Roland Garros QF: Federer def. Monfils 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (2)

Wind was tough for both. Fed is likely to be demolished by Novak.

Neither will want to remember the 3rd set :lol:

Some good defence from Fed, overall.

Not convincing at all. Demolition from Nole expected/NID

Expected result.

I was gonna throw up the way Roger played in that third set. He tried so hard to gift that set to Monfils. But Mugfils is so passive.

Novak will destroy this Fedmug.

French crowd disgraceful. Barely supported Monfils.

How did this clown beat Ferrer?

Very difficult conditions. Monfils looked injured in the last two games. Federer was poor on break points in the 3rd set (what a horrible dropshot).

damn this dro shot addiction. Third set almost as bad as Rafa-ljubicic match

Good play from Federer after being down 1-3 in the first set. The third set was bit wobbly, but I think it had to do with the wind and his mind was probably wandering off to the next match.

Great fight from Monfils though!

Federer played well, but his serving was terrible.

And on break points :help: He had so many chances, the match should have been over very easily.

NID, Nadal/Ljubo must be feeling better now. :o

hilarious match... circus-like spectacle from these 2 top ten players.

utter garbage of a match......

Tough Conditions out there. Now roger end the Streak!

Bad weather gave both plenty of spoils. Fed played well though.

No words for that, especially the third set :stupid:. Roger was horrifying for the first half of the first set but then picked it up and was routing Monfils. Then that third set was just classic

BTW, cannot believe Monfils will be #8 after this. How is Berdych still #7? :lol:

fucking horrible conditions out there:help:

Expected. Thought Monfils could sneak a set but the Swiss is looking sharp. He is still the master and will be for years to come whether he wins majors or not :worship:. A wonderful player to watch.

"Federer defeats Monfils, sets up Djokovic showdown"

http://www.tennisworldusa.org/ATP-Roland-Garros--Federer-defeats-Monfils-sets-up-Djokovic-showdown-articolo665.html

clownfils always lives up to his full clown potential.

Federer played decent. He let his concentration slip away in the third as he usually do when things seems to go too easy!

Fedmug should book his plane tickets for Halle this night so he can start practising on grass. He may have an actual chance of winning on grass.

SF on RG is good enough for this clown that can't convert a BP to save his life.

Fedmug should book his plane tickets for Halle this night so he can start practising on grass. He may have an actual chance of winning on grass.

SF is good enough for this clown that can't convert a BP to save his life.

5/16 today :help::hysteric:

Not the greatest match, some good moments but mostly marred by the wind.

Fed will have a tough task ahead of him if he hopes to topple Djokovic, but at least that match has now come to fruition.

Hopefully conditions settle down a bit for the remainder of the tourny.

Federer will get destroyed by Novak if he doesn't seriously lift his game.

It's funny that Federer hasn't serious problems with Monfils on clay but lost to him indoors :)

Kind of hard to plaz tennis when the wind moves the ball all the time.

Really windy conditions and yet Fed ends up with 41 winners and 42 errors.

Not really Shankerer mode.

Roger used his experience to battle the wind. Monfils - not so much.

Piss-poor match, toilet-quality, especially the 2nd and 3rd set.
There is a slight excuse however: conditions were terrible, looked like a hurricane landed in Paris during that 2nd set - players, crowd & ump barely being able to hide their eyes from the clay flying all over in the air. :o
However, Federer was able to deal with the wind a lot better than Monfils, who was struggling all throughout the match.

That said: still a very poor performance, especially from Federer, who could have easily closed it out some 30 minutes earlier, but who somehow decided that he was enjoying all of his clownery at BPs. There was one... a silly attempt of a dropper whereas he could have put that ball away almost anywere across the net. Truly hilarious if it weren't so :stupid: :stupid: :stupid:

I wonder how many buckets of popcorn Djoko has eaten while watching this trainwreck.

Congrats to Fed, and :hug: to Monfils, who appeared to be slightly injured at the end (limping).

