Author Topic: The Truth's Rant And Rave Show: Now In Progress (Read 65999 times)

Clay Death · « **Reply #1995 on:** April 23, 2015, 11:34:45 am »

Quote from: thetruth on April 23, 2015, 10:46:17 am

Break point conversions 4/14.

And there's the match.

Rafa has a lot to work on, but I'm sure he'll do it, in time.

The French though, may be out of the question.

I'm preparing myself mentally.

What else can i do?

We both have to start facing reality. I keep dreaming of number 15 at RG.

He can't beat anybody with his current game and current fitness.

He should have been able to take Barcelona on 1 leg.

I have to agree with you.

He is not hurting anymore. There is no illness or injury.

If this does not wake him up then nothing will.

Mr.Tee · « **Reply #1996 on:** April 23, 2015, 12:12:18 pm »

Hey guys, I have notposted in a while

Yeah, times are tough for Rafa and his fans. But I am staying optimistic. Well, cautiously optimistic. Today he played passively, but in all fairness Fognini hit great, took the ball on the rise and attacked while not making too many UEs.

Rafa, on the other hand... Where do I even begin!

1. Serving at a pathetic level. Maybe hiring a coach would help?
2. Returning from waaaay back. Come on, this is not Sampras serving, this is freaking Fognini!
3. Hitting "scared" Yeah, come on, one point he is being aggresive with his FH, hitting inside-out, next point pushes a sjort ball in the middle which is crushed by Fognini. Very inconsistent. I mean, come, just go all out, make 60 UEs but find your shots.
4. Tha backhand. OMG, what happened to his backhand??? It used to be so solid and reliable. Now he is running around it leaving the whole court open! Rafa, you are not 25 anymore, you can't chase every ball down!
5. His fitness level. He looked tired to me in the second set. How is he going to play 3 out of 5?

So, unless he gets seriously to work (backhand/returns/serve mostly) in the next week and a half, nothing goog will come out of those 2 Masters and Roland Garros.

Ok, on a lighter note, my Spurs played an awesome game yesterday defeating the Clippers in overtime. Timmy Duncan is 39 years old and he played 42 minutes scoring 28 with 11 rebounds and 4 assists. The guy us in great shape. Maybe Rafa should look up to him for inspiration!

You guys take care, I will see you around

Clay Death · « **Reply #1997 on:** April 23, 2015, 12:16:21 pm »

Still a very tiny window left.

He has to start hitting the ball 6-7 hours a day and aim for Rome title.

That will start to repair the damage.

and then we just have get to the quarters in fairly good shape at RG.

He may be able to take it from there with some luck.

I am writing off Madrid.

He needs practice courts and he needs Rome.

thetruth · « **Reply #1998 on:** April 23, 2015, 12:20:06 pm »

Quote from: Clay Death on April 23, 2015, 11:20:52 am

There was exactly zero need to vacation in Costa Rica and then waste 10 more days on account of Miami masters.

You just knew this was going to happen.

He had taken clay for granted because of his huge competitive edge on that surface.

now there are at least 20 players that can trouble him on that surface.

Fognini would have won no more than 3 games against fit and properly prepared Rafa.

He just didn't play well and he messed up at crucial times in the match. It was almost as if he was coasting thinking Fognini would lose his nerve. I'm used to Rafa knowing the geometry of the court, but he was way off in that respect also. Getting broken back three times in a set? Unheard of.

Maybe this is the kick in the but that he needs. Who knows?

Clay Death · « **Reply #1999 on:** April 23, 2015, 12:22:46 pm »

Quote from: Mr.Tee on April 23, 2015, 12:12:18 pm

Hey guys, I have notposted in a while

Yeah, times are tough for Rafa and his fans. But I am staying optimistic. Well, cautiously optimistic. Today he played passively, but in all fairness Fognini hit great, took the ball on the rise and attacked while not making too many UEs.

Rafa, on the other hand... Where do I even begin!

1. Serving at a pathetic level. Maybe hiring a coach would help?
2. Returning from waaaay back. Come on, this is not Sampras serving, this is freaking Fognini!
3. Hitting "scared" Yeah, come on, one point he is being aggresive with his FH, hitting inside-out, next point pushes a sjort ball in the middle which is crushed by Fognini. Very inconsistent. I mean, come, just go all out, make 60 UEs but find your shots.
4. Tha backhand. OMG, what happened to his backhand??? It used to be so solid and reliable. Now he is running around it leaving the whole court open! Rafa, you are not 25 anymore, you can't chase every ball down!
5. His fitness level. He looked tired to me in the second set. How is he going to play 3 out of 5?

