio. and then again he had to take 10 days off after that to rest his back. he said he was not able to serve for 10 days after Rio for example. his back took him out of the equation rather quickly in indian wells. he should have taken off for Mallorca right after that early loss in indian wells to go jump on the soft clay and start fixing his ground game and his return.


it is just lack of sufficient practice and match play on clay that has cost him all those titles that he could have easily snatched. he has not been working hard enough and it is costing him.

you saw what he was able to do on the hard courts last year. especially on the north American hard court circuit.


only question is this: when he was so close to challenging history, how could he lose some focus and motivation.

did he take clay for granted this year?

I don't think he took clay for granted, but I think he knew his limitations during this period. I think we were right about how bad the back really was, and since he had to play, he did the best he could. I also think that he made peace with his situation, knowing that it was out of his control. There's no point in crying over spilled milk, which also explains what looked to us as cavalier behavior.

Depending on how the back has progressed, he has no choice but to keep playing and get as many points as he can so that he can maintain as high a ranking as possible, this will keep his draws more manageable, and when the back heals completely he can resume his much higher level of play.

Is it possible that the Murray match impacted him more than we know? Those boys played some good old fashioned Big 4 tennis. Thankfully for him Dmitrov practically gave him a free pass by overplaying and spraying errors, but even in a possibly compromised state Nole wasn't playing lights out. It isn't often the Nadal fades after winning the first  set, so I think there were more factors going on than we were privy to.

Still, the back is uncertain and there's no guarantee, at this point, that he can make it through to the final. I hate to say it, but this injury came at the worst time, because it affected his clay season, but how can he rectify the situation in the meat of the season? We'll just have to wait and see.