I think he simply reached his peak, got injured, had the fracas with HID and has been declining ever since.
Nothing mystical or strange about it.
You can't stay top of the tree forever
Sooner or later your ability declines whether you like it or not and no matter how hard to try to reverse the process it just ain't gonna happen .
He's on a slippery slope and his ass is grass...
Excellent post! This means I'm yet to peak!