For the first 2 sets it was an absolute joke of a match.
I think I've never ever seen such a mindless display of tennis against Fed from someone.
The frenchman was just hitting to his FH and when he tried to play to Fed's BH it looked so useless.. he was doing it with such a shit pace that 30-year old Fed could jump around these balls on one leg to hit a FH. Some of his approach shots were priceless - softy pussy pushing to Fed's FH.
First 4 games of the match probably showed the only way how Monfils could take the match - Fed playing the utterish shit. But it didn't last long. As soon as Fed started playing at 30% - it was on his racket.
After 2-0 in the third we've finally got some kind of a match. Out of nowhere Monfils got a brain and started hitting to Fed's BH more properly and more ofter. And if he went for Fed's FH - he tried to do it with solid pace.
But still closer to the end there were some ridiculous shot selections from Gael, and Fed just wouldn't let it go away from him.
Honourable mention - that game at 3-2 in the 2nd set. Pure jokefest. Monfils with awesome overhead. Fed with magic volley into the bottom of the net. And I was pretty shocked when the game ended with 2 DF's from Monfils.... It just looked....so right...so in place, you know. Probably too right to be true.

Well I just hope we can blame this on the wind, otherwise Djoker is going to beat Roger nearly as badly as he is going to abuse Nadal in the final.

Congratulations on your 28th slam semi, Rog. Make it one to remember.

If i can compare to golf Federer shot like +1 or 2 over par in tough conditions at Carnoustie.He played as good he can in this conditions and has done the job in straight sets

I thought the match was good considering the conditions. And I'm not quite fond of this subdued Monfils, I prefer the emotional and cocky one.

this is shit tennis.

Fed was OK,,considering the conditions & playing a pusher but not good enough to take out Novak.Still a SF is not bad.

Roger didn't play well and yet he won in straight sets against a guy who usually does well in Paris and whom took a set off him a couple of years ago.

http://i.imgur.com/Q7jOv.jpg

That said, if this keeps up, Nole is gonna assrape him in the SF :o

Monfils looked like he was playing in a tornado the whole match.

tie breakerer :yeah:

altho it was 7-3 not 7-2 ... please fix it

http://zoewinters.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/funny-pictures-ocd-cat-is-disturbed-by-loose-threads11.jpg

Federer to Brad Gilbert after the match:

"Yeah, I don't really read a lot of press, but people have been talking about Djokovic, whether these 5 days off is good for him or not...."

Yeah, Roger, you don't read press, and yet you know what all the press are saying :lol:

I must say, I've warmed up to Roger the last few years in his Declinerer era.

5/16 today :help::hysteric:

Return players typically win about 1/3 of the points. The best returners maybe around or just below 40%. 5/16 is within the statistical error of this range. Had he taken one more, it might have been 6/12, which is really good. I thought he played them the right way. He missed a few make-able shots, but that's part of the game. At least he forced many opportunities.

Federer to Brad Gilbert after the match:

"Yeah, I don't really read a lot of press, but people have been talking about Djokovic, whether these 5 days off is good for him or not...."

Yeah, Roger, you don't read press, and yet you know what all the press are saying :lol:

I must say, I've warmed up to Roger the last few years in his Declinerer era.

Fed doesn't read press, he only reads MTF.

Piss-poor match, toilet-quality, especially the 2nd and 3rd set.
There is a slight excuse however: conditions were terrible, looked like a hurricane landed in Paris during that 2nd set - players, crowd & ump barely being able to hide their eyes from the clay flying all over in the air. :o
However, Federer was able to deal with the wind a lot better than Monfils, who was struggling all throughout the match.

That said: still a very poor performance, especially from Federer, who could have easily closed it out some 30 minutes earlier, but who somehow decided that he was enjoying all of his clownery at BPs. There was one... a silly attempt of a dropper whereas he could have put that ball away almost anywere across the net. Truly hilarious if it weren't so :stupid: :stupid: :stupid:

I wonder how many buckets of popcorn Djoko has eaten while watching this trainwreck.

