Criticism Unfair: Lamonf was frustrated and disheartened by Djokovic

Monfils lost a lot of my interest and support in him after his dismal performance yesterday. Come on Scoop, you’re saying the guy gave his best when he goes down 0-5 in 15 minutes of the first set? Please, I can’t imagine Mikail Tillstrom is too happy with Monf’s effort.

If Monf doesn’t have the belief, and he clearly didn’t against Djoko, the only reason he was able to get into the match and take a set is he basically rope-a-doped Djoko into thinking he was dead tired and down and out, and Djoko dropped his level, he shouldn’t make comments like this:

“Monfils says that one day, he can win a Grand Slam.

“Yeah, ” Monfils said. “And I will. I’m 100% sure. It’s small details. I’m not that far. I need to fix small details and I will do it.”

I thought he could win one too, but after yesterday’s performance, I know he can’t win one. He can beat the Pouille’s at least now, and maybe even Nadal now who isn’t part of the Big 4 anymore, neither is Fed, there’s only a Big 3 now, I don’t think Monf can do better than a semis of a slam.

How can a guy who’s in such great shape as Monf, and owns an apartment in Miami, look like the air was sucked out of him after like an hour of play. I just don’t buy the heat and humidity exhaustion and the way he came out and played those first two sets I think surprised everyone. Courier was calling the match one of the worst he’d ever seen or played in a slam semis.

Djok is still the favorite an I like him to pick up no, 14. What kind of playing strategy is that to act like you’re tanking? Real championship strategy!

Dan, as much as I want to say there’s one way to play tennis, there isn’t. How about that Jeopardy champ everyone hated, Arthur Chu. He played in an admittedly frustrating way – winning because he wouldn’t let others play. I’d say guys like Santoro did this as well with his change of pace, spins, other things. I don’t like non effort (one reason I didn’t like what Coric did in the Australian and can’t find it in me to support the guy as a fan). But I think what Monfils did and what Coric did are separate – Coric completely tanked. Monfils got himself together despite a miserable stretch.

Hey Angelique Kerber just won her second slam of the year and is the No. 1. I’ve got to give her credit. Did anyone really watch the entire match? If so, I want to hear from you. Did you enjoy it? Did the Kerber-Pliskova match up produce any fun enjoyable intense tennis?

Can’t wait for Djoko-Wawa Round 3 tomorrow. I figure the first salvo was fired by Djoko in 2015 Aussie O when he beat Stan in the semis in 5 sets. Then Wawa showed that he’s pretty much the only player alive who can beat Djoko when he’s firing on all cylinders, beating him in Roland Garros finals in 4 sets in 2015. But do you know this is the sixth time since 2012 they’ve played each other in a slam? And most of these battles have gone 5 sets with Stan winning two of them.

Also, Stan is two years older than Novak and is only 6-feet tall. I thought Stan was 6-2. Pretty impressive how much power he gets on all his shots only being 72 inches tall.

I thoroughly enjoyed the match. It gave us a good contrast of styles with the hard serving of Pliskova vs. the excellent defense of Kerber. But it was not just a lot of baseline bashing. Pliskova went to the net often and was surprisingly successful there. Her volleys are not things of beauty but they were effective.

Kerber had some terrific down the line FHs. One, in particular, was a very gutsy shot at a big moment. It was just barely in and was a key to her winning the match.

It was a close, entertaining match with no clear winner until the very end. Angie, in particular, showed a lot of mental toughness.

Pliskova is an all or nothing type of player and I’m not sure how she will fare over the coming months. If she can continue to play like she did in Cincy and at the USO it will be a lot of fun to watch her.

I prefer aggressive players to defensive ones, but Kerber made a concerted effort to play more aggressively this season and has found a good balance between defense and offense. I enjoy her game now and look forward to her future matches.

Hartt-

Not gullible- no reason you shouldn’t believe it since R has announced (eventual) wedding plans before.

But honestly – sometimes these women behave as though they’re still in high school – I blame social media 🙂

Catherine,

I wasn’t being sarcastic when I said I didn’t watch much of the women’s finals. What I did watch, I got into the match because of the setting and Kerber-Pliskova was a good styles’ match up, but both players, their games and their personalities, do not intrigue me much.

There was a boxing match going on in London involving this boxer Triple G, Golovkin, and I’ve heard he’s the best fighter in the world today pound for pound, so I watched that instead. It wasn’t a terrible good boxing match, but no I don’t find Kerber a terribly good or interesting player. Keys is impressive, but just a blaster along with Girogi and otherwise I’d say maybe Sands is my favorite female player with Suarez.

Dan –

Yes I understand your feelings about women’s final. I’m not enamoured of either player and the baseline style puts me into a deep sleep – luckily I don’t have to write about it.
Kerber is ok but I can’t see her for a long reign at the top.

That boxing match ended badly for the guy who nearly had his eye put out – fortunately the towel was thrown in. Maybe that could be an option in tennis ?