Rafa has owned everybody on the planet until recently.
so now they are just ganging up on him. it is blind hate and envy on the part of a few of them.
I feel like they have invested a lot of time in calling Federer the Goat. They saw him play and jumped the gun. They had no idea that his nemesis would come in the form of a teenager. It was shocking to them and they had nowhere to turn. Their own respite was that Nadal was a clay court player and since he started so early he would soon burn out.
I can't remember all of the articles that I read where they predicted Rafa would be done by age 25 or 26. Longevity was not expected from him. So, you can imagine their utter shock and surprise when Rafa not only maintained his clay edge, but blossomed into hard court and grass as well.
Now, they look stupid, but they aren't willing to say that they are/were wrong. That is too their own disgrace. The simple matter is that Rafa is a phenomenal player and the best thing about him is that he doesn't care what they think, he only cares what he does and what he's fighting for.