Bud Collins
PARIS – The nation of France would be delighted if the French Open run of one of its own, Gael Monfils, continued on Friday in the semifinals. It, of course, could, but with Monfils’ opponent being top-seeded Roger Federer I’m not going out on a limb to say there will be any city-wide party in Paris on Friday night. It would be quite the stunning moment for all of France if the 21-year-old Monfils could execute the ultimate upset and advance to the French Open final. It’s been a very long time since a Frenchman has made out well on the terre battue. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the last Frenchman to win the Roland Garros title -- that honor belongs to the exceptionally charismatic Yannick Noah who became the King of Clay in 1983.
The last Frenchman to reach the final was Henri Leconte in 1988 and he wasn’t even able to win a set off of Mats Wilander. And the last Frenchman to score a semifinal berth at Roland Garros is Boca Raton, Fla.-based Sebastien Grosjean in 2001.
So it was no surprise that Monfils received quite the standing ovation when he captured a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 6-1 quarterfinal victory over Spanish clay-court specialist David Ferrer. The Parisians were overjoyed and the most so was Monfils.
But while I hate to put a damper on things, realistically speaking for Monfils to defeat Federer in the semifinals is simply too monumental a task.
Federer didn’t start his quarterfinal match well against Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, but in the final three sets he stepped up and looked every bit the top player in the world in posting a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win. The victory put Federer into his fourth consecutive Roland Garros semifinal.
Much to the chagrin of French tennis fans, Federer will dismiss Monfils from this major for one very simple reason – the Swiss is by far the better player.
The biggest – and maybe only -- leg up Monfils will have against Federer is that he will have the home nation behind him. Leading up to the match French newspapers will proudly have big headlines about Monfils’ surprising success but as everyone should know that kind of attention can backfire. It can put too much pressure on Monfils in such a big occasion.
Monfils, who is a tremendously colorful player to watch, is unlikely to be up to the challenge of taking on Federer, which is the truth not only for him but for most players. There’s just much potential for the nerve factor to rear its ugly head for Monfils, who has never before reached a semifinal at a major. In fact, while he’s been touted in the past as a player to watch, his best result at a major was reaching the fourth round here in 2006.
The unseeded Frenchman has played Federer three times in his career and has yet to win a set. They’ve already played twice this year -- on hard court at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami and on clay at Monte Carlo -- and it hasn’t gone well for Monfils. The only time he truly mounted a challenge was in 2006 when he pushed Federer to a tiebreaker in the second set in Doha, Qatar.
And lastly, but quite possibly most importantly, it’s a heavy burden to have the expectations of an entire nation hoping for a French champion on your shoulders. Monfils has surely experienced the anticipation of French fans before but never at the level he’s about to against Federer. It will almost certainly prove too much for him to handle.
Monfils has some impressive positives in his game. He is very much a speed demon on the court -- anyone who has watched Monfils would agree that his greatest weapon is his movement. He also is quite capable of returning a lot of balls, which can keep Federer on the court for more time than he might appreciate. He can retrieve well and his forehand is quite acceptable, but he has little on his serve and in terms of variety in his game, he’s fairly ordinary.
Federer’s got way too much firepower for Monfils. It might prove to be an interesting match for a while but expect that the Frenchman won’t likely stay with Federer for too long.
Federer is better on every front. His serve is much better. His return-of-serve is also far superior. His forehand and backhand the same. Ditto his play at the net. And add in his fitness and mental toughness.
Taking all that into account it seems rather unfair to even attempt to compare Monfils to the best player in the world. I believe when all is said and done on Friday, Federer will win the semifinal in straight sets and set up his third straight Roland Garros final appearance.
Federer’s got to be hoping that if he makes the final and the third time is the charm. He is probably the only guy who can stop three-time champion Rafael Nadal from winning again on the red clay.
But it’s hard to ignore that Federer has been embarrassed by Nadal quite often, including this year when the Spaniard had his way with the Swiss master in the finals at both Monte Carlo and Hamburg – both on clay. Nadal holds an overall 10-6 edge over Federer and has won their clay-court encounters on eight of nine occasions.
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But Monfils has to be congratulated because he’s been called an up-and-comer for a long time and this could be his announcing that he’s now ready to consistently do battle with the best, especially when the stakes are the highest.
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