CAMELOT FANTASIES

that was perhaps david goffin's best chance to take down an all time great.


but it was just not meant to be. looks like they all get nervous against djokovic when the going gets tough and it is crunch time.


his fitness and his physicality is intimidating to them. that is what sets him apart today.


and then his movement is 2nd to none. he is almost never late.



as for rafa he is just not showing up with sufficient preparation and this has been going on for 2 years now. only now it is worse than ever.


but I maintain that unless he can get back on clay to fix his ground game and also start putting in significant time on his fitness and physicality, the slide will continue.


there is no progress. there is only decline.


he has only a tiny window left but it is closing fast. it has to be clay where he has to try to climb back on the train.


I can tell you what is going to happen right now: with his current level of play and fitness the probability is very high for an injury.


so it is really a blessing in a way to keep losing after a match or 2 in these events. less of a chance for an injury.

andy vs nole match was 3 hours long in montreal with 86 degrees F and nearly 46% humidity. rafa gets worn out in 40 minutes of play under cool conditions.


there will be a bit of an off season. he has to go decide if he wants it.

otherwise it is better to walk away. I don't want to see him keep losing to all these unknown aging players who would have never had a chance against him when he was driven and focused.

I also don't want a career ending injury.


he needs fitness and he needs clay. it is either that or no cigar.
clay is the wellspring from which he flows. that is where he can rediscover his ground game.



general masterclass is right. roger is pushing 35 now. rafa would have won 2 games against him at best.

Here Is The RHOA Tea From Kenya Moore’s Launch Party

AUGUST 18, 2015 · 2:01 PM

TMZ keeps running these stories about who production has hired to “replace Nene.” First it was Kim Fields, then it was Sheree Whitfield, now it is Amiyah Scott. Well, one out of three ain’t bad. I told you that Kim Fields recently worked the kinks out of her contract and is now filming here:.
As for the usual game of musical peaches, Kenya, Cynthia, Kandi remain as close to sure things as we ever have at this point in the season. I’m told Kim Fields has officially signed on. All the other potentials have fallen by the wayside. So that leaves Phaedra, Porsha and even Cynthia’s sister Mallory to play hot potato for a peach. Andy seems to love Phaedra so she’s probably going to end up with one. Carlos loves Porsha so things are much improved for her.

At this point, barring any last minute indecision by production, the peaches go to Kenya, Cynthia, Kandi, Phaedra, Porsha and Kim.  I do not think there will be a seventh peach, but you never know.

What TMZ doesn’t seem to understand is that Sheree, Marlo, Mallory and Amiyah showing up to a taping doesn’t put them on the show as paid participants.  If I started a new post for every picture I saw, I would have been on the Kim Fields is out! bus.  Or Sheree is in!  bandwagon.  I actually know what is happening behind the scenes and it’s just not that simple.  Sheree, Marlo and Mallory are making day rate pay of about $1.500 or so depending on a few variables.  Amiyah probably just signed a release.  The only person Amiyah has followed on Twitter is Kenya and that is because she was at her event.

The only thing the photos tell me is that Phaedra and Porsha have seemingly secured their peaches as I predicted above.  With the upheaval in production this season, things are more precarious than ever.

Here is what I know.  Every year Atlanta hosts the Bronner Brothers Hair Care Convention.  I believe the above gif is from Kenya during her first RHOA season.  How quickly things change. This year, Kenya held a launch for Moore Hair Care in front of all the RHOA cameras.

Bravo rented out a space downtown at the M. Rich building to host an event about Kenya’s hair care product launch. Tamaratattles exclusive sources say that the attendees included Kenya Moore and a handsome white man she is reportedly dating, and Kim Fields and her husband. Porsha was there without her latest trick um dude. Claudia was there with a date but did not stay too long, she was just there to wish Kenya well on her endeavor.   And all the folks you see pictured above. Kandi Burruss  there but VERY briefly, she had another event related to Bronners I think it was a Toya Wright event.  Also, some sites say Demetria McKinney was there, she was not.  Peter was also NOT there. Interesting?

So to address rumors, Claudia was there for a bit, and mic’d. She was with actor Rob Riley. I doubt she will be on the episode, she was just making a brief appearance and left with Rob after making her rounds.   She is unlikely to be back on RHOA as I mentioned she has other things going on.  Amiyah Scott was there. And she was filmed. She did get to sit down, unlike Sheree who is standing there fanning her menopausal self out of camera range. To be fair, multiple told me it was quite hot in there.  But, it’s clear Sheree is not even in the mix, unless she starts kissing Kenya ass in a very big way.  She tried to come for Kenya at Cynthia’s event, and that may have been her major mistake.  It would not surprise me for Sheree to start eating Kenya’s tossed salad though. Despite TMZ’s constant attempt to tell us who is replacing Nene, no one is replacing Nene, Kenya simply took her rightful place as QUEEN.

