CAMELOT FANTASIES

He gives himself a chance if:

1. Returns well

2. Hits the ball off both wings

3. Manages to keep the ball deep while keeping the errors low


I also believe that next knee issue is not far away now.

too much hard court activity in a short period of time spells trouble for him.


so don't be surprised if gets treatment or retires from the match.

It is certainly a possibility.


I don't really care if he wins. This tournament means nothing.


they will judge these all time greats in terms of slams they were able to accumulate.

Masters events matter too.


all I care about is for him to escape the remainder of this season with no serious injury.


He is already crying about how he has put in so much court time. Well nobody is forcing him to play doubles too.

I hope the tweak was nothing serious. It didn't seem to hamper after he got treatment, but who knows what can happen after you stop an activity. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and since this tournament isn't a big deal he can retire if he begins to feel pain.

It's tricky, he has to groove his groundstrokes and get some consistency. That area is noticeable, his error count and flubbed returns. So what are you going to do? I don't know if I  agree about the hardcourts though, that's kind of collateral damage. You can't skip a surface that the tour is predominantly played on. That seems very limiting to me.

Gasquet really surprised me in this match. He was going for it and he played very well. I had quit watching him based on past experience, but I had also noticed that he had some really strong wins. Brugera is doing an excellent job with him. I'm happy to see Richie finally fulfilling some of his purpose; better late than never (I'm looking at you, James Blake).

Rafa has progressively gotten better from where he was at the beginning of the season. For the first time he came back to the tour without fire and intensity and it didn't seem to bother him in the least. He wasn't even concerned about his losses, except specific ones where you could that he was disappointed in his effort. There's no telling what the problem was, I think he was just mentally tired and had re-prioritized his commitment to the game. But, I knew that wouldn't last forever. Today was win #56, that's not too shabby for the energy that he was putting out there. At least he's snapped out of that mode, so I'm happy.