Monfils held there to 5-1, then transitioned into what either appeared to be an attempt to “tank” – in other words, lose on goal, for who knows what reason – or the tennis equivalent of a “rope-a-dope”, in which he wanted to appear not to be interested in defending against Djokovic but then would whip a big shot of his own.
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Down a set and a break on Friday, the third-seeded Wawrinka took control to oust Japanese Kei Nishikori 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.
The strategy worked for a few games, although Djokovic righted the ship in time to hold serve and clinch the set and then looked like he was cruising to an easy victory when he grabbed a 6-3, 6-2, 2-0 lead.
Monfils got to the last four without dropping a set but his performance in the first two sets was very poor.
Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka will battle for the men’s singles title at the US Open on Sunday. We know for a fact that Djokovic is a supreme player who can get going when the chips are down and to beat him in five sets is a triumph beyond imagination for most players. He loves to come up with a variety in his game, and the defense shots. “I’m sure he’s gonna bring him best tennis for the final”.
“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 wonderful people that are always next to me”.
The downside of Wawrinka’s method is that he has spent 18 hours on court already – nearly exactly twice as much as Djokovic, whose frictionless progress must represent some sort of record.
Yet he has somehow been excluded from the so-called “Big Four” of men’s tennis, the group that also includes world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic will face Stan Wawrinka in the men’s singles final at Flushing Meadows, after coming through a somewhat freaky four-set encounter with Monfils on Friday.
He said: “I like John”. He was missing a lot the first set and also I was playing good tennis, but I think he made some changes and he was starting to play better.
“I am really excited, I am really happy, I want to enjoy the moment”, Wawrinka said.
There was a time, not so long ago, when Wawrinka was considered a huge talent, but he remained in the shadow of Roger Federer, lacking the killer instinct of his famous countryman.
This is his third major final in three years, and he won the previous two – the 2014 Australian Open and 2015 French. “He’s the No 1 player, an incredible fighter, an incredible player, but I have enough confidence in myself that when I play my best level I can beat him”, Wawrinka said. “It’s the biggest challenge you can have”. An evening shower forced the roof to close during the Wawrinka-Nishikori match. I try my best.
Wawrinka led the head to head 3-2 against the Japanese, and each had won one match against the other at the Grand Slams.
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“He was putting pressure on me, didn’t give me any time”. He was playing much better the last couple sets. “Big serve. Probably the best, most effective one-handed backhand in the world now”.