Congrats to Fed, and :hug: to Monfils, who appeared to be slightly injured at the end (limping).

Terrible post. Shit quality. Federer took care of business in straight sets. He handled the pressure, the conditions, the crowd, and Monfils pretend injuries (which happen every match) extremely well. And he didn't appear to expend too much extra energy. Sure it would have been a bit easier if he had converted another break point. But he didn't let these disappointments carry over to subsequent points and gains. That's mental strength. I bet Federer is quite happy with how the match turned out.

Terrible post. Shit quality. Federer took care of business in straight sets. He handled the pressure, the conditions, the crowd, and Monfils pretend injuries (which happen every match) extremely well. And he didn't appear to expend too much extra energy. Sure it would have been a bit easier if he had converted another break point. But he didn't let these disappointments carry over to subsequent points and gains. That's mental strength. I bet Federer is quite happy with how the match turned out.

Sure man, matches with over 40 UEs from both players, and some idiotic strategies on BPs from the winner, are top quality. :worship:

BTW, cannot believe Monfils will be #8 after this. How is Berdych still #7? :lol:

Berdych is still #7 because he reached the final of Wimbledon last year. So still he has some points to defend. :eek:
By the way, Novak already has become the world #1.

http://is.gd/TUxPxy

The scoreline was closer than the game play. Credit to Monfils for this on the break points. Federer controlled this match from 1-3 down in the first. You can't do much better than 15-0 in sets. And that includes 4 matches against high quality opponents. WTF do people expect from a 29 year old? Should he just go for broke in the QF?

Nadal "only the best champions play bad and win"


Yeah, Roger, you don't read press, and yet you know what all the press are saying

He Meant People that doesn't necessarily equate to press
it could be his mates or anybody he meets

Pretend injuries? I saw blood, how can you fake that? :scratch:

BTW, cannot believe Monfils will be #8 after this. How is Berdych still #7? :lol:

Mofils is deservedly in top10 in nowadays tennis. Heh..

Sure man, matches with over 40 UEs from both players, and some idiotic strategies on BPs from the winner, are top quality. :worship:

See if you can hit a serve in the middle of the box above 150kph in these conditions.
This was a matchup between 2 of the 10 best players in the world right now. Almost by definition, this is nearly the highest quality of tennis that's possible under these circumstance. The degree of pace and spin these two put on the ball pushed each several meters behind the baseline in most rallies. The only relatively low quality aspect was Monfils serve, due to his problem with the ball toss.

Remember Monfils outfought Ferrer, the quintessential figher. There's way too much negativity in this thread (and in most threads). And not nearly enough credit to the players. I attribute that to watching too much tennis on TV, and therefore a lack of appreciation of the players, their abilities, and the trickiness of the conditions.

Return players typically win about 1/3 of the points. The best returners maybe around or just below 40%. 5/16 is within the statistical error of this range. Had he taken one more, it might have been 6/12, which is really good. I thought he played them the right way. He missed a few make-able shots, but that's part of the game. At least he forced many opportunities.

No, he's just shit at converting BPs in general :shrug:

Federer to Brad Gilbert after the match:

"Yeah, I don't really read a lot of press, but people have been talking about Djokovic, whether these 5 days off is good for him or not...."

Yeah, Roger, you don't read press, and yet you know what all the press are saying :lol:

Well, he didn't say 'I don't read press at all', but 'I don't read a LOT'.

And certainly, you don't have to read a lot of press to see that everyone & their uncle is talking about Nole all the time (deservedly so, I might add). :angel:

No, he's just shit at converting BPs in general :shrug:

Relative to Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, and others, that might be true. But you cannot prove that by pointing to a 5/16 in a particular match. The server is expected to win well more than half of service points, including break points against. And as I said before, had Federer taken one of his breakpoint chances against Monfils, his ratios would have ended up something like 6/12, which is excellent. So the difference between 5/16 or 6/12 can be one poorly executed shot. And it's unfair to mark the boundary of poor to great based on one point or shot.

