Come on Nole, take this win to the semis and keep your points. Everything else is gravy.

I agree Cheryl. I love the excitement that Monfils brings to a tennis match- his sliding all over the court hardly missing a ball, unexpectedly brilliant shots followed by equally bad ones, the way he uses the crowd to pump himself up?I hope Novak makes
it quick and easy tomorrow. Don't wanna see a 5th set between these 2
head cases.

stu, cheryl thinks that nole played well against fish? or fish was tired? what's your take on it?

When facing Djokovic or Roger, Tsonga is far better than Monfils. Monfils doesn't have the killer instinct of Tsonga. He tends to get tired when losing, more in mind than body. He is a good fighter, but less than a champion. It is difficult to see him as the 2010 Delpo.

Of course Nole played well against Fish. He kept moving him around, not letting him dictate play and execute his game plan. And the fact that Fish had only 3 aces in the match showed how well Nole returned. It wasn't due to any injury, as was mentioned in some other thread, or else Fish would've mentioned it in the interview. Saying that Fish let Nole walk all over him I being quite disrespectful to Nole.

Monfils is different though, he'll run after every single shot thrown at him. I don't think Nole will be frustrated at tht since he's had experience playing Monfils as well as Nadal. So I think Nole will come through in 4, Monfils is definitely playing well enough to take a set, mist probably the first or second.

Nole in 4. But, I sincerely hope he'll surprise me again and finish this in 3! Monfils said he would revenge that loss in Paris last year where Nole "embarassed" him in front of his home crowd. So, Nole, cement your last victory, pls. :) Btw, windy and 28-9 degrees in NY today.

rfzr: Fish seemed totally deflated and simply unravelled in the face of Nole's onslaught. By the end of the match he could do nothing right. Sad because he had been playing so well to this point and I really thought he had a sporting chance of making it to the QF. Nole has peaked just at the right time to make the rest of this USO really exciting.

This promises to be a display of gymnastics. I have this mental image of them both doing the splits at the same time D:)

LOL. Thanks, ed, I have that too now :D

I agree on ed's take on Fish and Nole. Fish may be tired coming into this USO as he did played many tournaments prior to the USO: Newport, Newhaven, Washington and Cincy, winning two and reached the final at Cincy. Nole though played well enough to win, no crap play from Nole. Had Fish being in tip top condition, of course the match will not be that easy for Nole but I still believe Nole would still come through (as in the past Nole had defeated Fish every time they met, Nole can simply deal with Fish's game). Yes, Nole has peaked at the right time. In fact each year since 2007, when it comes to the USO, Nole seems to peak at the right time and do well to reach at least the semifinal. I hope this year he can do as well or even better.

All this talk about him peaking just reminded me that At every slam this year, he has lost to someone unexpected immediately after giving the impression that he has found his groove.

rfzr: the perfect place for you to vent might be Bodo's blog post from yesterday. stop picking fights here :P

You never know with Nole!!!!!! I agree with Stu on this one!!!!!! This year he always lost from player we least expected, so I will not be enthusiastic and hope that he will give a good performance instead of a bad one..... This year he has been a roller coaster with his game every good performance was followed by a mediocre or bad performance.... There was very little consistency........ Having said that yes he can beat Monfils, but the match is on his racket to win or loose.

Well at least guys give Nole the benefit of the doubt, he has been consistent here!! We all know his problems with the heat but he has a BIG heart and he has not disappointed yet............so keep the faith!!!

Im happy for Monfils that he was able to reach the Qrtrs, means that he is playing well. If he keeps his focus and play more tennis than clowning around maybe, just maybe, we could have an upset here bcos he is that good, and he is hungry, and full of confidence. However, i am kinda rooting for Nole bcos i think he has a much better chance of making a match of things with Federer than Monfils does!!!

May the best man win!!!

Stu, who did he lose to at the AO? Was it roddick at the quarters or was that last year?

stu i'm not, just want to get the real picture.

btw, thanks for the info ed.

this year AO he lost to Tsonga, last year to Roddick, retirement.

Thanks rfzr. Tsonga? Why don't I remember that..

yea i block out some of his bad losses too. such as miami 2010.
just kidding, rfzr. don't miss bodo's blog tho, in case you guys haven't seen it yet - http://tennisworld.typepad.com/tennisworld/2010/09/tk-2.html

Nole in 3.


Nice and clean!!!

Is this match gonna be worth waking up at 1 in the morning for? I hope so..see u all then.

i hope you don't wake up at 1am, mriiidula, coz it will only start by about 4:30 your time!

oh damn. does kanepi really want to make a match of this? come on, you know the crowd is waiting for the mens match to start!

hope nole makes it quick !! , didnt expect the doubles to last so long

Wow Stu, how do you know my time? You are right, but I'm on holiday in India at the moment, so its 1.15 am now :)

Nole and Monfils joking around with each other, its nice to see.

I've been paying attention :)

Okay match is starting, it's about time! Nole looks confident.

what a first point. this match is gonna be great.

oh goodness.

i lost my stream just as Nole was losing serve. what the hell happened?

Nole's got the right idea, he's playing agressive. He's just making far too many UEs already.

Horrible errors. How's he gonna win this way?

he'll wake up sooner or later. hopefully not too late. how bout that flying tweener attempt, huh!

lol. luckily he tried it, or else nole would have lost that point for sure.

