CAMELOT FANTASIES

I hope Rafa proves his uncle wrong and plays until he is 34-35.



I will go one further: Rafa is not training well on the court either. Tony is just saying that. he does not want to **** Rafa off.


Rafa's training on the court is of very short duration these days and he just stands near his backhand side and tries to hit as many forehands as he can.

he is not working diligently on his return of serve which has become a huge liability for him. he cant break serve because he cant get the ball back with depth and pace trying to return those balls from 20 feet behind the baseline.


you cant win if you cant break.



what tony is not telling you is that Rafa goes away in the matches not because he lacks the mental strength but because he lacks his fitness and his physicality.

he is worn out physically which works on his mind. he is unable to push himself physically like he used to.


general masterclass has also hit on this: it is near 80% or more physical. he has lost his fitness and his sheer physical strength (physicality).

so his movement is compromised which further complicates and compounds the matter.


not only is he late on most shots, he cant put any depth or pace on those shots.




so it really does all go back to the some loss of focus. he lost focus a couple of years ago and decided to drop his work on his fitness and also made his practice sessions a lot shorter in duration.

he failed to make needed the adjustments in his training on the fitness front and also with his practice. that led to even more than usual injuries.


I am his greatest fan on the planet. I am calling it like I see it. the reason I know his game and his fitness and his physicality so well is because I was like him on the court.

I played the heavy topspin game based on relentless will and amazing fitness and physicality. I could run for a day.

one day I practiced for 10 hours and then I went for a long run along the lake. I ran over 10 miles.

I routinely rode my bikes for 100 miles at a time. you need mazing fitness and physicality to be able to play this style of game.




he lost some of his hunger and his relentless will to win a couple of years ago. injuries and immense demand on his time made him lose even more focus.

he is just having a hard time getting it back. what he cant back in a short period of time is his fitness and his physicality.

that will take 1 full year of very hard work. by then he is 30+.

Wow, that's some serious training. I don't know what's going on. He made 34 errors in that loss to Verdasco, for Rafa, that's unworldly for him. But, I still think it will take time. By no means do I think he's done.