CAMELOT FANTASIES

Quote from: britbox on February 03, 2016, 06:42:56 am

Quote from: Clay Death on February 02, 2016, 09:30:02 am

Quote from: thetruth on February 02, 2016, 06:26:00 am

Quote from: Clay Death on February 02, 2016, 02:52:58 am

Rafa can win big titles again but he is going to have to dedicate his life totally to the sport for 2-3 years.


bottom line: he has to devote 7-8 hours a day to fitness and practice.


the problem is insufficient work ethic. he has lost his fire in the belly.



I am not happy with Rafa but it is his life and it is his career.


he will always be my player along with vilas and muster but rafa has to work if he wants to win.



his once supreme fitness and endurance has taken quite a hit. and also he has lost significant amount lean muscle tissue.


once he can fix that he will be good to go. it will also minimize the injuries.

Here's a thought. Could Rafa's issues be a conflict of interest? Could the real problem be that he's struggling with keeping Uncle Toni? He's been with him forever and I can imagine that hiring new people would feel like a betrayal of the highest order. Not only that, but it would also affect the family dynamics.

I don't think Rafa's issues have that much to do with the other issues; fitness, mental and all of that as it does with the emotional letting go of Uncle Toni.

I've watched Rafa for years, but I particularly pay attention to his face and body language. When he came back in 2013, he was hungry and devoted, but 2014 and 2015 he has not had that same look in hardly any of his matches. I think his issues are not physical as much as they are emotional. He gets very defensive when asked about releasing Toni. I can imagine that I would feel the same way. That's not an easy thing to do, at all.

Just another theory.

I think he decided one day that he was really spent. he had spent an enormous amount of physical and mental and emotional capital in carving out his immortality in the sport.

also nearly a decade of domination of clay is really a lot. it takes more than superhuman to pull that off today.


it took its tool on him. and then the injuries have forever hounded him. he has been injured off and on since he was 17.


he has been injured 5 times out of the last 7 years.


he also became very wealthy over the years making as much as $41 million a year.



he has lost some of his fire in the belly. but good news is that he is still young.


so he can make a comeback if he can find the hunger and the relentless drive. it will have to be on clay and he can do it if he wants to.


it will just take a lot of sacrifice and a laser like focus.

There are only so many times you can keep going back to the same well CD, with regards to motivation and proving yourself over and over.

Also, Rafa has not added anything to his game for 3 or 4 years.  Getting back to where he was is no longer enough.  The game continually evolves.

Rafa is going to have to do more than work hard in the gym and put in hard yards... he's lost initial acceleration and explosiveness - he might get fitter, but he won't get that back.  He's going to have to rethink the way he plays these top guns... he's going to have to adjust his game to fit his age and the competition.  He can no longer physically take over matches against guys like Djokovic.

Even in his decline, he's still got good movement if you compare him to the rest of the tour, rather than comparing himself to what he was in his prime... and he's still a Top 8 player not a scrub.... but if he's going to challenge the likes of Djokovic, he's going to have to do more than get fitter.

Clay probably is his last bastion... but can he win a war of attrition with Djokovic? Remains to be seen.

great post.


he has work to do but that is where a gladiator can decide to just go for it. relish the challenge of getting back to the top.



he is an all time great. being in the top 10 or top 20 is simply not good enough but you find it nearly impossible to win a single game against the likes of djokovic.


he has to go for djokovic's scalp on the red clay. that is his challenge.


he owned the whole planet once so who cares if he can beat an aging ferru once in a while. he did that at the O2 arena in London and it took him 3 hours.

he was worn out after that and even an extra day could not assure recovery.

and who really cares if he manages to beat berdych or some other clown. they don't matter.


I know the money is incredible for Rafa in the sport and going up even as you read this as the endorsements keep coming in.


but we knew that. we know that one day he will have amassed $1 billion from his 14 majors. 9 RG crowns record cannot even be approached let alone be broken.

his popularity continues to skyrocket but he is largely irrelevant in the sport. he has to set some goals and go after them.


I would set the following goals for 2016 and 2017:


1. try to win monte carlo
2. win Barcelona
3. win rome
4. beat djokovic at least once or twice in the process

5. go for the 10th RG crown. that has to be the ultimate goal. if he can pull that off in 2017 then the irrelevancy in the sport does not matter.


he can sail into the sunset after the 10th RG crown.


but to do that he has to start beating them at the masters level clay events again.


there is no time left to change the game. it is what it is. he has to use his natural competitive advantage of massive topspin game on clay.

I would improve the fitness and the physical work in the gym and then I would just embrace clay for a while.


losing early at Melbourne should have been turned into an advantage. skip Miami and spend extra 10 days on clay.


he cant win more than 2 matches in indian wells. I would leave indian wells after that and go get on clay ASAP.

don't fart around in indian wells after losing early. turn that into an opportunity.


going to Miami entails massive opportunity cost just like last year:  lost time on clay

Great post. He definitely has to put the work in. He can't scrape by on as little training as possible. He also needs to fix that coaching problem and at least bring someone else in for a new voice.

He can't continue to ignore the problems he has in his game. The thing is, how much does he want it? He just doesn't seem to have the motivation he once had. At this point it seems that he's still just playing for the hail of it, but isn't setting significant goals or defining his purpose.

We'll see.