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"Indoor" season 2008

7K views 140 replies 15 participants last post by  soulage 
#1 · (Edited)
I didn't know how to call this thread since he will play a couple of tournaments on hardcourt before the start of his European indoor season.
Here are the events he has entered for the rest of the season:
23.9: Bangkok
29.9: Tokyo
6.10: Vienna
13.10: Madrid
-
27.10: Bercy

They promote him nicely for Bercy, as usual!
 
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#4 ·
Re: On the road to Bercy 2008

That's sad cause the Metz tournament is great and the french players should seize every opportunity they've got to play behind their one. But that's the game, Tokyo has full right to organize the best tournament possible, if they have the money.

What's even more sad is the place of Metz in the calendar of next year : just during the asian tourney. :sad: :rolleyes:
 
#5 · (Edited)
Re: On the road to Bercy 2008

Just *before* the Asian tourney, it will be at the same time as Bucharest. Pretty stupid indeed to have an indoor event all alone at that time of the year. And it sucks for Bucharest too.

As for them all skipping Metz this year, I find it so bad for their image in France, I wonder if it's worth the extra $$$?
It's really disappointing not one of them can show a bit more loyalty to a home event.

(Hmmm, the title of the thread is annoying me already - I liked the idea of Gaël being on his way to his first AMS title :rocker2:, but it's annoying. It's almost an "indoor season", Bangkog is played indoors, only Tokyo isn't afaik.)
 
#6 ·
Re: On the road to Bercy 2008

He has a good draw in Bangkok:
(1) DJOKOVIC, Novak SRB vs BYE
BENNETEAU, Julien FRA vs QUALIFIER
BERRER, Michael GER vs GABASHVILI, Teimuraz RUS
QUALIFIER vs (6) SODERLING, Robin SWE

(3) BERDYCH, Tomas CZE vs BYE
BELLUCCI, Thomaz BRA vs BOLELLI, Simone ITA
(WC) UDOMCHOKE, Danai THA vs MAHUT, Nicolas FRA
(WC) DJOKOVIC, Marko SRB vs (5) NIEMINEN, Jarkko FIN

(7) SAFIN, Marat RUS vs PETZSCHNER, Philipp GER
ZVEREV, Mischa GER vs (WC) SMEETS, Robert AUS
QUALIFIER vs KENDRICK, Robert USA
BYE vs (4) MONFILS, Gael FRA

(8) MELZER, Jurgen AUT vs YOUNG, Donald USA
SANTORO, Fabrice FRA vs TROICKI, Viktor SRB
QUALIFIER vs BECKER, Benjamin GER
BYE vs (2) TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried FRA
 
#15 · (Edited)
They lost, as usual - I think Gaël hasn't won a set in doubles this year! :worship: (But playing with Josselin and Gilles didn't help his record either.)

I watched the end of the 2nd set, it was quite cute, they looked like they were trying! His job obviously was to reach the dropshots, his left buttock seems to be fine.

He'll play Petzschner tomorrow. 7am French time.
 
#9 · (Edited)
I couldn't follow the match closely because I was working, but it looked like the typical Monfils match. ^^
He was serving big when I was watching, the rest of his game was more indefinable, but still good enough to get the job done against a guy like Kendrick. As usual. But it would have been boring without the inevitable injury sequence.

Before the match he really was all smile and joking (I think he was laughing because they were playing Soulja Boy when he entered the court or something like that), and everything was looking fine until he served for the match at 5-4 and was broken.

And then he fell and was limping and making sure even the guys in the last row had noticed he was in pain. As usual too.
I doubt it was serious since he didn't call the physio.
Kendrick was too crap to punish him and Gaël finally regrouped to win it in the TB.

The winner of Zverev-Petzschner next!
 
#10 ·
Bangkok seems to be the idealistic place for a second title :). Very nice draw with a Jo who is not yet at his best and a Nole who looks after his brother.

I was wondering about the schedule, sorry to be late, but why he didn't enter Lyon ? No Metz, no Lyon :sad: He's very popular like Jo and I'm sure french children want to see him play even if I know that there is Bercy for french fans. Did he get some problems with these tournaments ?
 
#11 ·
Moretton (the tournament director of Lyon) said in Le Progrès that they were negotiating with Gaël's staff, everything was looking good, and then Gaël changed his agent again 3 days before the entry deadline (he now is with Tiriac) and Rasheed called Moretton to tell Gaël wouldn't play in Lyon. :shrug:
So I don't think Gaël himself has a problem with the tournament - it's just another annoying decision of his agent/manager for whatever reason.
But well, it's not too bad in Lyon since they will have all the other Frenchies.
 
#13 ·
Well dont you Think that perhaps they dont go there only for money reasons but to experience new things.They will play the best in tokyo, more than in Metz.
They made a choice but a career is really short and must be full of changes.
If they can compete with the best players and yes earn much money why not??
richard reached the finale in tokyo,he has lot of points to defend there.

Good luck to them.
 
#14 ·
No, I don't think so.

