The Fall of Rafael Nadal

[ClayDeath]

Return is weak. In fact it is just about pathetic.

Insufficient depth and pace on the shots.

he is not really able to dictate.

They just flail away and swing for the fences. And he is like a hapless rat on a string.

this level is not really good enough.

Translation:

There is lot of work to be done.

 

[masterclass]

I might get flack for this, but it's a good time for Rafa to exit on his own terms tomorrow.

He almost made Sousa look like a world beater today.

He is obviously still not ready...

The draw gods gave Rafa this draw in Rome:

1R – BYE
2R – Kohlschreiber
3R – Raonic / Kyrgios
QF – Djokovic
SF – Federer? (who knows if he'll play?)
F – Murray?

Forget Madrid. Nadal will need all his energy for Rome to get past Djokovic and be ready for Roland Garros.

Respectfully,
masterclass

 

[Denis]

I might get flack for this, but it's a good time for Rafa to exit on his own terms tomorrow.

He almost made Sousa look like a world beater today.

He is obviously still not ready...

The draw gods gave Rafa this draw in Rome:

1R – BYE
2R – Kohlschreiber
3R – Raonic / Kyrgios
QF – Djokovic
SF – Federer? (who knows if he'll play?)
F – Murray?

Forget Madrid. Nadal will need all his energy for Rome to get past Djokovic and be ready for Roland Garros.

Respectfully,
masterclass

I once said Nadal would tank a semi at RG to avoid Djokovic in the final. I got a lot of flack for it.

Curious to see how he holds up to Murray now. Repitition of last year's final, which is where I saw one of the most pathetic showings of Nadal ever. Surely it wont be as bad tomorrow.

 

[ClayDeath]

I might get flack for this, but it's a good time for Rafa to exit on his own terms tomorrow.

He almost made Sousa look like a world beater today.

He is obviously still not ready...

The draw gods gave Rafa this draw in Rome:

1R – BYE
2R – Kohlschreiber
3R – Raonic / Kyrgios
QF – Djokovic
SF – Federer? (who knows if he'll play?)
F – Murray?

Forget Madrid. Nadal will need all his energy for Rome to get past Djokovic and be ready for Roland Garros.

Respectfully,
masterclass

this is one of the few situations where a loss tomorrow might be a good thing for the clay warrior.

he has a lot of work to do and maybe a loss will increase his resolve more to work much harder than he has been working.


I don't see any dramatic gains in fitness and physicality.

all I see is a player who has decided to fight a little better out there and try to be more competitive than he has been in a very long time.

it is the magic of heavy topspin. it works well on the clay. it gives you the consistency you need to win matches.

he is able to beat lesser players with a slightly more focus and little more willingness to fight.

what he cant afford is 2 complete devastations at the hands of djokovic.

who has the order of play? who is playing first?


if djokovic loses then it might be worth it to go for the title.

but there is no way he is beating djokovic with this game. he still has a lot of work to do.

 

[ClayDeath]

I once said Nadal would tank a semi at RG to avoid Djokovic in the final. I got a lot of flack for it.

Curious to see how he holds up to Murray now. Repitition of last year's final, which is where I saw one of the most pathetic showings of Nadal ever. Surely it wont be as bad tomorrow.

rafa would never tank a semi at RG to avoid djokovic or anybody.

if he gets to the semis at RG then he knows he has a shot at the title. he would do all he can to try win that semifinal match.

RG is a different deal altogether.

we are just talking about Madrid and Rome: there is no need to get killed by djokovic at both events.

rafa is not very fit anymore. he cant run right through all these clay events like he used to. he also doesn't have his game.

so a loss tomorrow would be considered a good loss. he actually needs a little bit of rest. and he needs to avoid injury.

 

[Moxie]

I once said Nadal would tank a semi at RG to avoid Djokovic in the final. I got a lot of flack for it.

Curious to see how he holds up to Murray now. Repitition of last year's final, which is where I saw one of the most pathetic showings of Nadal ever. Surely it wont be as bad tomorrow.

In fairness, it's usually easier to hear from a fan than a fan of the opponent, and "tanking" is a loaded term. Plus, it's one thing to bail on Madrid, but a Major is quite another. Should be a tough match tomorrow. And as much as I can see it might be strategic to avoid Novak for the moment, I don't think "tank" is in Nadal's vocab. But he might just plain lose.

 

[ClayDeath]

Rafa has the first semifinal:


http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/madrid/1536/daily-schedule

 

[masterclass]

Rafa has the first semifinal:


http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/madrid/1536/daily-schedule

Thanks for the schedule general.

So that's it then. Rafa/Uncle Toni have to decide what to do..
I think we will see a tactical loss. We don't know how, but there are many ways.
Maybe he'll just play poorly at crucial times and lose to Murray.

Or, maybe Rafa will "get hurt a little" during the match, take a MTO, and even win against Murray, but be unfit to play in the final.
That's another way to fit Uncle Toni's plan.

The question is that even if Nadal plays very well against Murray, do he and Uncle Toni want to meet Djokovic in Madrid's final?

Uncle Toni: 'What I want is to win. I know against Djokovic we have few chances than we (would) have with others, so why tempt fate? And I do not like playing against David Ferrer or Murray too. I like playing against players ranked lower than us."

Respectfully,
masterclass

 

[masterclass]

Nadal had to drop his level to about 20% to lose the 1st set, because Murray didn't seem to want it either. Terrible set of tennis.

 

[ClayDeath]

Thanks for the schedule general.