In my opinion, someone in production is trying to leak the whole HEY LOOK!  WE HAVE A TRANSGENDER filming with us on RHOA.  I find it a ridiculous and offensive ploy by production to see how it plays.  RHOA has consistently gone for the gays in women’s heels and finger snapping **** to represent the gay men of Atlanta. It’s an extremely pandering and unfair representation of the gay men I know and love in this town and none of us are amused.  Just as Bravo attempts to represent all women from Atlanta as ratchet and black, the gay image is even worse.  Amiyah is on the Internet “interviewing” about her transition asking,” Are butterflies animals?” and displaying the intellect of a general hoodrat.  She’s 27 and.. Her claim to fame seems to be dating rappers on the down low. Allegedly. She’d be great for  Love and Hip Hop. But not for RHOA.

So, to sum it up, someone sent TMZ a photo of a transgender woman filming a scene on RHOA.  Because transgender is the new gay.  I’m sort of repulsed by the whole bandwagon concept. But Bravo has no boundaries, and no issue for using women, black women, gay men, black gay men or any other group to mock. And as long as they pay them well, they will continue to do so. And as long as we tune in, they will continue.

Atlanta is full of local women of all races to publicize. Gay men of all varieties to showcase. But somehow, they always manage to showcase brawling black women and gay men teetering in loubs. And this is all decided by white men in NYC and rubber stamped by black gay showrunners. It’s kind of pathetic. And it is not an accident.

Will they  decide to go even further and bring in a 27 year old onto this show only to exploit her?  I hope not. And according to my production sources, she was just invited to “test”. So we might see here again, but I really doubt it. And contrary to what TMZ says she is neither a RHOA or a FOH.  In the fierce race for FOH between Marlo, Mallory and Sheree, **** doesn’t stand a chance.

TT asked a poster how she came to be at the party:

Oh lol sorry. It was an open Invite. Kenya put it on social media. I’m friends with Brandon on FB and that’s how I saw it. Lots of ppl were talking about it. Since a lot of my real life friends are friends or staff of the cast I said I might as well go. I had a blast. Anybody could have gone. It was just like being an extra, unpaid but food and open bar.

lopez also just got married. he has not been playing much tennis either.


we knew exactly what was going to happen over 2 years ago. this is not rocket science.

in fact I called it as early as 2009.


reckless neglect of clay was going to cost him one day and it did. and now he simply does not feel like fighting anymore.

Sampras is not an idiot. he knows more than we ever will: he said rafa is playing like his career is over.


I think it is. it is a matter of great tragedy to me but it is what it is.

I don't believe he is coming back much stronger next year because next year should have arrived after that pathetic performance he put in at RG this year.

jim courier caught on pretty early as well but we actually saw this happening at Camelot well over 2 years ago when he decided to work less and less on his fitness and was content to put in relatively lazy and aimless practice sessions of 90 minutes.


and now he has missed 1/2 of the year of tennis while being perfectly healthy. he just does not want to play, compete, and fight, and battle.


Sampras said that "he has been out there a while".


translation: considerable expenditure of physical, mental, and emotional capital has taken a toll on him.


his 9 RG crowns are also worth about $1 billion over a lifetime. he is rich beyond belief. that is a variable to consider.



he gets worn out after 40 minutes of play. he complained about heat in hamburg where it was actually cool.


there is just no preparation because there is just no desire to battle and win.


you can put any kind of spin on this if you want to but basically he is going into battle to lose. that is the part that I don't get. he made his name and his stand by being the sport's greatest fighter and gladiator. he won in the past even when he was limping around and injured. now there is no will to win.


more on this later.

lopez also just got married. he has not been playing much tennis either.


we knew exactly what was going to happen over 2 years ago. this is not rocket science.

in fact I called it as early as 2009.


reckless neglect of clay was going to cost him one day and it did. and now he simply does not feel like fighting anymore.

Sampras is not an idiot. he knows more than we ever will: he said rafa is playing like his career is over.


I think it is. it is a matter of great tragedy to me but it is what it is.