Under this circumstances it was not about playing good but about to win.

Federer was way better than his opponent and his win in 3 sets was never in doubt.

This match says nothing about his level of play.

He will be competitive against Djokovic.
It will be a good match over at least 4 sets...

Federer to Brad Gilbert after the match:

"Yeah, I don't really read a lot of press, but people have been talking about Djokovic, whether these 5 days off is good for him or not...."

Yeah, Roger, you don't read press, and yet you know what all the press are saying :lol:

I must say, I've warmed up to Roger the last few years in his Declinerer era.

Did he say he doesn't "read press" - your words - or what you quoted before that "don't really read a LOT of press"

Just wondering

Piss-poor match, toilet-quality, especially the 2nd and 3rd set.
There is a slight excuse however: conditions were terrible, looked like a hurricane landed in Paris during that 2nd set - players, crowd & ump barely being able to hide their eyes from the clay flying all over in the air. :o
However, Federer was able to deal with the wind a lot better than Monfils, who was struggling all throughout the match.

That said: still a very poor performance, especially from Federer, who could have easily closed it out some 30 minutes earlier, but who somehow decided that he was enjoying all of his clownery at BPs. There was one... a silly attempt of a dropper whereas he could have put that ball away almost anywere across the net. Truly hilarious if it weren't so :stupid: :stupid: :stupid:

I wonder how many buckets of popcorn Djoko has eaten while watching this trainwreck.

Congrats to Fed, and :hug: to Monfils, who appeared to be slightly injured at the end (limping).

In those conditions 41 winners to 42 unforced errors reasonable.

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/stats/day15/1503ms.html

Comfortable for Roger, I expected this to be a tough match but Monfils did not adjust to the conditons or he did not adjust as well as Roger.

Good hitting from Federer, his concentration was not 100% all the time, but overall a solid performance.

Dissapointing.

The doubters can doubt but the great swiss is still in the tournament. NADULL won't even be playing TENNIS at Federer's age. He will be in a wheelchair:p

Relative to Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, and others, that might be true. But you cannot prove that by pointing to a 5/16 in a particular match. The server is expected to win well more than half of service points, including break points against. And as I said before, had Federer taken one of his breakpoint chances against Monfils, his ratios would have ended up something like 6/12, which is excellent. So the difference between 5/16 or 6/12 can be one poorly executed shot. And it's unfair to mark the boundary of poor to great based on one point or shot.

Sure you can't...but a lot of the BPs were just stupid shots from Roger. Like he got the return back and was on the offensive on a few of them and just missed some routine shots. He deserves a bit of a pass with the conditions but it's still something that has haunted Roger in the past

Relative to Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, and others, that might be true. But you cannot prove that by pointing to a 5/16 in a particular match. The server is expected to win well more than half of service points, including break points against. And as I said before, had Federer taken one of his breakpoint chances against Monfils, his ratios would have ended up something like 6/12, which is excellent. So the difference between 5/16 or 6/12 can be one poorly executed shot. And it's unfair to mark the boundary of poor to great based on one point or shot.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Rankings/MatchFacts.aspx

federer ranks 52th in break points converted which is pathetic for a player ranked third in the world right now.

he just sucks at converting break points. there's no way around it.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Rankings/MatchFacts.aspx

federer ranks 52th in break points converted which is pathetic for a player ranked third in the world right now.

he just sucks at converting break points. there's no way around it.

That's not what he's arguing though. He's saying that TODAY he wasn't terrible, and he wasn't. As he said, he converts that one terrible drop shot decision, and suddenly he's at 6/12.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Rankings/MatchFacts.aspx

federer ranks 52th in break points converted which is pathetic for a player ranked third in the world right now.

he just sucks at converting break points. there's no way around it.

His % on BP converted is not great but on the other hand he gets himself lots of chances.He would take 5/16 any day then something like 2/2 and loose the match in three tiebreak sets.

