When he made his debut at the US Open in 2005, Djokovic was his first round opponent and the Serb overcame cramps and shoulder pain to win in five sets. He also won the French and Australian Opens this year and is looking for a third Grand Slam championship in 2016.
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“He seems more focused at this time of his career”, he added.
Both players have come a long way since that match 11 years ago, and with Monfils red-hot play and Djokovic’s odd road to the semifinals, the first match on Ashe tonight should be a good one.
The flamboyant 30-year-old is yet to drop a set in this tournament but he has struggled against Djokovic in the past, losing all of their last 12 meetings. He earned a walkover against Jiri Vesely in the second round, Mikhail Youzhny retired in the first set of the third round and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired after two sets in the quarterfinals. But Monfils hasn’t lost a set.
The audacious Frenchman stunned the US Open crowd with quite possibly his cheekiest trick shot yet in his clash against countryman Lucas Pouille. New Yorkers may prefer the latter. “If not, I won’t wake up every morning and train, because most of people think that jumping or do the trick shot is gifted”, said the 10th seed.
“I m winning more, you know, more matches”, Monfils said.
“He’s a better player than me, definitely”, Monfils said. “He’s better player than me, definitely”. He will have fresh legs after so many unfinished matches and has that decisive advantage in head-to-head encounters on his side. But on the courts of NY tennis, God made a decision to reward those Nowak for his failure and as a result, Djokovic reached the semi-finals of majors, spent a total of 2 full match.
If Gael Monfils is feeling confident before facing the reigning champion, he is certainly hiding it well.
Friday’s second semifinal will be between No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, a two-time major champion, and No. 6 Kei Nishikori, the 2014 runner-up in NY.
No one ever has won four consecutive five-setters at a major in the Open era, which dates to 1968.
He is yet to face a single seeded player and was only truly pushed by Daniel Evans during a five-set match in the third round.
The other men’s quarterfinal pits 2009 victor Juan Martin del Potro against twice grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka.
“As far as tonight was concerned, I thought those two sets were the best tennis I’ve played, so that came at the right time”.
The Japanese comes in to the semis on the back of a morale-boosting five-set triumph over reigning Olympic and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray. John McEnroe, commentating on ESPN, said: “I do love to see great tennis and we haven’t had a lot of that at night”.
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Although Tsonga contributed to his own downfall with 19 unforced errors in the first set, Djokovic had good reason to be happy with his own game.
