Ladies and gentlemen, I am concerned...very concerned, in fact! I am almost at the point of saying that GOAThood is more or less not happening now. Why? Not because he's become rubbish now, well, he has in a way. Having 46 UFEs with 26 of them from the backhand side is not healthy. First it was the forehand, we thought he fixed it...now the backhand?!? I guess what makes all the more frustrating for us is that we know he can do better. OK, imagine what it must be like for him...?
What is it? Does he need a shrink or something? In fact, the last person to take the game so seriously at a mental level was none other than Ivan 'The Truth' Lendl*! I have made comparisons of the Fed-Nadal rivalry to Lendl-Becker and today reinforced something for me, it seems as though he has his mind too firmly set on GOAThood - perhaps it's clouding his focus. To be world no.1, one has to win more than just the Slams.
Back to Lendl...I see a link - Tony Roche!! We know how Rochy turned Fed from that graceful, exquisite serve-and-volleyer into an agressive baseliner. OK, it won him a shed load of Slams...or did it? People have often commented that the rest of the field was not a patch on today's line-up. Could he have done just as well if he was the serve-and-volleyer? Does Rochy plant the choking seed in their minds?!? Only kidding...
BTW, it's nice to see The A-Rod rejuvenated! I wouldn't mind a cup of whatever he's been drinking during the off-season. Also, respect to how Nalbandian gave Nadal a tennis lesson (albeit for a set!). However, Tsonga was the last chap to give the world no.1 a right royal whupping!
Is it that I am seeing The Fed undergo nothing out of the ordinary?! Admittedly, I have never really kept in touch with Masters events outside the Slams for a good few years now. I know towards the end of last year he had a string of losses against the likes of Murray and Simon...talk to me, people!
* - Snoop Dogg (yes, the rapper!) once said on a BBC interview that he was into tennis as a kid! He thought that Lendl was, and I quote, "old skool" and that "...Ivan was the truth!".
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