Sure you can't...but a lot of the BPs were just stupid shots from Roger. Like he got the return back and was on the offensive on a few of them and just missed some routine shots. He deserves a bit of a pass with the conditions but it's still something that has haunted Roger in the past

This is more reasonable. And I also thought he had very good chances for a few extra breaks, so I agree. I just don't want to exaggerate the implications of a few points, especially considering the outcome.

I think effective bp play is about applying pressure to the server without playing recklessly. And of course you have to execute. I thought Federer was just aggressive enough on the big points, but failed to execute on a few occasions. He is not a robot. Execution on big points could cost him a match against Djokovic or Nadal. But that's the nature of the game.

only thing to conclude from this match is that fed is a much better allround player than monfils (newsflash, i know) and adapted much better to the tough conditions. shotmaking quality was poor from both, as expected when playing in a hurricane. it was pretty funny how, when the wind died down for a moment, both guys went up like 3 gears in their shots, both pace and placement.
novak still the favourite in the sf, but not by a huge margin. hope they both bring their best, would be a cracker.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Rankings/MatchFacts.aspx

federer ranks 52th in break points converted which is pathetic for a player ranked third in the world right now.

he just sucks at converting break points. there's no way around it.

Without a doubt his statistics are not as good as they should be or have been in past years. But his percentage isn't dreadful, especially considering the quality of servers he has faced this year (and usually faces in the latter stages of tournaments). Several players ranked ahead of him pad their stats against lesser players.

Federer is among the leaders in bp saved, so it's not like he lets the pressure get to him. And I expect his percentage to increase as the year progresses. The sample size is still relatively small.

But the point remains. And unless he is more efficient in his chances against Djokovic and Nadal in future matches, he likely won't defeat those players very often. It's likely both those players will have - and take - their fair share of chances on his serve.

By the way, Novak already has become the world #1.

http://is.gd/TUxPxy

Not quite yet. As your link shows if Novak loses his next match and goes on to win Roland Garros, then Nadal will still retain the top ranking for now as Rafa will be on 12070 points and Djokovic will be on 12025 points. Please check out the rankings thread for further discussion.

Fed's backhand is VERY weak.

No way Roger wins this tournament (unless he gets an injured Murray in the final).

I am impressed with Federer's result. After a dip in his GS results last year with the two QF appearances, he is once again on a SF streak. A resurgence of this kind is somewhat rare, especially in the men's game. And in this tournament, his advancement to the SF certainly doesn't look like a fluke. He is still playing at a very high level, earning convincing wins over 4 high level players. Only Djokovic has a longer active GS SF streak.

Gael's gonna be No. 6 after the tournament? :eek:

Gael's gonna be No. 6 after the tournament? :eek:

Hard to believe considering all the terrible matches he's played in his career. But he did defeat world #7 Ferrer on the way to the QF.

Great tournament for Gael!

Nice one, FedGod, but please play better in the next round. It's time to stop Streakovic's run :yeah:

Gael's gonna be No. 6 after the tournament? :eek:
No.8, not no.6. He's not that far from no.7 though.

No.8, not no.6. He's not that far from no.7 though.

but hey, this is a super strong era according to some :rolleyes:

In those conditions 41 winners to 42 unforced errors reasonable.

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/stats/day15/1503ms.html

That's true. Perhaps I was a bit over-the-top with my earlier post.
Blame that atrocious :stupid:-dropper on BP, it kind of blurred my vision. :p

And don't get me wrong: I think Roger has already played a great tournament here. Won some ranking points, played as well as you may expect from him in the Autumn of his career, reached his 28th GS semi... not bad, no?
I give him some 10% chance of getting to the final, but even if he doesn't, I'm happy with this result already. :D

Truth is, the wind was crazy but still Roger made some atrocious shots :lol: if he wasn't so talented he'd be screwed because his tactics can suck at times :haha:

I think this thread has greatly exaggerated Roger's performance.

