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6/6/08 12:20 AM | Ricky Dimon
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and...Gael Monfils?
The Frenchman might be a stranger to Grand Slam semifinals, but he is no stranger to Federer, his semifinal opponent tomorrow. Monfils and Federer have squared off three times in their careers, including two already this year, and overall Federer holds a 3-0 advantage. So far in 2008 he has taken out Monfils by exact same 6-3, 6-4 decisions. The first win came on the hard courts of Miami in March and then a more telling victory--since it was on clay--came at the Masters Series Monte-Carlo.
If Monfils could not get the best of Federer on clay at that point, it's hard to imagine him doing so now, as Federer's game has only improved for the most part since then. Three of his most disappointing losses in 2008 came during the hard-court stretch against Andy Murray, Mardy Fish, and Andy Roddick. After Federer beat Monfils in Monte-Carlo, he took out David Nalbandian and Djokovic before falling to Nadal in the final. The Swiss then dropped a stunner to Radek Stepanek in Rome, but bounced right back to reach the final in Hamburg, where he again got outclassed by Nadal. So far in Paris Federer has been in fine form, dropping sets only to Albert Montanes and Fernando Gonzalez in five matches.
The one thing Monfils will have going for him that he certainly did not have in Monte-Carlo is a raucous French crowd. France's French Open prospects looked grim at the beginning of the fortnight, with their top-ranked players Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga both unable to play. Nonetheless, five Frenchmen made the round of 16 and now Monfils has progressed all the way to the semifinals. En route he has defeated Arnaud Clement, Luis Horna, Jurgen Melzer, Ivan Ljubicic, and 5th-seeded David Ferrer.
If he wants any chance of upsetting Federer, Monfils and his incredible speed must be in rare form on Friday, and his speed certainly has been on display over his five matches. Arguably the most athletic player on tour, Monfils even made the usually-speedy Ferrer look slow in their quarterfinal encounter. Federer is going to be dictating play tomorrow so Monfils simply has to continue getting every ball and making the man on the other side of the net hit one ball too many every point. The bad news for Monfils is that in Federer he is going up against someone who can finish points off at net, and that will prevent the underdog from getting to as many shots as he has been able to track down in his previous matches. If Federer isn't entirely on top of his game Monfils could take a set simply by making him hit tons of balls, but Monfils taking Federer anywhere past a fourth set would be a surprise.
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Did you know that... Juan Monaco’s favorite film is Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe.
kaitepai, Dec 2, 2008 4:51 AM
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lendl, Dec 1, 2008 6:17 PM
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Roger Federer 
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