CAMELOT FANTASIES

i watched the andy murray vs nole battle last night.


rafa has no business lining up exos on hard courts. he should get his ass on the red clay and work on his ground game which is a mere shell of what it used to be.


i am worried about them both.


nole and roger keep taking their fitness higher and higher.

Roger and Novak haven't been off the tour for extended periods of time. It's easy to keep your level up when you're constantly working on it on a daily basis. But Andy had to get re-acclimated to the rigors of the tour. Coming back at a lower seeding means Andy had to get used to the lower tour level players first and build on that, but Roger and Novak are legions above those levels, so it's hardly feasible that Andy can jump up his fitness, focus, and decision making on the spur of the moment.

He tried and he also showed that the fire was still in his belly, but practice is different than playing in a high stakes tournament like that.

Rafa? I don't know about his fitness levels, he had a freak injury in Oz, which had to cause him some consternation and doubt, got bounced out of Wimbledon, and suffered another freak injury at the start of the hard court season. However, if he isn't working on his fitness, he should because he was still able to prevail at RG.

Speaking of Rafa there is some new news today.

Rafael Nadal's interview to IB3
Translated by @genny_ss

https://www.facebook.com/229133313874186/photos/a.244237985697052.55295.229133313874186/612542395533274/?type=1&theater

Rafa won't force his come back on court and acknowledges that recovery's going slower than expected.
He's no longer using the splint but hitting the BH at 100% is a different matter. The idea is to come back in Beijing in the 1st week of Oct.

Rafa says the process is a bit slow 'cause the wrist is a frail/sensitive part of the body & they need to be cautious not to have a relapse, which could make things worse & that's why they're trying to be calm & follow the right steps to avoid that to happen.

Toni says the injury isn't serious, but they have to be cautious not to start playing w/it not being healed, as it could then become serious

After having to miss the USO, Rafa's taken things easy. 3 days ago he started to hit 2HBH a few min per day, though for now he still feels pain

Day by day Rafa's adding more minutes & says that he's feeling better than 2 weeks ago when he tested the wrist for the USO.

He's hitting some BH w/topspin, though not yet at 100% from the baseline, but little by little he's doing things he couldn't a few days ago. He hopes to get ready for Beijing but after missing CAN/Cincy/USO/DC he won't force & will only go if he can hit BH w/o or w/controlled pain .

All depends on how things evolve in the next two weeks. Toni thinks these two weeks could be key for the recovery.
From Beijing onwards Rafa's calendar remains as scheduled. That is: Shanghai, Basel, Paris & London.
About the DC, Rafa says losing the play-off would be unpleasant, but trusts the chosen players will try their best to keep Spain in the WG.