CAMELOT FANTASIES

Excellent post general, and Lady TT.  It's indeed up to Rafa.  And to answer General Tee, I don't think another coach would help him at this point, unless he could get a physiotherapist like Gebhard Phil-Gritsch, Muster's former physio.  If he is motivated enough to work hard, I think he'll get it done.  If not, then what can you say. He's done everything to do in tennis and more as one of the greatest players ever.  Maybe he'll coast awhile, but I don't know if he can afford to do that for too long.  The other top players and now some of the others are not standing still.  It gets harder to catch up with them, and becomes a vicious circle. You stop winning enough matches to be competitive with the top ones, and even some lesser ranked players, and you lose your level, and you lose more, and you lose confidence, and you lose more, and it takes a long time to get back to where you were originally, if you ever do.  Many of the greatest in the past couldn't get their level back after missing too much time and going down too long, and simply had to retire.  For what it's worth, I personally think Rafa is trending up, but I'm not sure he has the time to get it done at RG. He took a couple of steps forward to make the Madrid finals, but took a step back against Murray, and lost his #4 rank, dropping to 7.  Soon, he can't afford any back sliding.  If he does not do well in Rome, and heaven forbid, RG, he's in danger of falling out of the top 10.  I don't think it will happen, but that is what he is facing.

Federer, as you mention Lady TT, had a tough 2013 (2012 was excellent as he went to #1 until Paris after winning Wimbledon), winning only the Halle title, and it really took until almost 2014 before he found his better level again, and even then with the change of racquets, he had a hard time getting the forehand consistent until maybe Cincinnati and Shanghai last year.  I still think he lacks control on it at times as he floats more long these days, but he definitely looks better on the backhand.  But these days, in 2015, as in the past at times, he is eligible to getting beaten by some player that has not much to lose and plays extremely well on the day, especially if Federer is a bit off.   He won Brisbane, but got beaten in Australia by Seppi, who said it was the best match he ever played - I thought Federer was around average that day.  He won in Dubai vs Djokovic,  then was edged out by Djokovic at Indian Wells, playing well, obviously, but was soundly beaten by Monfils in Monte Carlo.  Monfils said it was one of the best matches he played.  Then Federer went to Istanbul to kick off that inaugural tournament, and won the title and got more matches in on clay. Even though he did not seem at his best, he was good enough to beat the players he faced.

Then in Madrid, Federer lost his 4th match of the year when he got edged out in 3 very close sets by on fire youngster Kyrgios, and we know this guy is a monster when his serve and forehand are on.  Even Federer hammering 50 winners to 36 unforced compared to Kyrgios 45 winners to 41 unforced couldn't swing it for Federer.  Roger won 2 more points on serve and 2 more points on return more than Nick, and had the better stats.  But Kyrgios simply played the biggest points in the 2 tie breakers he won better than Federer. coming up with some amazing clutch shots to overcome Federer's match points and won the last tiebreaker 14-12 and that was it.  Federer though, also has a problem.  Here and there he is failing to protect his serve when he goes ahead in a match.  It seems he relaxes a bit.  He had the set lead and a break for a 2-1 lead on Kyrgios, but played a poor service game and allowed Kyrgios back in the match.  “I think this is the greatest win of my career,” said Kyrgios, short as it is so far.   Did any of those players (other than Nole) go on to win the title?  No, as often happens,  those players lost their next match or within a couple, as is many times the case when conquering a top player, it's tough to reproduce that extremely good form match after match.  No reason for Federer fans to panic, even though he had that 2nd round defeat, it wasn't a bad match.  Since post Roland Garros 2014, Federer has had 8 titles (inc. Davis Cup), and 4 finals in 19 tournaments, and the guy is pushing 34 now.  He's #2 for a reason. But with guys like Djokovic and Murray playing so well, Federer has to keep playing well if he wants to stay up there and can't afford to lose early in too many tournaments.

Anyway, there is a lot of tennis to come.  We are in the home stretch of the clay season, and the grass season follows.  Let's see where we are at when the dust settles and the grass is worn out.
We might get the same "Big 4" players winning the biggest tournaments, or maybe we will get some new blood.  We are very much past due for the new blood to start taking more important titles.

Respectfully,
masterclass