Djokovic should win his third US Open title.
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Monfils was roundly jeered, particularly during the second set, for an apparent lack of effort. But he started to find his form in a quarterfinal victory over 2009 U.S. Open champ Juan Martin del Potro.
“It’s not easy after playing Andy five sets”.
Djokovic, the 2011 and 2015 champion, needed treatment on each shoulder, including a medical timeout in the fourth set, as crushing humidity of 60 percent took its toll.
Djokovic will now take on Stan Wawrinka in the US Open final after Wawrinka won his semifinal match against Japan’s Kei Nishikori.
The No. 4-seeded Murray and Soares, who won the Australian Open in January, are the first winners of multiple major men’s doubles titles in a season since Bob and Mike Bryan won three in 2013.
They seemed to be on course for a third meeting in the final at Flushing Meadows, but Pliskova eliminated Williams in the semifinals, after beating her sister, Venus, in the fourth round.
Monfils finished with 52 unforced errors while having to save 12 of 20 break points. Djokovic served out the second set, 6-2, to love and Monfils limped to the chair as he looked to be struggling with a right knee injury. To play in the final against him is going to be special.
Although Djokovic holds a 19-4 record over Wawrinka, including two victories since that Roland Garros surprise previous year, Wawrinka welcomed the chance to take him on again. Nishikori was the U.S. Open runner-up in 2014.
He’s fought off all comers, and just when it looks like his days of dominating are numbered, Djokovic fortifies his lead at No. 1.
John McEnroe, a master of playing tactical cards and mental tricks during his prime, called the strategy “bordering on unprofessional” on ESPN.
“I want to (say) to John that I’m more than happy to talk with him”, added the Frenchman. “I would like to say congrats to Serena, you really deserved your title, you’re a great person, a great champion”, Kerber said in the on-court interview. “If he said that you have to believe him, I guess”. “I think the crowd enjoyed it in the end”.
Commentators, spectators, pundits all were baffled, unsure if Monfils was tanking or pursuing some absurd strategy. He appeared to be acting like he was not interested, and suddenly whip big shots. “Sometimes you don’t have an answer on this type of question, it just happens”. I just have to change.
But Djokovic, who has held the men’s No. 1 ranking for the past 114 weeks (and counting), is the one who endured and is the one who is moving on to Sunday’s final against Stan Wawrinka, who beat Kei Nishikori 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 in the other semifinal Friday. Monfils resorted to the radical approach of trying to drag Djokovic’s level down pushing no-pace balls short in the court aiming to gunk up the gears in his opponent’s well-oiled baseline game.
And what prompted Djokovic to tear of his shirt?
Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, reacts after defeating Gael Monfils, of France, during the semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament. 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.
Down 2-5, Djokovic took massage treatment on his left shoulder during the changeover then staved off a set point in odd four drop shot game.
Neither a date nor site has been chosen for 2018. It was a lethargic, tired, and lacklustre performance by the Serbian, but he’s through to his 6th US Open final, and he will be hoping to etch closer to Roger Federer’s Grand Slam tally on Sunday.
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The format includes three singles and one doubles match each day.
