“At the end, if I had the mic, I would say ‘stop saying that I’m unprofessional”.
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Stan Wawrinka, of Switzerland, reacts after beating Kei Nishikori, of Japan, during the semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016, in NY.
It was just the latest unpredictable moment in what has been an unpredictable career for the Frenchman, who has always been one of the most interesting and charismatic players on the men’s tour.
On ESPN’s telecast, John McEnroe blasted the 10th-seeded Frenchman for lack of effort; the Arthur Ashe Stadium jeered him. McEnroe slammed the 30-year-old’s commitment and accused him of “tanking” and being “unprofessional”. Yes, I’m competing, ” Monfils said, cursing for emphasis. “I take another t-shirt from my bag and I already feel better”.
“First question is, like, ‘You’re not competing?'”.
“It was a unusual match, as it always is when you play Gael, who is a very unpredictable player”.
“Now I want to share with them all my daily life and what’s important to me — my values, my beliefs, and my habits — and also introduce to them all the incredible people that are always next to me”. I just want to find a solution.
The American later added: “You can’t support that, I’m sorry”. ‘Definitely I (was) trying to get in his head. I had to wait, fight, try to make him more uncomfortable. That was my flair, and I hit the shot. The guy is too good.
Stretching his opponent with a backhand, Djokovic stepped in and drilled a forehand pass down the line closing a set that was painful, at times, to watch.
“Kei is a tough player and he played well from the beginning”.
He stressed the point that just because his way of playing was different, it didn’t make it wrong.
Monfils won three games in a row, before eventually dropping a set for the first time all tournament.
“It was very quick to 5-0”.
“At times in decisive, tense moments, we had many exchanges form the baseline”, Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “And I try my best'”. “The guy is too good, playing clean. and, if you’re playing bad, you need to change”. Then the roof was closed and Nishikori came out with a bit more punch after the seven-minute break.
Monfils was now at his best, including one spectacular point in which he took a long run to get to a short ball, then reversed direction for a leaping volley victor.
The top seed, however, overcame his opponent’s antics to win 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-2 and now stands one win away from a 13th major title. It was great strategy.
“So I tried to get in his head and tried to create something new for him to see, and I did”.
The comment left Monfils doubly sad yesterday – having to deal not just with the loss but with the on-air criticism. His latest victory was nearly as effortless, thanks to the apparent lack of effort by his opponent. Nishikori needed five sets and four hours to get past Murray, while Wawrinka needed three hours and played past 1 a.m. into Thursday morning against Juan Martin del Potro.
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McEnroe said: “Monfils is bordering on unprofessional”. “It gets to people very quickly”. It’s tough, you know. “You know, it was a great strategy, I think”. “Then somehow I had this small opportunity and I get it and then I think the crowd was much better”. “Physically, we were taking each other to the limit”. Plenty of tennis writers took to Twitter to express their admiration for Monfils.
