The Fall of Rafael Nadal

[Carol]

I get that this level of Rafa is not easy to watch. And I would argue he needs a sports psychologist more than a fitness trainer. And if you can't watch him play, you are not his "greatest fan on this planet." Let's face it, you lost faith in him a long time ago. Perhaps it's heartbreak, and you're welcome to that. But slagging him off for not trying is not being a fan.

Agreed, I said long time ago he needs someone to help him mentally more than anything else and like I said in my previous post his alternate coach who knows him more than anyone else is having a hard time to help him
When the head doesn't work well the rest of the body neither

 

[ClayDeath]

he is a smart dude. he knows exactly what he is doing.

he doesn't care to win and according cant get himself to put in the hard work and the sacrifices required to win.


everybody that is putting in the hard yards on the fitness front and doing sufficient gym work and practicing long and hard is winning.

I think you need 1/2 of just 1 eye to see that he is spent after just 40 minutes of play. he has also lost significant muscle mass.

that is called inactivity. limited work ethic means limited wins.

smart people at his matches say his shots have significantly less weight, less spin, and also less depth.


again this is new. it has been going on for a while now. in fact simon blasted 60 winner on rafa on clay in rome a couple of years ago.

now rafa says that players are just hitting too many winners from all over the court. I know that is just lip service and idle talk.


he is just dropping everything too short. they pounce on his shots as if they have not eaten in a month.


again where is the fitness? where is the physical work in the gym? where is long and hard yards on the practice courts on clay?



until this gets taken care of absolutely nothing is going to be available to him on the circuit. as a matter of fact even the challenger level events on clay will be out of reach at the current rate if they are not already.


more later.

 

[masterclass]

Sorry general.

I had to laugh at your reference to Simon blasting 60 winners.
Paperweight Gilles Simon looks like the next candidate for the Hunger Games from district 14 in Paris and just doesn't seem like he could blast his way out of a paper bag. .
But he must be stronger than he looks.

Gilles SImon - 5'11/180 cm and about 145 lbs./65kg after his last full meal.

 

[isabelle]

Simon was called "poussin' when he was a kid....he has always been skin and bones

 

[ClayDeath]

Sorry general.

I had to laugh at your reference to Simon blasting 60 winners.
Paperweight Gilles Simon looks like the next candidate for the Hunger Games from district 14 in Paris and just doesn't seem like he could blast his way out of a paper bag. .
But he must be stronger than he looks.

Gilles SImon - 5'11/180 cm and about 145 lbs./65kg after his last full meal.

he is probably out looking for food right now. the man has not eaten in a month.

 

[ClayDeath]

general masterclass it might be time to post that old image of Thomas Muster strapped to the bench while he is practicing his top spin forehands.

proving once again that you don't even need legs to practice your topspin forehand to make sure it stays sharp and never goes away.

it is all about the relentless will to win and the long hard yards on the practice courts and the fitness front.

Rafa sent his relentless will packing. he has no desire to win.

some of his blind worshippers are not getting this. the man does not care to win.

if he wanted to win badly enough he would take steps to bring that about.


if he really wanted to win he would do something about it. it never was a matter of confidence crises. it was a matter of insufficient fire in the belly and the steadfast refusal to put in the hard yards and the sacrifice required to win.


he does not need a shrink. he knows exactly what he is doing. he needs 2 fitness experts. one for overall tennis specific fitness and one for the gym for physical work.

that is priority #1. second priority is that he needs to get his ass on clay and stay there. 2 practice sessions a day on clay lasting 7 hours will start to repair some of the damage.


more later.

 

[masterclass]

No picture general, but a video might tell the story too.
This is what you do when you suffer and want it bad enough.
From what I can recall, 21 year old Muster on April 1, 1989, just after winning his semifinal match vs. Noah in Miami, suffered the car accident standing behind his parked car when a drunk driver going the wrong way down a one way street hit his car in a head on collision..
He had to give Ivan Lendl a walkover in the final and was diagnosed with a severe knee injury damaging ligaments in his left knee. Doctors said it might take about 6-9 months rehabilitation before he could start playing.
With single minded purpose in his rehab and improvisations like the bench you see in the video, his rehab went faster than expected and he returned to tournament play about 5 1/2 months later in Barcelona. but didn't win another title until Adelaide the next year.
As most people know he won the 1995 French Open, that was among his 11 clay titles that year, the second highest clay total/year in the Open Era, behind workhorse Vilas' 13 in 1977.
Muster was a real beast, very intense.. Ironically, he won his last title in Miami in 1997 at the age of 29...