In L'Equipe today:
Monfils peinard
GAËL MONFILS laissa pour sa part une forte impression… durant 95 % de sa victoire sur Robert Kendrick. Pour avoir très rapidement pris la mesure du gros service de l’Américain, il se détacha pour mener 6-4, 5-4, service à suivre, en cinquante-huit minutes. Une attitude trop passive lui coûta son break d’avance, mais il se fit surtout une grosse frayeur en chutant lourdement dans le jeu suivant. S’en suivit une fin de match bizarroïde : en claudiquant, le Français reprit son avance (6-5), cala au moment de servir une deuxième fois pour le match et… appuya sur le champignon dans le tie-break (6-4, 7-6). « J’ai très mal au muscle fessier gauche et je pense avoir un gros hématome, dit-il juste à sa sortie du court. C’est dommage parce que, jusque-là, je trouve que je tapais vraiment bien dans la balle. Couper une quinzaine de jours après l’US m’a fait du bien. J’ai retrouvé Roger (Rasheed, son coach) trois jours avant le début du tournoi et il me fait bosser dur. Mais j’ai récupéré de l’énergie. » À confirmer en quarts contre le vainqueur du match Petzschner-Zverev.
He made a good impression… during 95% of his match. He had no problem with Kendrick’s serve, was leading 6-4 *5-4, but was too passive then and got rebroken, fell and ended the match limping. So the end of the match was weird, he broke again, was rebroken when serving for the match a 2nd time and stepped on the gas in the TB.
He says his left buttock is hurting and he must have a big bruise. Too bad because he means he was hitting the ball well during the first part of the match. He took 2 weeks off after the US Open and it did him well. He met Rasheed 3 days before the start of the tournament and Rasheed makes him work hard. But he has recovered his energy.
 
#16 ·
I feel like a traitor as I was cheering for Petzsche today. But it's hard to root against Gaëlou!
Petzsche had two SP in the TB, Gaël won a very long rallye to save one of these SP, so he did well on key points, as usual, even though his game was still quite perplexing the rest of the time, apart from the serve. Nothing new!

He'll play the winner of Tsonga-Melzer in the semi.
 
#20 ·
:( Jo was playing great, but Gaël was looking so pissed and frustrated, it was a total heartbreak to watch. Poor Gaëlou.

A bit late, but here's the presentation of the match in L'Equipe today:
SON QUART DE FINALE
Contrairement à Tsonga, Monfils ne modifie pas son rythme de croisière. Vainqueur de Kendrick 6-4,7-6, il a dominé hier l’Allemand Petzschner 7-6, 6-4. « Il a un jeu “space”, avec un bon service et un revers chopé sans aucune consistance, expliqua « la Monf ». Alors, je me suis attaché à ne pas me précipiter et à construire mes points. » Mis en demeure de sauver deux balles de set à 4-6 au tie-break, il écarta ainsi la seconde en mixant patience (remises en revers slicé) et changement de rythme (enchaînement amortie-volée). Foufou, Monfils ? De moins en moins. « Je me sens bien parce que je fais un gros travail sur moi-même et sur mon jeu, dit-il. Aujourd’hui (hier), j’ai trouvé de la stabilité, de la constance. J’estime que je me suis très bien adapté au jeu de Petzschner. Je ne cherche plus le coup gagnant pour le coup gagnant. »
SA FORME DU MOMENT
Monfils a retrouvé de la fraîcheur mentale en coupant une petite quinzaine en Suisse, juste après l’US Open. Son coach Roger Rasheed cherche pour sa part à modifier son approche stratégique. « L’idée est de tenir ma ligne de fond, précise le Français. De me montrer plus agressif sur le deuxième coup, au service comme au retour. Roger veut que je prenne le jeu à mon compte, que ce soit moi le patron. » Pas évident lorsqu’on a trop longtemps joué à l’essuie-glace. « C’est plus exigeant physiquement et il faut sans cesse que je lutte contre mon réflexe naturel, à savoir reculer, ajoute la Monf. Cela ne va pas se faire en un jour mais je bosse dur. » Rasheed confirme qu’il n’est pas là pour rigoler. « Pour atteindre le dernier carré d’un Grand Chelem, il faut se dédier entièrement à son boulot, assène-t-il. J’ai connu ça avec Lleyton (Hewitt), je sais de quoi je parle. Et je l’ai dit à Gaël dès notre premier rendez-vous : avec moi, c’est du 100 %. Sinon, je rentre à la maison. »
DEMI-FINALE, MODE D’EMPLOI
Pour l’avoir côtoyé un an durant à l’INSEP, Monfils est très pote avec Tsonga. Raison de plus pour se méfier. « Honnêtement, je pense que Jo est favori, dit-il. Il a fait de très bons matches à l’US Open, il est devant moi au classement (20e mondial contre 30e) et c’est un joueur très complet : énorme service, énorme coup droit. Maintenant, il envoie la sauce en revers et, au filet, c’est un Martien ! On va avoir droit à un gros match. » Mais comment surprendre un copain que l’on connaît par coeur ? « Nos coaches respectifs auront leur petite idée sur la question, estime Monfils. Et puis, il faudra gérer le match mentalement. J’espère qu’on va bien s’amuser. Et surtout que ce n’est que le début d’une longue histoire. Qu’on se jouera souvent en demi-finales d’un Grand Chelem. Que cette première ne sera pas une dernière. » Et que le lauréat n’y laissera pas trop de jus, avant de se coltiner le vainqueur du clash Djokovic-Berdych, demain, en finale.
 
