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. With Djokovic in possession of three more set points while serving at 5-1, 40-love, Monfils transitioned into something that might have appeared to be an attempt to “tank” – in other words, lose on goal, for who knows what reason – but which he explained afterward was the tennis equivalent of Muhammad Ali’s boxing “rope-a-dope”, absorbing someone else’s best shots and pretending to not be interested in attacking.
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Djokovic, the world’s top-ranked player and who had beaten Monfils all 12 times they had previously faced one another, had swept those opening five games, and looked well on his way to his latest easy match en route to a seventh trip to a U.S. Open final of his brilliant career.
Djokovic admitted he was “completely caught off guard” when Monfils, down 0-5 in the first in 15 minutes, stood lackadaisically in the court and began chipping the ball back.
He believes he was right to adapt his tactics and that it illustrated just what a competitive player he remains despite many in the sport viewing him as an unfulfilled talent. “He got exhausted and I started to be more aggressive”.
“Definitely, I try to get in (Djokovic’s) head, try to create something new for him to see”, Monfils said.
Monfils was 0-40 down in his first service game of the fourth as well – and dug that one too. With Djokovic in possession of three more set points while serving at 5-1, 40-love, Monfils transitioned into something that might have appeared to be an attempt to lose on objective but which he explained afterward was the tennis equivalent of Muhammad Ali’s boxing “rope-a-dope”, absorbing someone else’s best shots and pretending not to be interested in attacking.
The errors that were originally coming from the Frenchman’s racket started to creep into Djokovic’s game and with the help of yet another double fault, the break back went to Monfils.
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.
“There’s not only one way to play tennis”. It’s tough, you know.
New improvements to mobile Exchange betting on the US Open! I enjoy playing tennis. Stan, though, should be good to go so I expect a good battle.
On ESPN’s telecast, John McEnroe blasted the 10th-seeded Frenchman for lack of effort. But I guess that was part of his tactics.
“Were there any times that you were not able to try your best?” He predicted that the players in the locker room would have nothing but contempt for it.
“For sure, people are not really ready to see that”, Monfils said.
“I like John. I think he’s a great person”.
“I have nothing personal [against] him, so I’m very sad to heard that”.
“It’s tough because when he call me unprofessional, he calls my coach unprofessional, calls my physio unprofessional, calls all my team actually unprofessional”.
The 29-year-old arrived in NY with niggling injuries to his left wrist and right elbow but claimed he is not concerned ahead of the final. “But that’s Gael”, Djokovic said.
There was also a mysterious moment when, at the end of the third set, Djokovic ripped open his shirt in frustration and played the last point bare-chested.
And I just feel for some reason that’s going to be Kei, who has been consistently sharper this summer. “It felt nice because my body could breathe a little bit more”.
The defending champion was at times aggravated by Monfils’ attitude but there appeared to be no bad feeling when at the end they met at the net.
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Prodded by reporters about what he thought of the way Monfils played, Djokovic said, “I thought, at times, that he was maybe behaving a little bit – for some terms and judgments – unacceptable”.
