CAMELOT FANTASIES

He said all his career long how important RG was to him.


He said it set the tone for his whole season.

He walked away from the fight.


He had spent his entire life being a gladiator of the highest order.

He came to be known for his heart and for his fighting spirit.


It is jus hard for me to see him walk away from a fight time and again.


There is just no preparation. There is only talk.


He is not playing for us. He is playing for himself. There are quests to be had.

He has his legacy at stake in a way.


He has to hit back very hard.


He can do it. he has to realize that no other all time great ever got destroyed like this on their best surfaces.

They fought to the bitter end. giving up and walking away from the fight time and again tarnishes the end a bit.

Make the end beautiful and glorius.


Hit them back harder than ever.

I agree with everything that you're saying, and to be honest it's inexplicable. There is no reason for this and it appears to have come out of nowhere. The reason it's not bothering me so much is because I saw it in his first tournament back this year. The Mudabula Championships.

When I like a player I notice a lot of indiscernible things about them, especially their countenance. If I've watched them enough I can see whether they have the fight or determination for that particular day. For some reason I'm usually right.

When Rafa came back in 2013 he was determined from the first ball. He's always willing to take his knocks because he understands what it is that he wants to do, so although he didn't win his first tournament, the desire was there, and subsequently he went on to tear up the courts that year.

In 2014, when he hurt his back in the AO final, that took a lot of him. Dealing with all the injuries and getting to the final only to have his back go out was one of the most difficult losses he suffered. I think that took a lot out of him, but again he regrouped and won the French, but the rest of the season turned into a bust as he lost early at Wimbledon and then suffered another round of freak injuries and his season was wrapped up.

2015, when he came back he chose to start on hard courts, a strange decision, and one he hadn't done before. He went out to his pigeon. The old Rafa would've gotten on clay and built his confidence back up, but he didn't do that and he also passed on many small tournaments that he could've played to groove his game again, but he didn't.

I think he's just tired, mentally, physicially, and emotionally. That's it. The question is how much does he  want it? Right now it's hard to say. Rafa has always been satisfied with his accomplishments and felt very blessed to have accomplished so much. But he's never struck me as having the "champion's" mentality, as much as he had the "competitor's" mentality. Much like Lleyton. They want to play and win, and the trophies are great, but that's not the pinnacle for them.

What Rafa decides to do, we can only wait and see. I hope he decides to play, but it's going to be on his own terms. I seriously think that Rafa will quit if he's no longer enjoying it. I don't think he'll play for titles and legacy. That doesn't strike me as his personality. He's nowhere near done, but who knows what path he'll take.