CAMELOT FANTASIES

I was worried about this one.

Rafa took the first set 6-4. they are tied in the 2nd at 5-5.



http://www.livescore.in/tennis/




I saw the highlights of his match against baggy. he has never been this bad. took nearly 3 hours to get rid of baggy.



same story: terrified of hitting a backhand. giving pu too much court by trying to hit all forehands.


and the forehand does not have the potency and the consistency it used to have because he wont log in endless hours on the practice courts.


quite simply the forehand lacks the depth and the pace.


and every volley he hit was pushed or shoved. or it was a drop volley.


he should have punched those volleys and put them away.



bottom line: we can do without volley. it is too damn late. he wont even try to learn to volley. he wont even give him a chance.


but we cant do without a sound ground game. that mean solid forehand and a solid backhand. he has both but he wont bother to get them going by putting in the very long and very hard yards on the practice courts.



he said he needs to return better and move better.


you give away the movement part by giving them most of the court to work with. you give them the free space by playing too far back and also by trying to hit all forehands.


as for the return, his idea of improving his return is playing doubles. return is going to be key during the grass season.


he has to make up his mind to work. ranking is the not the problem now. he can always pick up points.

he cant beat the top players with his current game and his current fitness.


I am worried about him but we can do nothing. he has to be pushed and driven like stan has been.


stan has been saying all along that his team really pushes him and drives him.

Brilliant post general.  Rafa and Feli withdrew from the doubles. You could see that Rafa was too tired after the Tomic match.

It's obvious that Baghdatis has some back class, has a good serve when it's in, but erratic, but unfortunately for him, he can't seem to play more than a set at his previous good level anymore. In fact, he is playing most of his matches on the challenger circuit these days.  And even with that, he wasn't far from taking this match in straights, if he had held his nerve in the first set, against a quite poor Nadal.  But Rafa found someone who's fitness is much worse than his, so the third set was easily Rafa's. 

Rafa played better against Tomic, but again, too many double faults; he double faulted the second set away.  Really if Tomic had played aggressively instead of pushing everything, Rafa would have been in real trouble.   But I thought Rafa's forehand and first serve when in had more pop, and his return was ok. But he needs to up his game to challenge the top players.  Now he plays Monfils who hates the grass, but has managed to come through.  Kohli pretty much self destructed and doesn't match up well with Monfils. If Kohli had come through he would have been very dangerous for Rafa on the grass, so good he didn't for Rafa's sake.  I think Rafa should beat Monfils without too much problem.  Monfils big swings work against him on grass, and if he pushes against Rafa, he is cooked.

I think Rafa makes it to the finals... which isn't bad.  He will have those additional grass matches under him, which has to help him for Wimbledon.

Respectfully,
masterclass