So, unless he gets seriously to work (backhand/returns/serve mostly) in the next week and a half, nothing goog will come out of those 2 Masters and Roland Garros.

Ok, on a lighter note, my Spurs played an awesome game yesterday defeating the Clippers in overtime. Timmy Duncan is 39 years old and he played 42 minutes scoring 28 with 11 rebounds and 4 assists. The guy us in great shape. Maybe Rafa should look up to him for inspiration!

You guys take care, I will see you around

Great to see you general Tee.
That is a great post.

You spell it all out perfectly.

I could not agree more.

There is not much age difference in Nole and Rafa.

There is nothing wrong with Rafa.

He just refuses to work 7 hours a day to get back on track.

He has no injuries and no illness.

He just has failing game and drastically failing fitness.

He can fix some of the issues but he has to return a lot stronger physically and fitness wise if he wants to win again.

thetruth · « **Reply #2000 on:** April 23, 2015, 12:23:39 pm »

Quote from: Clay Death on April 23, 2015, 11:26:20 am

Rafa also refused to go to Casablanca to get some matches under his belt.

This is not me talking. Some players are saying that Rafa look horribly out of form both physically and game wise.

At some point I will need to start writing this year off.

I don't think he is hungry enough anymore. He let it all go after that loss at the Australian Open.

Injuries took away a lot from too.

The loss to Berdych? Hm. Psychologically, maybe. I hadn't thought about that. I didn't expect him to beat Berdych coming off of injury, but maybe he was smarting over the AO curse. Every year something crazy seems to happen at the Oz.

There's still time left in the year. Champions like Rafa aren't going to go away without a fight.

We shall see what he's made of now.

thetruth · « **Reply #2001 on:** April 23, 2015, 12:26:31 pm »

Quote from: Clay Death on April 23, 2015, 11:29:57 am

My day is ruined.

I incorrectly thought that we would at least take Barcelona.

Nothing less than 2-3 practice sessions will start to fix the inconsistency.

He has to work if he wants to win.

"My day is ruined."

LOLOLOLOLOL!

He'll be back, CD, if only for you.

We can't have you jumping off the rails.

He should have come back on clay. Disappointing hard court losses will do nothing for your confidence.

But Rafa is strong. He knows how to take things in stride. He's honest, too. He knows he's not where he's supposed to be and he says he's working towards it. I think he will.

thetruth · « **Reply #2002 on:** April 23, 2015, 12:29:15 pm »

Quote from: Clay Death on April 23, 2015, 11:34:45 am

Quote from: thetruth on April 23, 2015, 10:46:17 am
Break point conversions 4/14.

And there's the match.

Rafa has a lot to work on, but I'm sure he'll do it, in time.

The French though, may be out of the question.

I'm preparing myself mentally.

What else can i do?

We both have to start facing reality. I keep dreaming of number 15 at RG.

He can't beat anybody with his current game and current fitness.

He should have been able to take Barcelona on 1 leg.

I have to agree with you.

He is not hurting anymore. There is no illness or injury.

If this does not wake him up then nothing will.

I think he's going to be OK, just not when we want it. Now he knows what he has to do, but there's not enough time. He hasn't grooved on HC or clay. Maybe he thought it would all come back, but it hasn't.

Seems ol' Rafa needs a wake up call. Maybe today was it.

Clay Death · « **Reply #2003 on:** April 23, 2015, 12:31:18 pm »

Quote from: thetruth on April 23, 2015, 12:20:06 pm

Quote from: Clay Death on April 23, 2015, 11:20:52 am
There was exactly zero need to vacation in Costa Rica and then waste 10 more days on account of Miami masters.

You just knew this was going to happen.

He had taken clay for granted because of his huge competitive edge on that surface.

now there are at least 20 players that can trouble him on that surface.

Fognini would have won no more than 3 games against fit and properly prepared Rafa.

He just didn't play well and he messed up at crucial times in the match. It was almost as if he was coasting thinking Fognini would lose his nerve. I'm used to Rafa knowing the geometry of the court, but he was way off in that respect also. Getting broken back three times in a set? Unheard of.

Maybe this is the kick in the but that he needs. Who knows?

He is just showing up with insufficient preparation.

There should be zero fitness issues as general Tee has suggested in a short best of 3 sets match in only his 2nd match.

He lost early at Monte Carlo. He had plenty of time to prepare mentally and physically to take a few matches here at least.

He won easily against almagro. He should not have been tired in the 2d set against Fog.

I will hold out some hope but this is not looking good.

