I think he’s a great person.
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“It’s really humid, really hot”. High of 89. An evening shower forced the roof to close during the Wawrinka-Nishikori match. No. 10 Karolina Pliskova; Men’s Doubles Final: No. 4 Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares vs. Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
QUOTE OF THE DAY “First question is, like, ‘You’re not competing?’ …”
“As I always say, the change is guts…”
Kerber is the first woman from Germany to win the U.S. Open – and the first to get to No. 1 – since her idol and mentor, Steffi Graf, who got in touch via text message before the final.
Oddly, Monfils began shoveling back no-pace, one-handed chip backhands after his first hold. A sweat-soaked Djokovic sought help from a trainer for aches in both shoulders, and what was no contest suddenly became one.
In 2014 at the US Open, he threw away a two sets to love lead and two match points to lose to Roger Federer in the quarter-finals.
The outcome was only briefly in the balance, though.
Djokovic will attempt to win his third US Open and 13th Grand Slam title on Sunday, while Wawrinka – who beat Djokovic in last year’s French Open final – is going for a third major victory and first at Flushing Meadows.
Never more so than on this muggy afternoon, with the temperature at 90 degrees and the humidity above 50 percent.
Monfils, however, had the following message for McEnroe: “I’m sorry if you think I’m unprofessional, but I guess I’m working, I’m learning”.
“This”, John McEnroe told ESPN’s viewers, “is weird”. The Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd jeered him.
“It seemed, at times, you were having problems competing”. “I’m very sad to learn that such a legend criticized me”. During points, Monfils would hit slices or make truly half-hearted, half-swinging strokes, then occasionally smack a 100 miles per hour forehand.
“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 unbelievable people that are always next to me”.
“I had to wait and fight and make him uncomfortable”.
Somehow, the tactic was effective, for a short while, anyway. I was completely caught off guard when he just stood there and chipped the ball back and didn’t do much.
Although Djokovic saved one set point, and gave himself three break chances in the ninth game, Monfils was able to extend the match, marking the moment with a mighty roar to which Djokovic responded by ripping off his shirt.
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. “Any girl would like that, I guess”.
The defending champion will face Stan Wawrinka in Sunday’s final where he will bid to win a third major of 2016 and 13th of his career.
“Kei is a tough player and he played well from the beginning”, Wawrinka remarked after the match.
Djokovic entered Friday having enjoyed the easiest path to a major semifinal in the almost half-century of the Open era: Three of his first five foes pulled out of because of injuries. And then he comes to the net and I pass him.
Djokovic raced to a 5-0 lead Friday, with Monfils looking extremely tight and struggling with double-faults. All over but the shouting, right?
On Saturday, Monfils was leaning over and using his racket like a cane for support between points in the third and fourth sets. Monfils won five consecutive games, 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 Serb double-faulted at the break point and handed the break right back to Monfils to prolong this absolutely peculiar and unexplainable match.
Down 2-5, Djokovic took massage treatment on his left shoulder during the changeover then staved off a set point in unusual four drop shot game.
Monfils was similarly slap-dash in the second set, by the end of which the crowd was getting restless and demanding better tennis. These would constitute new trouble spots for the Serb, who arrived in NY with concerns about his left wrist, then got treatment on his right elbow during his first- and fourth-round matches, the only ones he needed to complete until Friday.
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“Thankfully it’s behind me, so I don’t have any concerns”, Djokovic said.
