CAMELOT FANTASIES

you know I will be cheering for the great Dunblane warrior.



nole has everybody's number. he is simply outhustling and outworking everyone.



he is not winning by accident. he is working hard on all the critical areas of the game and he is working on his fitness harder than ever.


his objective is to get the ball back on their serve and then win the long rally.

you take away their will if you can win the vast majority of the long rallies.

nole also practices year around on the red clay as much as possible to keep the knees and the joints healthy.

he hired becker to work on the certain areas of his game: he wanted a better serve and he wanted to be even more attack oriented than he already is.


Rafa is the only one who can stop nole but he cant do it with his current fitness level.

Ha ha ha. Look at what Rafa said:

Doing mathematics in life ..

Rafa Nadal : “ I made some people happy with my success , I made some people happy with my failure , so , at the end of the year I’m happy because I made everyone happy .!.! "

Djokovic took the last set 6-0.


Nobody has any answers for his fitness and his physicality.

He did the same thing to Dog. In fact he took the last 8 games of that match.

I feel bad for Andy. he has lost 7 times in a row to djokovic now.


djokovic grows stronger by the day. he has to be feeling invincible now.


there is only one way to slow down or stop djokovic: you have to outwork him on the practice courts and you have to start doing some very serious work on your fitness.


that is precisely what he did. now he is running through players like a knife through water.

Andy should have won in straight sets. He broke Novak three times in the first set and kept getting broken back. I wasn't understanding that. Andy seems to have some kind of mental block here lately. I don't think it's physical. Many times when he plays Novak he overplays or underplays. There is never a balance.

BTW, did you see how horribly Novak acted during the match? Such a pissy champion. Who cares how he is when he goes to the net, win or lose, it will always be about the way you play the game. Even the fans got on him several times. Not to mention the way he was going after the umpire. Nole proves every day that a leopard cannot change his spots. Still hard to know who he really is from year to year, because his persona keeps changing.

I am just respecting his massive work ethic. he is working very hard on his fitness and he is putting in the time on the practice courts. he has assembled a good team.

he is focused and driven.



I don't care for him as a person. he has a long track record for acting like a jerk on the tennis court.

Quote from: thetruth on April 06, 2015, 06:00:25 am

BTW, did you see how horribly Novak acted during the match? Such a pissy champion. Who cares how he is when he goes to the net, win or lose, it will always be about the way you play the game. Even the fans got on him several times. Not to mention the way he was going after the umpire. Nole proves every day that a leopard cannot change his spots. Still hard to know who he really is from year to year, because his persona keeps changing.

I am just respecting his massive work ethic. he is working very hard on his fitness and he is putting in the time on the practice courts. he has assembled a good team.

he is focused and driven.



I don't care for him as a person. he has a long track record for acting like a jerk on the tennis court.

Good for him, he's earned his position. I definitely don't begrudge him that. Any one with a dream who pursues it garners my respect.

Good day everyone!

Given that these top players all have a lot of ability, FITNESS these days, especially on the slower courts  from AO Open to Roland Garros, appears to be the major differentiator when both players are in good form and the ability is relatively equal.  Right now, Djokovic is above the rest in my opinion.

Here is how I rank the top 10 players fitness based on their most recent play that I've seen.  The little v means I think there is a level of difference between that player and the next.

1. Djokovic [1] (He has taken fitness and flexibility to a new level.  I don't know what he's doing, but it's working. Ability wise, I place him below Federer and Nadal, and maybe even Murray, but his fitness and flexibility translating into superb movement, stamina, and ability to recover quickly in matches and between matches takes him above that group)
v

2.  Ferrer [7] (he is at a lower ability level than most of the top 10, but in his 33rd year, his superb fitness and spirit still puts him right behind the top guys)

3.  Federer [2] (Well into his 34th year, he is still physically prepared to outlast everyone except for Djokovic. Right now he is training on clay with young Dominic Thiem and others in the build up to Monte Carlo and the clay season. He has targeted training where he works on something and doesn't let up until he thinks he is just about perfect and has hit his target. Kyrgios said that about Federer when he trained with him last year prior to RG and Wimbledon).
v

4. Nishikori [4] (Under his coach Chang, his fitness has improved probably 3 fold. He is not getting as many injuries, and he has one of the best, it not the best deciding set records in the last two years)
v

5. Murray [3] (his level of fitness and play definitely declined after Wimbledon 2013, mostly due to his back, and then the recovery. His level of play this year finally seems to have mostly recovered, but he is still coming up short against the fittest players)

6. Wawrinka [9] (he fluctuates in fitness, varying from pretty fit (Nishikori level) to looking like he had too many hamburgers, so I put him here)
v

7. Nadal [5] (he might be above Raonic, Berdych, and Cilic, but their games are so different they doesn't need quite the same fitness, for Nadal it is essential).  It's a bit sad that I place him here, because I always considered Rafa #1 in fitness for years, probably peaking in 2008, but in 2009 injuries took some toll, and then definitely after his 2010 3 slam year I think he relaxed, and then after his excellent 2013, even more so, to the point where I was almost shocked at his fitness. He had a relatively poor clay season by his standards in 2014, but still managed to win Roland Garros, but that was it, and in 2015, has dropped even further in fitness and match playing levels after mishaps in the latter portion of 2014. I think he needs to get up to at least Nishikori level of fitness and preferably higher to stop these losses to players to whom he should not be losing.  He is in danger of dropping from top 10 if there is no improvement in the clay season.  I think and hope there will be, but we will see)

8. Raonic [6] (his fitness has improved, but it is not at the same level of the rest, but then is game is much different and he doesn't rely on it as much. Still, I think it wouldn't hurt him to drop a few more.
v

9. Berdych [8] (see Raonic and game style, not really as much improvement fitness wise though, he's a big guy and wouldn't hurt him to be quicker around the court)
v

10. Cilic [10] (like Raonic as well in game style, but still getting hurt a lot, probably needs to try and work on flexibility and some targeted training for problem areas of his body)


That's how I see it.  Please feel free to agree or disagree and come up with your own list and opinions.

Respectfully,
masterclass