The real tragedy is that I knew this was going to happen 3 years ago.

he stopped working hard enough to dominate even on his own surface.

thetruth · « **Reply #2004 on:** April 23, 2015, 12:35:15 pm »

Quote from: Clay Death on April 23, 2015, 12:16:21 pm

Still a very tiny window left.

He has to start hitting the ball 6-7 hours a day and aim for Rome title.

That will start to repair the damage.

and then we just have get to the quarters in fairly good shape at RG.

He may be able to take it from there with some luck.

I am writing off Madrid.

He needs practice courts and he needs Rome.

He's got to get serious now. No more playing around. I am not even hopeful for the next tournament. The pressure is mounting. Rome and Madrid? Hm.

I'll take any change I can get. First he needs to clean up those match stats. Totally awful.

Clay Death · « **Reply #2005 on:** April 23, 2015, 12:38:44 pm »

To put it in perspective Fog had never won a single match in Barcelona in 5 years.

Clay Death · « **Reply #2006 on:** April 23, 2015, 12:47:10 pm »

I am Rafa's greatest fan on the planet.

And I can assure you that what general Tee said is 100 percent accurate.

Rafa just has to work. It is that simple.

At the current rate look for him to drop out of top 20.

They are all working like dogs.

Rafa is the only one who is not.

He has to decide quickly how much he wants it.

All his troubles are related to inactivity and too many outside interests.

He should not have let that happen right in his prime. Especially when he could have gone after the history books.

We are talking just 3-4 more slams.

Now he can't even win a 250 level tournament.

He is just not prepared to compete and win.

I don't know what happened to his relentless drive and will to win. Why did he lose focus so close to rewriting history books.

Clay Death · « **Reply #2007 on:** April 23, 2015, 04:27:50 pm »

I am still in absolute shock.

Fog had not won a single match in Barcelona in over 5 years.

There is only one way out:

Rafa has to forget everything else and just focus on fitness and his tennis.

No way out except total and complete focus on fitness and tennis.

He is out of top 20 and even top 30 if he does not get busy with fitness and tennis.

Rafa would have beaten Fog as a 15 year old.

He has to focus and find his relentless will to win.

Clay Death · « **Reply #2008 on:** April 23, 2015, 07:47:51 pm »

clay is the only thing that can help him get back on the right track.

he has to go get on clay as soon as Wimbledon is over.

clay is the wellspring from which he flows. 46 clay titles spell that out.

and if he refuses to get on clay after Wimbledon then prepare for even greater decline and greater free fall.

hard courts will mean only more injuries with the significant decline in fitness and physicality.

it is now time to back off he hard courts. I would think that he and his team would see that.

they went to Miami to collect the appearance fee. there was no need for that $1.5 million when you have nearly $300 million.

and each RG crown is worth over $30 million.

they went to Miami knowing they were giving up valuable and critical practice on clay.

there is still time but unless adjustments are made his best is long gone and there will be no more comebacks.

you are only given so many comebacks in a tennis career.

I for one will be forever sad because he was so close to the record. and he could have won 3 more RG crowns simply by not neglecting clay so much.

damn I am heartbroken over what he has done to himself.

he had the last 6 months to prepare for the single most critical clay season of his career and all he could do was give it minimal attention.

once again to put things in perspective, Fog had not won a single match in Barcelona in over 5 years.

this just went from being horribly unprepared to damn near hopeless.

Clay Death · « **Reply #2009 on:** April 23, 2015, 10:19:10 pm »

this is what Rafa said:

“I didn't have enough power or speed on my forehand. I didn't have control of the points with my forehand. When I was in good positions, I couldn't push Fognini back. When that happens, my game can't hurt my opponent. That was the case today.”

and this is what I have been saying for nearly 3 years now. he was losing his fitness and his once supreme physicality little by little and he was not willing to reverse that process.

there is not sufficient velocity on his strokes. and he is also playing too far back from his backhand corner.

they know what he is going to do and they can get to his shots with a second to spare.

and as general Tee has pointed out, he is giving them over 1/2 of the court to blast away. he just cant get to those balls anymore with such diminished fitness and physicality.

he is doing the same thing in his practice sessions. often he just retreats to his backhand corner so he can just hit forehands.

bringing in Monaco to work with was a terrible idea. he was farting around with Monaco with his lazy practice session the day before he got run over Nick at Wimbledon last year. they don't really work hard. for about 90 minutes they fart around. and they have uncle tony as their ball boy.

until Rafa starts to train very seriously for 6-7 hours a day it is a very long and hard road back.

I am at a bloody loss. I would do something about it. he is the greatest gladiator of tennis the world has ever seen or known.

why cant he find the will to fight and win.

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Author Topic: The Truth's Rant And Rave Show: Now In Progress (Read 65999 times)

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