Roger was steady in the rallies, and pretty much in most rallies had control and good depth. He did NOT make that many errors.
Backhand was good, though tends to go in a bit short.
Returns was okay, a bit central, but plenty of depth.
Serving was poor, but I believe its the conditions.

I think people are exaggerating, Roger played well to get to the BP's, where poor judgement and passiveness kicked in. He made some very poor errors there. Otherwise he was okay, and should be able to give Djoko a decent showing.

monfils has all the potential in the world

his forehand when hit right is the most powefull on par with soderling and del potro

plus monfils is the fastest player in the world

he really raises his game against federer

the way he develops pace and power from slice no-power balls is amazing

federer- for a set and half played lights out

monfils lost heart.... then lost the match

monfils has all the potential in the world

his forehand when hit right is the most powefull on par with soderling and del potro

plus monfils is the fastest player in the world

he really raises his game against federer

the way he develops pace and power from slice no-power balls is amazing

federer- for a set and half played lights out

monfils lost heart.... then lost the match


You need a brain to have potential, and Mugfils does not.

monfils has all the potential in the world

his forehand when hit right is the most powefull on par with soderling and del potro

plus monfils is the fastest player in the world

he really raises his game against federer

the way he develops pace and power from slice no-power balls is amazing

federer- for a set and half played lights out

monfils lost heart.... then lost the match
Monfils is pretty quick, but I think several other players are quicker. I think his reach, his build, and his propensity to scramble well behind the baseline exaggerates the perception of his speed.

Monfils is pretty quick, but I think several other players are quicker. I think his reach, his build, and his propensity to scramble well behind the baseline exaggerates the perception of his speed.

Not to forget, Monfils' 'awesome capacities' to get himself hurt while running for unreacheable shots, which every player with a working brain would let go. :o
In all, I agree with you.

French crowd disgraceful. Barely supported Monfils.

How did this clown beat Ferrer?

When you find out, please let me know as well.

Relative to Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, and others, that might be true. But you cannot prove that by pointing to a 5/16 in a particular match. The server is expected to win well more than half of service points, including break points against. And as I said before, had Federer taken one of his breakpoint chances against Monfils, his ratios would have ended up something like 6/12, which is excellent. So the difference between 5/16 or 6/12 can be one poorly executed shot. And it's unfair to mark the boundary of poor to great based on one point or shot.

I don't get this arithmetical trick. Roger got 5/16 bps. Had he won the last one, the ratio would have been 6/16 not 6/12. Of course, had he won the first of the non-won series the ratio would have been something like 6/11.... the bp ratio is very sensitive to the placement of the wins.....:mad:

I just saw the tape reoffer and saw federer missing the return and monfils missing the volley even when the ball is right in front of him. What happened there? It looked like that they have misjudged the ball for some reason. Is it sunlight or is it wind?

I don't get this arithmetical trick. Roger got 5/16 bps. Had he won the last one, the ratio would have been 6/16 not 6/12. Of course, had he won the first of the non-won series the ratio would have been something like 6/11.... the bp ratio is very sensitive to the placement of the wins.....:mad:

It sounds like you have it figured out perfectly.

So according to some of you, we should trash Roger when he has an off day (while winning is straight sets mind you) and give Rafa a pass when he has to go five sets in the opening round against inferior competition because the match wasn't about his performance, it was more about him overcoming his tennis demons to fight for victory. Riiiight. What a load of horsesh*t :)

Piss-poor match, toilet-quality, especially the 2nd and 3rd set.

I have seen a different match then. It was far from being that bad, giving the conditions. I felt Roger was in control for large parts. Gael served poorly, how many DFs in the end?

So according to some of you, we should trash Roger when he has an off day (while winning is straight sets mind you) and give Rafa a pass when he has to go five sets in the opening round against inferior competition because the match wasn't about his performance, it was more about him overcoming his tennis demons to fight for victory. Riiiight. What a load of horsesh*t :)

It's been like that since 2005. You'll get used to mtf double standards pretty quickly though ;)