excellent post general mc.
he is better off forgetting about hard courts. you can see what they have done to him and his game. it is a little too damn obvious.
now the hard courts will end his career for good next. but he is not too bright so expect a career ending move next.
i informed people 5 years ago that hard courts would finish off his knee, his movement, and his only competitive advantage which was clay.
so you saw yesterday and the day before against chardy that he is useless now.
so i am not surprised but i am disappointed and not very happy with him.
now he can go brag some more about his bloody indoor hard court on his facebook page some more. nobody really gives a damn if he wins another match. i for one hope he never wins another singles match and a single tournament as long as he has exos on hard courts, doubles, golf, screwing around, and poker in mind.
if he does not curtail/cut back on the hard court activity and this doubles madness which is really what cost him the singles title in chile then he will remain useless.
and he will continue to fall in ranking. lets face it. he has proven that nobody can help an idiot.
his best days are over. an exit from the sport is next.
time to back off the hard courts---match play and practice--was right after he won the australian open in 2009.
that is when he should have built himself an indoor clay court and practiced there on year around bases. he would be sitting on 4-5 more slams if he had done that and his rank would have been much higher.
Yes, you are quite right General Hercules, I'm still trying to understand his doubles entry intent. I guess he thinks he needs as many matches of any kind to help his timing as much as possible, but personally, I don't see it helping his singles enough to merit doing it. If anything, if you are playing doubles properly, it sharpens mental quickness and reactions more than anything. The strategy for playing doubles is much different from singles. Perhaps it can help with accuracy of placement on the return game, but mainly in doubles you are trying to return quite short over the net with dipping shots, many time going for the center of the court between the two players, or sharp angles when at the net, not things you would usually do in singles play these days. It's not really going to help him in fitness, and quick sharp movements, especially up and back, seem to me to risk his knees even more. At least in singles, he is mostly running in the back of the court east-west. I would rather he focus on singles, and on the off time between matches, practice his returns with tough serving players.
Respectfully,
masterclass
doubles focus is what cost him that title in chile the other day.
he was more focused on his doubles.
he could have used that time to work on problem areas that required immediate attention: the serve and the return but especially the return.
you cant win if you cant break. how the hell is going to break murray, nole, and roger now?
he could not even break some nobody on clay who does not even have a big serve. this dude had never won an atp title before.
nadal lost for 2 reasons:
1. he threw away his fitness
2. not proper focus on his singles game which is in total shambles