I don't believe he is coming back much stronger next year because next year should have arrived after that pathetic performance he put in at RG this year.

jim courier caught on pretty early as well but we actually saw this happening at Camelot well over 2 years ago when he decided to work less and less on his fitness and was content to put in relatively lazy and aimless practice sessions of 90 minutes.


and now he has missed 1/2 of the year of tennis while being perfectly healthy. he just does not want to play, compete, and fight, and battle.


Sampras said that "he has been out there a while".


translation: considerable expenditure of physical, mental, and emotional capital has taken a toll on him.


his 9 RG crowns are also worth about $1 billion over a lifetime. he is rich beyond belief. that is a variable to consider.



he gets worn out after 40 minutes of play. he complained about heat in hamburg where it was actually cool.


there is just no preparation because there is just no desire to battle and win.


you can put any kind of spin on this if you want to but basically he is going into battle to lose. that is the part that I don't get. he made his name and his stand by being the sport's greatest fighter and gladiator. he won in the past even when he was limping around and injured. now there is no will to win.


more on this later.

Both things can't be true. If he's lost all this fitness and neglected the clay, then how can we expect him to win with such depleted assets? That's how I see it. I can see that he has lost fitness in a very physical game, so I don't expect him to win, until he fixes the fitness issue. This would be more concerning for me if he was playing at optimal strength, but he isn't, so how can we expect great results when all the factors say otherwise?

 Federer, Murray Dish on Rafa’s Form

http://www.tennisnow.com/Blogs/NET-POSTS/August-2015/Federer,-Murray-Dish-on-Rafa%E2%80%99s-Form.aspx

After victories last night, both Roger Federer and Andy Murray were asked to give the media their thoughts on the form of Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard fell in round of 16 action to Feliciano Lopez, putting a cloud over his U.S. Open hopes and putting the kibosh on a highly anticipated 34th meeting between Federer and Nadal, but Federer and Murray both believe that Nadal is progressing even if he isn’t seeing the results to prove it just yet.
Each spoke at length when asked about Nadal by Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times. We’ll cut to the chase and give you most of what they said below.

Roger Federer:

“Yeah, it's been tougher. Didn't see him play that much, to be quite honest, just because I don't follow every step he takes. Like all the other players, I see them if they play around me in the draw. Otherwise, if it happens that he plays at the right time I will watch it, clearly.
 “But then I think why it shines through more that it's been a tough year for him is just because the clay court season—well, he didn't win the French for the second time in 10 years. It's like a drama to some. For me it's somewhat normal that you don't win 10 of 10. But he's done so unbelievably well in the clay. Like you said, he set the bar so high for everybody. Clearly can't always live up to it.

“He's come back so strong from injuries so many times that we are used to seeing him bounce back and seeing the top 2, top 3 at least. When he comes back this time it's just not been that easy. I think it's going to take a little bit more time, but I think he's inching closer to where he wants to be. This always has been a tough stretch for him in the past. Even though this is the tournament maybe you wouldn't favor him as much, but he's that great of a champion it could happen any week. It's a good thing if you're Rafa and you know that.

“I mean, he's missing, what, four months playing in the tournaments, whatever it counts for his ranking. So other players have an extra 10 tournaments on him. That's why his ranking is down. But would he have played all of last season normally from, I don't know, Wimbledon all the way through to the World Tour Finals, it would have been different story. The ranking in that case doesn't tell the story."

Andy Murray:

“I think the standards that someone like Rafa has set, like when they don't meet them, yeah, people are obviously very surprised. I mean, the consistency he's had over the years has made him, Roger and Rafa, it has been ridiculous. It's something that I don't think we will be seeing probably for quite a long time when they are done.

“You know, Rafa has obviously—I think he's been fairly healthy this year, but end of last year he didn't play lots of matches. He often talks like he's a player that needs matches to feel confident and comfortable, and he's obviously just lost a few close matches this year. Obviously the one tonight [his loss in a third-set tiebreaker vs. Feliciano Lopez in Cincinnati], I didn't see it, but that's a match that you would normally expect him to maybe normally sneak out in the third set or in the third set tiebreak. When the confidence isn't quite there, then you can lose those matches. But, yeah, I still think that he'll come back and then start playing close to his best tennis again soon."

Roger had this.


Congrats to Roger and his fans.

General masterclass please go fire up my Roger thread at MTF.

Are you guys up to 88 on the MTF forum? If so, that's funny. It just goes to show, that you never know. Predictions are pretty useless in most cases.