Respectfully,
masterclass

 

[ClayDeath]

No picture general, but a video might tell the story too.
This is what you do when you suffer and want it bad enough.
From what I can recall, 21 year old Muster on April 1, 1989, just after winning his semifinal match vs. Noah in Miami, suffered the car accident standing behind his parked car when a drunk driver going the wrong way down a one way street hit his car in a head on collision..
He had to give Ivan Lendl a walkover in the final and was diagnosed with a severe knee injury damaging ligaments in his left knee. Doctors said it might take about 6-9 months rehabilitation before he could start playing.
With single minded purpose in his rehab and improvisations like the bench you see in the video, his rehab went faster than expected and he returned to tournament play about 5 1/2 months later in Barcelona. but didn't win another title until Adelaide the next year.
As most people know he won the 1995 French Open, that was among his 11 clay titles that year, the second highest clay total/year in the Open Era, behind workhorse Vilas' 13 in 1977.
Muster was a real beast, very intense.. Ironically, he won his last title in Miami in 1997 at the age of 29...



Respectfully,
masterclass

that is a wonderful story of relentless will to win. he was actually told that he would never even walk properly, let alone play tennis.

he was a on a quest and nothing was going to stop him. he would reinvent himself on clay and go on to become #1 in the world.

the drunk drive cost him in a big way. he could have been better and picked up more glory.

it is the greatest story never told in tennis. he was going to reach #1 in tennis even if he had to climb mt. Everest and swim the 7 seas both in a same week.

 

[ClayDeath]

just look at the determination on his face in that video.

that should be shown to every single up and coming new player in our sport.

that look of determination says it all about Thomas Muster.

 

[Denis]

Ha Muster a real cult hero. Must surely be the only ranked number 1 player never to have won a match at Wimbledon.

 

[ClayDeath]

inactivity killed his game. way too much time away from the sport right in his prime.

you are going to eventually get run over by everyone if you don't innovate, progress, and improve but throw in inactivity and you have absolute disaster on your hands.

now some are saying he has even forgotten how to hit the ball. they say he is too anxious with his shots.

 

[Billie]

There is supposed to be an exhibition that will feature Nole, Rafa, Serena and Flavia in Milan on September 22 & 23 of this year. Anybody else hear about it?

 

[britbox]

Ha Muster a real cult hero. Must surely be the only ranked number 1 player never to have won a match at Wimbledon.

Muster's comeback was remarkable...

One other thing I always remember about Tomas (and some Muster fans will likely want to forget) was his 0-10 record against Stefan Edberg. Edberg was simply Kryptonite to Tomas on every surface. Stefan also whitewashed him 4-0 on clay among those ten victories.

 

[ClayDeath]

There is supposed to be an exhibition that will feature Nole, Rafa, Serena and Flavia in Milan on September 22 & 23 of this year. Anybody else hear about it?

I heard about it.


that is what he wants to do more and more of these days. he has lined up an indoor hard court exo just before the clay season in Puerto Rico as well.



again if he wanted to win he would do something about it.


this is his 2 year long retirement circuit. 2015 and 2016. that is why the decline is so massive and so severe.


at this rate there can be only one inescapable conclusion: he is done and mostly will have to walk at the end of this year.


he refuses to put in the work and sacrifice required to win. money is bigger than ever and his popularity continues to skyrocket.

so he hangs on for the spotlight and the money as would anybody. it is impossible to walk away from the kind of money we are talking about.

it is around $41-$45 million a year.


he left too much glory on the table. he could have taken more slams and more masters titles. he walked away from the opportunity to stare history in the face as djokovic and Federer are trying to do.

 

[Denis]

CD: is your browser stuck in this thread or something? There is other stuff going on too in tennis land

 

[ClayDeath]

My world is clay court tennis and players like Vilas, Muster, and the Clay Warrior.

 

[masterclass]

Roger Federer just announced he is not playing on the hard courts of Indian Wells and Miami.
He'll be heading to Monte Carlo to play on the beautiful clay courts of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters instead.
Maybe Rafa is listening?

It just might be one of the most beautifully situated courts in the world.

I also have it on good authority that Roger will be training in March all month on clay in Switzerland and/or perhaps some other warmer venue up until the week before Monte Carlo.starts in April...

Admiringly,
masterclass

 

[britbox]

@masterclass - Do you know if Novak is going to Monte Carlo?

 

[britbox]

Roger Federer just announced he is not playing on the hard courts of Indian Wells and Miami.
He'll be heading to Monte Carlo to play on the beautiful clay courts of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters instead.
Maybe Rafa is listening?

It just might be one of the most beautifully situated courts in the world.

I also have it on good authority that Roger will be training in March all month on clay in Switzerland and/or perhaps some other warmer venue up until the week before Monte Carlo.starts in April...

Admiringly,
masterclass

The views of Monte Carlo are always a pleasure. Maybe the most picturesque venue in the world.

 

[masterclass]

@masterclass - Do you know if Novak is going to Monte Carlo?

He is scheduled to play, also Madrid, surprisingly, Baron britbox.
But first he needs to get over his eye problem in time to play Davis Cup.

Respectfully,
masterclass