I saw this on twitter. somebody posted some Rafa practice pics on their facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.652656751477711&type=3&l=d0a70d6458
Nice. Did you hear them say he practiced with Big John Isner to get used to the height and serve? I hope it works! Although, he's already beat Rosol, they act like that didn't happen. Ho hum.
I missed it.
well looks like he was thinking ahead. perhaps he was expecting to meet dr ivo (the 6 foot 10 inch Croatian) in the 3rd round.
dr ivo karlovic was removed from the facilities today in straights.
anyway I saw Rafa's match today. he is not playing well.
he ran around too many backhands again instead of giving his backhand a chance to develop some continuity, rhythm, and consistency.
that led to giving up the court position. he also missed way too many forehands.
lets hope for the best. he just has to keep practicing hard on the grass and try to improve with each match.
if I was asked to rank the 3 big issues today:
1. movement: he is not moving like he used to on grass
2. backhand is too inconsistent
3. court positioning. that forces him in difficult positions and hence all these errors that he makes these days.
in the old days he was pretty much a machine off both wings.
and so fast that he could outrun a runaway steep locomotive.
if he can improve his backhand and develop his confidence off that wing it will also improve his return of serve off that wing.
now he just looks to try run around his backhand to hit forehand returns. that does not work well on grass since the serves bounce low and speed away.
he does not really have to time to run around his backhand.
again its a world class backhand. I have no idea why he is so terrified of hitting it.