TENNIS US OPEN – Rafa Nadal isn’t around. Tomas Berdych is dominated by Marin Cilic. Kei Nishikori upstages Stan Wawrinka. And Roger Federer takes advantage of a Gael Monfils meltdown to come back from two sets down. Is the competition for Novak Djokovic and Federer getting stronger or weaker? By James Beck
US Open: All the interviews, results, draws and OoP
What’s going on?
Rafa Nadal isn’t around. Tomas Berdych is dominated by Marin Cilic. Kei Nishikori upstages Stan Wawrinka. And Roger Federer takes advantage of a Gael Monfils meltdown to come back from two sets down.
Is the competition for Novak Djokovic and Federer getting stronger or weaker? And what happens when Nadal, Djokovic and Federer age out or get tired of being so dominant?
There’s a good list of outstanding players waiting for their time. But the drop off from the big three of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer is immense.
Cilic’s Game May Or May Not Show Up
Of course, Cilic can play lights out at times as he did in rolling past Berdych in straight sets on Thursday in the U.S. Open quarterfinals. The Croatian also can play like an erratic teen-ager at times. His game may or may not show up for the semifinals.
Andy Murray just isn’t the same player he was two years ago, and may never reach that level again, despite the huge forehands he delivered against Djokovic in the quarterfinals.
Wawrinka might have had his one shot of fame at the Australian Open, thanks possibly to Nadal’s physical liabilities.
And Jo-Wilfried Tsonga? He’s anyone’s guess at any time. He shows up or he doesn’t show up, a lot like some amateurish league tennis players.
Monfils Is A Misuse Of Talent
Then there’s Monfils. What a misuse of talent!
The athletic Frenchman was everything you’ve heard about him. At its worst. Thursday’s meltdown brings back memories of the 2004 French Open final when eventual loser Guillermo Coria tried to “gamesmanship” Gaston Claudia after also taking a 2-0 lead in sets.
Of course, that performance effectively marked the end of a promising career for Coria.
The question is how will Monfils’ meltdown on probably tennis’ biggest stage affect his career?
No One Will Believe In Monfils Again
No one will ever believe in Monfils again. Six points from victory, after already having blown two match points earlier in the set, Monfils badly double-faulted on two straight points to give Federer a 6-5 lead in the fourth set.
Monfils once again demonstrated that he’s the type of player who had rather say he “almost won” than actually won. Even in the fifth set, he tried to hit between his legs on a normal shot at the baseline when someone as athletic as Monfils easily could have turned and got setup for a normal groundstroke. Of course, he didn’t put the trick shot into play.
That’s the type of thinking that makes Gael Monfils the biggest joke in tennis.
Something Unpredictable In The Air?
There must be something in the air these days that renders some players completely unpredictable, not in the way they play but in their level of sporadicity. Maybe it’s the game they play, the boring baseline battles such as Cilic and Berdych displayed in the quarterfinals. Are the players bored with their own play to the extent they lose focus in matches, even when cruch time arrives?
Maybe the hierarchy of tennis should consider doing something to liven up the game before it falls into a deeper sleep. There has to be some mix of the baseline game and intelligent approaches to the net. Federer, Nadal and Djokovic all incorporate at least a bit of that excitement in their matches, but few of the other players make an effort to escape the drudgery of baseline battles.
Thank goodness Federer is still around. He’s going to the net more than ever, and the tactic is paying big dividends as it did in the meltdown by Monfils.
Nishikori Is A Bundle Of Excitement
Other than the big three, the most exciting player in the game is Nishikori. The Japanese star plays with such ebullience and electricity that he is quickly gaining an international throng of followers.
Nishikori’s only weakness may be his body. He generally hadn’t been able to handle the physicality of long matches well until his five-set win over Wawrinka. So, maybe Nishikori has turned that corner.
The Japanese ace plays with childish enthusiasm, maybe too childish at times. That part of his game broke out at a critical time in the match against Wawrinka. It came on a game point when he tried to pull off a between-the-legs shot after running down a lob past the baseline. He appeared to have time to turn and hit a less show-offish shot.
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James Beck is the long-time tennis columnist for the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier newspaper. He can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com
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See James Beck’s Post and Courier columns at:
http://web.charleston.net/news/columnists/james_beck/
