Saturday Night Fever: Nadal vs Monfils

 Most of the 3rd round matches have completed today. There is no surprise result so far in men’s side. Federer reached the 4th round passing his opponent Gabashvili (Rus) in 3 sets 6-2, 6-2 and 6-3.  Andy Murray defeated Feliciano Lopez again in 3 sets 7-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Today i started to watch Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and Gill Simon match. I like Tsonga’s game and his personality. So for the match, my favourite was Tsonga.  Simon and Tsonga’s game style are close to each other and they are both French, they know each other very well. So i thought that we will watch a very balanced match. But it didn’t happen like that. I watched many matches of Gill Simon and i can say that today is not his day. He didn’t fight that much and Tsonga used all chances that he found and took the match in 3 sets very easily: 7-6, 6-4, 6-2. With this win, Tsonga will play with Federer in the 4th round. Hope winner will be Federer!

In the night sesssion there is another match that i waited in a big excitement. As Rafa Nadal is one the best player in the world and no player could not make him any trouble so far, i was expecting from Monfils to do that. Because for us –i mean the audience- watching a good tennis is a great joy. 25th seed Gael Monfils (Fra) is a great athlete and his game is so enjoyable, he can do anything in court, very quick, and has strong shots. His opponent Rafa Nadal is a treasure for tennis world. I think that he does not only belong to Spain but also the world of tennis:) He is not only one of the best players in world but he has a great ability to sense the game. I really love him a lot. It is never easy to beat Rafa Nadal. Actually i was not expecting Monfils to beat him but to fight for the game and stay on court as much as possible. Monfils suffered a lot from injuries  as Rafa did and i can say that he doesn't seem to find his form completely eventhough he played very good in Abu Dabi. But i always say that analyse the player with his rival together.

First set, Monfils didn’t get in the game  as he lost his service game at the beginning of the set and even he tried a lot during the set he could not reflect his efforts to the score. Sometimes score can be deceptive. When you look at the score and see that Rafa leads 6-1 in first set , it does not mean that Monfils was not good. He was good but when you play against Rafa , you should not do any unforced errors plus when you find a chance to score a point- which is very rare- you have to use it. Otherwise you don’t get any point against him. That’s what happened in the first set. Monfils was not good in his first serves, made unforced errors in very critical times and couldn’t use his chances that he got. It was the summary of the first set.

Rafa Nadal is in a great form, he plays very clear and you can understand when you watch his game that he has a clear mind about the match, he knows what to do. He knows where the ball goes, he knows how to position himself in the court and he never let himsef to lose his focus on the game. So it is not hard to understand that he will be winner of the match tonight. But the thing is here how long Monfils can stand against him or if he can find a solution to stop him at least to get his own serve games. Second set was like the first one, nothing different. At least Monfils could get 2 games this time but i could also see that his focus to the game and his mood changing all the time.  He made  3 double faults in his service game and of course could not survive against Rafa. He lost second set 6-2.

Monfils couldn’t figure out how to stop Rafa Nadal during the match. Rafa was also very strong in mentally. In the third set even Monfils tried a bit harder, he couldn’t stop him and lost the set 3-6. Rafa Nadal took the match in 3 straight sets: 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.

In the 4th round Nadal will play with 16th seed Nishikori (Jpn) who is working with former French Open champion Michael Chang. These days former champions are working with the players, it is a new trend:)  Roger Federer is working with Stefan Edberg, Djokovic with B. Becker, Nishikori with M. Chang, R. Gasquet with S. Bruguera, M. Cilic is with G. Ivanisevic. Lets remember that it all started with Andy Murray – Ivan Lendl partnership. I think working with former champions is a great idea, not only for technical reasons but also these guys can understand the player’s inner world better than anyone. I think mental power is so important to pass a level to find a place in the top rankings.

4th round matches will be so hot both for women and men’s side. Tomorrow Serena Williams will play with Ana Ivanovic. A new star from Canada Eugine Bouchard will play with Casey Dellacqua (Aus). Li Na, Anjelique Kerber, Djokovic, Wawrinka and many others will be on court to have a place for a ticket to quarter finals.

 *All the photos taken from the Australian Open facebook page.