Dont panic yet folks!!!!!.......but happy to see that Monfils has started well!!

3 break points...if he doesnt break THIS time...

break back finally. and now he's gotta break AGAIN if he wants a lead. anyway, much better play from nole.

Why Monfils force short balls? I mean, Novak had few UE in the beginning, but I am not so sure that is too smart to call him on net....

i think he's found his groove

safer to bring Djoker to the net than to get into an extended baseline rally with him.

what i dont get is why HE (Djoker) is playing short balls

yea me neither. maybe monfils isnt too good at the net? he's definitely matching nole shot for shot from the baseline...
deuce. please break and finish off this set.

great game from him.

wow djokovic forced to paint the lines, monfils is getting everything back!

Djokovic has had such a variety of players to practice with in this tournament. I hope he gets thru here, I think he'd put on a much better show against Roger than last year..

Monfils seems to be really holding his own!

i agree stu. while sod is fed's first test really.
brilliant point from djokovic.

Why I think Djokovic must have been practising his volley.

finally. im able to breathe again.

Yeeeees... one in pocket... 2 to go....
AJDE NOLEEEEE!!!

negative differential on winners/UEs and aces/DFs again

yep. but those early UEs came in the first 6 games - 12 UEs. check out the stats after that, dont think its negative anymore.

Start with break... nice one...
BTW... thanks God you don't speak Serbian:)))

oh please zare tell us what he said! was it about the wind?

oh please zare tell us what he said! was it about the wind?

YES..."this stupid f.ckinf wind is f.cking me every time". I think mama should do something!!

yea, what was it?

HAHAHAHAHAHA.
but he's getting frustrated, its easy to see.

mfcker should do something?!

I have feeling that he has problems with dust and contact lenses... but he's OK... waiting for ExFed:))))

oh oops sorry - i thought "I think mama should do something!!" was part of the quote.

this might be Nole in 3?!

i think so too. double break! :)

I though mama should warn him...bad boy, bad boy!!!
But it's 3:0... and we go on!!!
Umpire warned him..."Be careful with language, I don't know what you said, but it didn't sound good" he said:))) ...and Nole replied with smile:"You are OK"

LOL. You are ok meaning?
Nole playing much better.

Hmmm ... I guess he didn't practise quite as long as he should have.

"You got it right..." something like that

haha he IS volleying better, smr. when he misses let's blame it on the wind!

Haha, awesome.
What a long game this is. And what an exhausting match. Sod better give Fed a workout or else I'll be annoyed.

seriously, how does monf make those shots?

Mon Dieu.... Gael is really fast guy...

theres only been one hold this entire set.

I think the wind throws everything off ... even language it seems.

Well... this is something that you don't see every day...
EVEN NOLE'S HAIR IS MOVING IN THE WIND!!!!
I didn't think it is possible:)))

2 sets to the good! :):)
haha zare, but im sure he'd rather have a wind that the heat!

how many times does Novak toss the ball to serve and change his mind with a "sorry, sorry!" ?!

he's not changing his mind, the toss may not be good enough due to the wind.

Wasn't he wearing a hat earlier?

amazing point!

this match has some amazing points. but it seems like le monf has given up..

where did everyone go? :S

Novak is playing well this set. I guess this is the type of stuff he comes up with when he's feeling confident and knows he has a lead. Will be bring this stuff against the Fed? I highly doubt it...

???? ?????? ?????

argument with the umpire? what are they saying!?

Nole is complaining about him overruling calls. "I know you're right most of the time but this time you were wrong and you don't have to do it every game". I don't understand why he's so mad today...

game, set, match. if he plays like this against fed, he's in the final.

hope gael wasn't tired. what was that argument with the umpire?

Things are shaping up for my dream final! Hope it is Nole vs Rafa !

calling zare to translate again :)

he;s just tired i think stu. anyway, he's thru. thats what counts. hope he brings it in the semi as well, im tired of him losing to fed each and every time at the USO.
goodnight!

right, he spoke native lang with the umpire ;)

haha not that, rfzr... i wanted to know what he said at the end of his on-court interview!

Hard to know how Novak will do against Fed ... Monfils seemed to disappear after the first set.

"hvala, hvala puno..."
thank you, thank you very much... as you can see nothing special...
Now I am setting my watch for 3h in morning to see SodFed... and I hope the wind will be stronger:))))))

channeling a little Elvis. :)

apparently, he was annoyed with the line umpire late calls.

when asked in the press conf how great it feels to be in his 4th consecutive semifinal, i am hoping Nole acknowledges that it's time he went further. that will prove that he's ready for federer. the last person i want to see on sat is deferential Nole from last year. Nole from 2007 (with the experience of nole2010) will do! :D

ok, I predict Nole in 4 in semis! (then he'll win it in 3, now I'm 99,9% sure) :D
Congrats, people!!!! I couldn't watch tonight so I'll watch replay tomorrow, but as far as I can see from your comments, he was pretty good. :)

stu, I hope your wish will come true on Saturday! :)

Nole was so frustrated with the wind ...at some points you could hear him swearing and yelling at it/about it..I'm impressed at his composure and mental strength to persevere in such occasion...a younger Nole would buckle a lot easier ...

Great win under difficult conditions....

Lets hope this year he can go one (or two) matches further in this tourney.