!Monfils_2 For the first week of Roland Garros I'll be exchanging emails with TENNIS Magazine senior editor Jon Levey, who's in Paris to cover the tournament.
Steve,
With so much rain early in the tournament I didn’t think I’d be thankful to see clouds. But after the piercing sun on Friday afternoon, Saturday’s clouds were a welcome relief. In fact, the weather today was tennis Eden – overcast, light breeze, and just the slightest chill in the air. The perfect conditions for players and spectators on my final day at Roland Garros.
But before I tell you about that, did you get a chance to see any of Almagro and Murray on Friday? I thought the match was played at a fairly high standard, but I’ve never seen players look up at their box more than these two guys. I thought I was at a WTA match. And both camps sat one row apart, and just two rows from me. So after each I point it felt like players were mouthing off at me. Sorry Andy, but I didn’t tell you to fire Brad.
Almagro was impressive, though. He gets a lot of free points off both his serves, as his second delivery is the nastiest kick I’ve seen at the tournament. It’s a huge crutch to lean on and was massive for him on crucial points. It kind of reminded me of vintage Guga at Roland Garros, minus the charm. The problem Almagro seemed to have was closing out sets. He got tight and squandered the second and nearly did the same in the fourth. If meets up with Rafa in the quarters, that kind of behavior simply won’t do.
I started off Saturday watching the women’s No. 1 seed, the human rain delay known as Maria Sharapova. Does she ever take her sweet time between points, serves, stares at Yuri, whatever. Her first two matches were certainly underwhelming and this one started much the same. She seems unsure of herself on-court which is contradictory to her nature. I’m puzzled by her double-faulting, but she has had bouts of it before. The wind was treacherous in her first round match when she gifted Rodina 17 free points, but she hasn’t had that same excuse in the following two where she hit 10 and 9 respectively. Have you noticed that Sharapova doesn’t like to hit overheads? She prefers to back up and take the ball out of the air with a swinging forehand. Perhaps that’s a window into her insecurity with regards to hitting shots above her shoulders. Or it could mean I know little about psychology.
In the second set today, however, she seemed more like her assertive self. She was dictating the rallies and showing off the new wrinkle in her game – touch. You know the drop shot virus is contagious when sledgehammer Sharapova is infected. To her credit, she has used it rather effectively. Her hands aren’t exactly cotton, but they’re not stone, either. She plays the more decaffeinated member of the Safin siblings in her next match, her first real test of the tournament.
From there I went to watch Wawrinka and Gonzalez trade body blows on Court 2. One of the joys of covering a Slam I don’t normally get to is the chance to make a discovery about the venue. I’ve been to the US Open so many times now, I feel it has nothing left to teach me. Last time in Paris I was enthralled by the Bull Ring. This year it’s Court 2. It’s an intimate setting with tall, lush trees standing just outside the court giving the impression that you’re in some venerable public park. Ivy vines lace the wall that connects with the stadium seating on the umpire’s side of the court. On the opposite end, above the seats, there’s an overhang that suspends fans no more than 20 feet from the court. It’s quite a vantage point, and I can only imagine what it must feel like to toss a ball up to serve and catch a glimpse of all those eyes peering down on you.
The acoustics on the court are also special and each time Stan and Gonzo flattened out a ground stroke it sounded like a gunshot. I stayed for the first two sets and thought I had the match mapped out. Gonzo tried to run around his backhand and unload on his heavy forehand. Wawrinka would stand his ground and send a bullet back to Gonzo’s forehand corner and take control of the point. Do you think religiously running around the backhand is still an effective play? I saw too many players get burned this week trying the tactic.
In the second game of the second set Gonzo was so angered by the state of events that, after smothering a forehand in the net, he went Guantanamo on his Babolat. I’ve never seen a player abuse a racquet so thoroughly and mercilessly. Even Safin would have deemed it inappropriate. Wawrinka easily pocketed that set, looked in complete control, and I figured the rest of the match was academic.
Then Gonzo turned tables, won three straight sets, and I didn’t see any of it. I have no idea what happened. Any chance you can fill me in on the details?
I may have missed that five-setter, but I caught the end of three others. The first was Ferrer and Hewitt on Lenglen. I had a feeling that Hewitt’s lack of matches leading into the tournament would hurt him against a guy who can play all day. I noticed that when he lifted up his shirt to pat his forehead, Hewitt wasn’t fat, but he certainly wasn’t cut. What surprised me most, though, was the French fans really supported him. It’s funny how age and vulnerability can soften the edges and a player can go from villain to crowd favorite. It probably also didn’t hurt that Ferrer was pretty ornery and even got slapped with a point penalty for verbal obscenity. That still wasn’t enough to keep him from the fourth round.
His consistency and tenacity make Ferrer a formidable player at this tournament, but I felt that too many of his shots landed short in the court. Hewitt is not at his best when he’s forced to dispose of midcourt balls. But somebody like Federer or Djokovic would really punish Ferrer if he continually left shots short and center.
After, I headed over to Chatrier to catch the end of Monfils and Melzer. On my way I almost got sideswiped by two of the tournament security staff. Do you remember them? They look like thugs from 24, all dressed in black suits with dark shades and high-tech radio earpieces. I’m all for a player’s piece of mind, but this seems excessive.
I got to my seat around the start of the final set. Monfils was definitely the fresher of the two as Melzer was playing his second consecutive five-setter. Monfils reminds me of 7-foot NBA player who only shoots 3-pointers. He just loves playing 10 feet behind the baseline and using his speed and retrieval skills. Somebody has got to convince to move up and play more aggressively. I wonder if that’s a talent that can be taught, or if it’s purely intuitive. Something tells me he instinctively likes to scramble and put himself in difficult situations from which he can escape. A bigger, more imposing Fabrice Santoro.
It’s fun to watch Monfils electrify the French fans who are so desperate for a hometown champion. After he won a couple of fans ran around the court with two French flags, driving the crowd bonkers. I don’t think we could get away with that at the US Open. There are five Frenchmen in the round of 16, but I’m guessing it stops there.
Finally I went over to the Bull Ring to watch the balding brotherhood of Davydenko and Ljubicic. The final set was pretty much what I expected. One guy stood on top of the baseline pounding away as the other one scurried and defended, sending shots high and deep, hoping to draw an error. Only I had my guys confused. After dropping the first two sets, Ljubicic climbed back into the match by putting a lot of air under his shots and rolling the ball deep towards the center of the court. He’d still tee off on his serves looking for aces and weak replies, but once the point was on neutral terms, Big Ivan played a little man’s game.
Davydenko is clearly at his best as a counterpuncher. Opponents try to slug him off the court and he uses their power against them. He moves beautifully and prefers to find his angles while hitting on the run. But it’s difficult for a counterpuncher to ply his trade if no punches are being thrown. Ljubicic was hitting with little pace or angle and dared Davydenko to force the action. The tortoise had become the hare, and once again the hare lost. I’ve never thought of Ljubicic as a thinker, but he was a master strategist in this comeback.
Before I left the grounds I stopped in at Chatrier one last time. I wanted another glimpse of the court and to watch Federer serve out the second set against Mario Ancic. Set point was a superb exchange that had both players scrambling from sideline to sideline, punctuated with a slingshot Federer inside-out forehand winner. The crowd erupted in a frenzy, Federer growled in approval, and you could feel a fine mist in the air.
You’ve got love Paris in the springtime.
See you back in the office.
Jon