So that's it then. Rafa/Uncle Toni have to decide what to do..
I think we will see a tactical loss. We don't know how, but there are many ways.
Maybe he'll just play poorly at crucial times and lose to Murray.

Or, maybe Rafa will "get hurt a little" during the match, take a MTO, and even win against Murray, but be unfit to play in the final.
That's another way to fit Uncle Toni's plan.

The question is that even if Nadal plays very well against Murray, do he and Uncle Toni want to meet Djokovic in Madrid's final?

Uncle Toni: 'What I want is to win. I know against Djokovic we have few chances than we (would) have with others, so why tempt fate? And I do not like playing against David Ferrer or Murray too. I like playing against players ranked lower than us."

Respectfully,
masterclass

tony really spells it all out over and over again general but nobody ever listens.


rafa is just a shell of what he used to be. they all used to be terrified of rafa on clay.

now rafa and his uncle are terrified of the top players even on clay.

this is why I think andy has a better chance at RG than Rafa.


we wont really know for sure if this was a tactical loss. what we do know is that rafa is not very fit anymore and has just about 40% of his game left.

he cant even take care of his serve. he cant return well.

has little or no depth in his strokes. there is dramatic drop in the pace of his shots. they don't sting anymore. even a legless color blind circus clown can get to his shots.


he has got to start working a lot harder if he wants big titles.

 

[masterclass]

General, I remember when 10 Unforced errors on Clay in 2 sets was about as many as you would see from Rafa.
Usually about 5-8.

He had 30 UEs today including more missed overhead smashes and drop shots than I've ever seen him miss.

He couldn't have been worse and Murray had 35 UEs himself.

Early in the second set I saw Nadal leaning on his racquet with his head down in the middle of the court after a 15 shot rally out of breath or legs.

Well, Uncle Toni couldn't have been more clear.

Djokovic lies in Clay Warrior's path in Rome, this time in the QF.
Sometime he is going to have to play him and face the truth.
He needs to decide if he wants to win or not.
Sadly, it may no longer be in his hands. But we'll see.

Respectfully,
masterclass

 

[ClayDeath]

General, I remember when 10 Unforced errors on Clay in 2 sets was about as many as you would see from Rafa.
Usually about 5-8.

He had 30 UEs today including more missed overhead smashes and drop shots than I've ever seen him miss.

He couldn't have been worse and Murray had 35 UEs himself.

Early in the second set I saw Nadal leaning on his racquet with his head down in the middle of the court after a 15 shot rally out of breath or legs.

Well, Uncle Toni couldn't have been more clear.

Djokovic lies in Clay Warrior's path in Rome, this time in the QF.
Sometime he is going to have to play him and face the truth.
He needs to decide if he wants to win or not.
Sadly, it may no longer be in his hands. But we'll see.

Respectfully,
masterclass

He once had just 7 errors in a best of 5 sets match on clay.


Rust from 2 years of inactivity and lost focus and drive is a little too clear.

He is going to have to make sacrifices if he wants to win at the highest levels.

 

[ClayDeath]

Sadly Rome deal does not look good for him at this point.

 

[ClayDeath]

He simply has no fitness. and he has insufficient physicality for sustained performance needed at the highest levels.

 

[britbox]

 

[ClayDeath]

this is the real tragedy here for rafa and the rafa fans:

assuming it was a tactical loss, he is having to run and hide like cowards from his own clay kingdom.


and assuming he was out to win, he had nothing to give. 30 unforced errors against a player he has owned on every surface over the years and most especially on clay. he was out of steam and he had little or no game to impose on andy.

he wont make it past the quarters in rome assuming he even gets to the quarters.

 

[ClayDeath]

djokovic has repeatedly said that he can pass both rafa and roger in slams.

that should be enough motivation right there for rafa to try to slow djokovic down.

instead he and tony have decided that is best to run from him. they also think djokovic cant maintain this high level.


absolutely horse crap. djokovic is better than ever and getting better with each passing week.

he is far better than last year.

rafa is going to have to decide once for all: does he want another slam and slow down djokovic in order to do it.

there is only way to do this. you have to put in the very long and hard yards on the practice courts and also in the training room.

and that clearly is not happening.

 

[ClayDeath]

it was his kingdom.

he gave it away.

 

[britbox]

I don't think for a minute that it was a tactical loss. Rafa usually grinds Murray down and breaks him mentally. He wasn't able to put himself in a position to break Murray mentally... but I don't think it was tactical. He was outplayed to be frank. I don't think Murray felt the pressure because it simply wasn't there. Not by design...

 

[ClayDeath]

I don't think for a minute that it was a tactical loss. Rafa usually grinds Murray down and breaks him mentally. He wasn't able to put himself in a position to break Murray mentally... but I don't think it was tactical. He was outplayed to be frank. I don't think Murray felt the pressure because it simply wasn't there. Not by design...

it ultimately does become a mental matter when you don't have sufficient game and sufficient fitness.

I would be less confident of beating the top players too if I was not bothering with the proper preparation.


rafa wants to be more competitive now but he is also winging it.


rafa and his camp think they can get by until djokovic's level drops. that is not going to happen.

djokovic has made it clear that he is going to pass both rafa and roger in slams. so he is not going to let his level drop.

also djokovic is not the only one rafa has to worry about now. now andy knows he can beat rafa.

andy is a bright chap. he can see that rafa doesn't have his usual game and his usual supreme fitness and physicality.

andy used to marvel at rafa's supreme fitness and his superhuman physical strength. not anymore.


now there is a new superman out there: his name?

djokovic