CAMELOT FANTASIES

Fantastic post general masterclass.


I am afraid it is a very long road back.


I am not sure about how hungry he is about achieving more.

Perhaps tony was more right than some may have thought.


He said that Rafa will need luck at RG this year.


Later he changed it: he said Rafa's level is good enough for the RG crown.

I think he decided to project more positivity. perhaps trying to cheer up Rafa and get him to start thinking positively also.


I have said that it is impossible to recover that much lost fitness and physicality in such a short period of time.


And that is what keeps him from fighting tooth and nail in all his matches.


He was worn out against Andy.


No depth or pace on his shots.


He also lost vast majority of the rallies that went over 9 shots against andy.

That is a huge indicatior that I look at. it tells very clearly that there is not sufficient consistency for one thing. and it is an indicator of staying power in those rallies.


Right now he does not have the staying power in a long rally.


I am by far his greatest fan on the planet but I have to call it like I see it. I also know his game and his fitness levels better than anybody on the planet.


I played a similar game at a reasonably high level so I know.



one last thing about the long rally: you can break your opponent's will and his spirit if you can win majority of the long rallies.


that is what djokovic does to his opponents now and that is what Rafa used to do to the whole planet.

he had a winning record against 100% of the top 30 players.


you need supreme fitness and physicality for that.  and you need one hell of a work ethic on the practice courts.


and then you throw in the fact that heavy topspin game is an extremely demanding style of play. it takes a lot out of you.


that is why guys like borg, muster, lendl, and rafa had to become supermen in order to be able to beat the world on consistent basis.


more next time.