But when trailing 2-0 and a break down, the player who reached the semi-finals without dropping a set suddenly appeared as Monfils battled back to take the third set.
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That premeditated “great strategy” of hoping to lull the No. 1 seed and defending champion into complacency and mistakes, as Monfils described it later, worked briefly, yet did not prevent a two-set deficit.
FRIDAY’S WEATHER Mix of sun and clouds, hot and humid.
Even the closure of the roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium didn’t help Nishikori this time.
The world number one will now face either Stan Wawrinka of Kei Nishikori in Sunday’s final. Especially on the hard court this year maybe he’s playing the best tennis he [has] ever played.
The big question now with Monfils is to lay off or not to lay off and how much to lay off ahead of the Frenchman’s semi final with a certain Novak Djokovic and Monfils might do well to check his medical insurance before this match. And clubbing 52 unforced errors, as Monfils did in this match, is not a very good way to win friends and influence people. “Yes, I’m competing”, Monfils raged, cursing for emphasis.
Djokovic has won all 12 of his ATP encounters with Monfils with the most recent at Toronto last month with a 6-3, 6-2 match.
We go inside the numbers of today’s U.S. Open men’s semifinals here.
After his loss, Monfils hit back at the accusations.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Gael Monfils of France during their Men’s Singles Semifinal Match on Day Twelve of the 2016 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 9, 2016 in the Queens borough of New York City.
“Well, it was a unusual match, as it always is, I guess, when you play Gael, who is very unpredictable player.” said Djokovic, in the understatement of the tournament, admitting that Monfils’s weird approach had unsettled him.
The No. 10-seeded Frenchman added that he is “more than happy to talk” with McEnroe, and apologized if he came across as unprofessional.
“It seemed, at times, you were having problems competing”. “I’m very sad to learn that such a legend criticized me, because at the end what I can say to John is, ‘I want to be the best'”.
Instead of his usual crouch preparing to return serves, alert and with elbows on knees, the Frenchman stood casually at the baseline, without a worry in the world, looking like someone waiting in line to place his takeout espresso order. During points, Monfils would hit slices or make halfhearted, half-swinging strokes, then occasionally wallop a 100 miles per hour passing shot. As Djokovic was serving to stay in the set he hit a couple of questionable drop shots from 40-15 up that Monfils chased down easily to bring him to deuce.
“I had to wait and fight and make him uncomfortable”.
Somehow, the tactic was effective, for a short while, anyway. “That says a lot about the level he is on”, Djokovic said after his quarter-final win on Thursday.
The No. 2-seeded Kerber trailed by a break at 3-1 in the third set before taking five of the last six games against a fading Pliskova, who was seeded 10th and hadn’t been past the third round at a major until this tournament. But I guess that was part of his tactics.
The 29-year-old will go for a third US Open title against Stan Wawrinka, a four-set victor of Kei Nishikori, in Sunday’s final.
Angelique Kerber won her first U.S. Open title and the second Grand Slam trophy of her breakthrough season, beating Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday.
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.
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Already this tournament, he has shown off his repertoire of eccentricities from colliding with a court-side clock which came close to falling on top of him to celebrating his birthday by playing a game of “boules” on rain-lashed practice courts.