#21 · (Edited)
He says Petzsche's game is 'space', with a great serve and a completely "spineless" sliced BH. So he was trying to construct the points and not hurry too much. He's less and less crazy. "I'm feeling well because I'm working a lot on myself and on my game. I've gained more stability, consistency. I mean I adjusted very well to Petzschner's game. I'm not trying anymore to hit a winner just for the sake of it."
Rasheed is trying to change his strategy on the court and wants him to be more aggressive on the 2nd shot in his service games and in his returning games. To "take over" the game, to be the boss on the court. Which is not easy to do when one has played a purely retrieving game for a too long time. "It's more demanding physically and I have to contain my first reaction which is to step back. It won't work over night, but I'm working hard."
Rasheed is meaning business: "One needs to be completely dedicated to his job to reach the last quarter of a Slam. I know what I'm talking about, I experienced it with Lleyton. And I said it to Gaël the first time we met: with me, it's 100%. Otherwise I go back home."
About his match against Jo, Gaël says: "Honestly, I think Jo is the favourite. He played very good matches at the US Open, he's ahead of me in the rankings and he's a very complete player: huge serve, huge FH, now he's hitting huge on the BH side too and he's a Martian at the net! It will be a big match." He says he hopes they will have fun. :sobbing: "And that it's just the beginning of a long story. That we will play each other often in Slam semi-finals. That this first match won't be the last one."

Champion said he needs to do 1-2 steps back to adjust to the ball with his technique, now it sounds like Rasheed doesn't want him to do so... He always sounds so unsure about the most basic things in his game, poor guy. It's his fault too because he keeps changing coaches, but it must be completely confusing for him.
 
#29 ·
:lol:

I can't wait for their meeting 2.0 ;).

I love both but I still be rooting for Jo though.. since I'm more of his fan than Gael :).

:lol:

I was just venting a litte bit in my last post anyway because I've read loads of annoying comments today saying this match exposed what a pile of crap his game is and what a joke his RG run actually was and and and.
It was painful, but it can go so fast indoors when you play a guy who is on fire, and he must have felt so awful to get bitchslapped that way from Jo! I really don't feel like heaping criticism on him after that match.

I just remembered Tokyo is on outdoor HC anyway, so it will be a different story if he plays Jo again. :p
:hug:Fran.

Those people have no idea what they are talking about. Ignore them ;).

Here more :hug: :hug: :hug: for you.
 
#24 ·
No, no doubles this time. We'll have to wait a little bit for Gaël to win a set in doubles this year!

I hope he will bounce back and won't be too crushed by today's match, I was feeling really bad for him. And I hope Rasheed won't be too harsh with him. I was annoyed by the non-match against Fish, but today was more about Jo being on fire, it was already over before Gaël managed to find into the match, shit happens!
Gaël is obviously trying to improve, I mean his attitude already is better.
 
#26 ·
No, no doubles this time. We'll have to wait a little bit for Gaël to win a set in doubles this year!

I hope he will bounce back and won't be too crushed by today's match, I was feeling really bad for him. And I hope Rasheed won't be too harsh with him. I was annoyed by the non-match against Fish, but today was more about Jo being on fire, it was already over before Gaël managed to find into the match, shit happens!
Gaël is obviously trying to improve, I mean his attitude already is better.
Truc! :speakles:

;)
 
#25 ·
Well the more he plays doubles, the more it's likely to happen, right? :lol:

Yeah his attitude seems have changed a bit. Maybe he'll start to see what talent he has and really start to take his tennis seriously. I never really got that impression of him.

He'll have another shot at Jo next week (if all goes according to plan) and hopefully he'll be the one who's on fire!:D
 
#30 · (Edited)
Thank you, I'm fine. :lol:

But:
Gaël has pain in the shoulder again according to l'Equipe (the same problem like in Wimbledon). :-/
He doesn't say it himself, he just says Jo was too good and he had no answer (« Jo a trop bien joué pour moi et je n’ai jamais trouvé la solution. Comme j’étais un peu en dedans, je n’ai rien pu faire »), but that's what the journalist of L'Equipe writes - and since he is in Bangkok, they're reliable for that kind of informations.
 
#31 ·
Thank you, I'm fine. :lol:

But:
Gaël has pain in the shoulder again according to l'Equipe (the same problem like in Wimbledon). :-/
He doesn't say that, he just says Jo was playing too good and he had no answer (« Jo a trop bien joué pour moi et je n’ai jamais trouvé la solution. Comme j’étais un peu en dedans, je n’ai rien pu faire »), but that's what the journalist of L'Equipe writes - and since he is in Bangkok, they're reliable for that kind of informations.

Poor guy :awww:.

I hope his shoulder will be fine soon. :hug:
 
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