CAMELOT FANTASIES

Great post general.

The last time Rafa played in Hamburg he beat many of the toughest players around.

R1 - Bye
R2 - Potito Starace
R3 - #15 Andy Murray
QF - #11 Carlos Moya
SF - #3 Novak Djokovic
F - #1 Roger Federer

When he took the title back in 2008, the German Open in Hamburg was part of the Masters Series on clay.  The next year, this historic and one of the oldest tournaments (since 1892) shamefully got demoted to an ATP 500 event, and Madrid changed from hard courts to clay and took its slot. 

They tried to do a similar thing with historic Monte Carlo but there were too many protests, so it stayed a Masters, but it is not mandatory like the other Masters. 

Rafa has not played in Hamburg since 2008.  This time, the field will be much easier, and instead of a 64 man draw it will only be 32, and instead of 16 seeds, it will only be eight. 

Scheduled #1 seed Ferrer and #3 Simon were entered to play, but Simon was injured in Davis Cup, and Ferrer has been out with an injury as well.

So if those two don't play, Rafa will be top seed and may only have to face players ranked between 20 and higher.  It's an excellent tournament for him to get some match play and hit a lot of ground strokes which is what he needs.  The grass season didn't help him much in that regard.  Yes, he won Stuttgart, but he didn't get much rhythm there and losing early in Wimbledon didn't help him either.

I remember when Borg and Vilas played at Roland Garros, and used to hit 60 and longer stroke rallies.  Maybe the balls weren't whizzing back and forth like they do today due to vastly improved racquet and string tech (lubricated polyester strings), but on clay the slower tactical play builds fitness and timing. 

Borg-Vilas 86 stroke rally


Respectfully,
masterclass