Sunday in Monte Carlo will see either the eighth consecutive victory at this tournament for Rafael Nadal, or the eighth consecutive loss in a final to his nemesis for the last year, Novak Djokovic, after the Spaniard beat Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-4 to set up a clash with the Serbian tomorrow.
It’s difficult to draw too many conclusions regarding tomorrow’s encounter from today’s match, because it seems like playing Gilles Simon isn’t quite like playing anybody else. Attempting to hit through an opponent who anticipates and redirects the ball so well, defends almost as solidly and deep as Nadal and feeds off pace is a tricky proposition, so Nadal’s curiously passive play today could be interpreted as strategic, forcing Simon to up the ante and generate pace himself. For the first six games, that is precisely what Simon did and it provided some of the most entertaining rallies we have seen this week with Simon driving persistently into Nadal’s backhand in a lulling, hypnotic rhythm before looking to go cross-court when it seemed least likely, forcing the error. At 3-3, 0-15, Nadal barely moved for a clean backhand winner as it whistled past him; three points later, he found himself facing two break points. A slip and stumble cost Simon the first, and he could not put away the volley on the next. It’s a truism that one doesn’t get many chances against Nadal, and certainly not on clay. After Simon failed to take his, Nadal began to look increasingly in charge and Simon ever more out of his comfort zone.
After breaking in the next game and serving out the set 6-3, the second seed broke early in the second set, showing brilliant variety on the backhand to get to break point and hitting a beautiful forehand down the line to take it — one aspect of his game that he had no trouble with today. Simon continued to scrap and defend like a demon in marathon rallies, earning five break points in Nadal’s next two service games, but Nadal left nothing to chance on those points and played with greater urgency and aggression on each one. The final tally on break points converted – 0-of-7 for Simon, 2-of-5 for Nadal, with the three unconverted coming after he led by a set and a break – speaks eloquently to the biggest difference between the two today; Nadal had the ability to take the initiative and dominate the point when he needed to. Simon was never quite able to come up with the same thing.
As the wind picked up in the second set, the number of unforced errors from both men climbed as well, but Nadal hit more and more winners as the finish line neared and crossed it in style with his 17th of the day. The two weakest area of his performance were his first serve numbers — 57% for the match — and rather lackluster returning, but that will be scant comfort to Simon who played some of the best clay-court tennis I have ever seen from him and still found himself unable to break through.