Your definition of mental strength is very narrow. Serving out matches is great but you are already in a winning position. Being mentally tough is also being able to turn a match around, to stick with a player who is playing well, to up your game or make them crack when the moment gets tight.
He's always quite good in terms of mental strength, especially in comparison to the rest of the French gang. He does have his episodes but can usually get it together for the big moments.
Exactly this, he will never tank and fights to the very end no matter what but he actually can blow leads quite often. I wish he was mentally stronger, it would make watching his matches much easier.
That's not even Simon who is overrated there, that's Tsonga who's described as an arrogant and mentally weak player. That's so wrong. I mean, look at the impressive stats he has (BPs saved, TBs won/lost, 5-set record) and remember he was the first player ever beating Federer in a Grand Slam match after losing the first two sets.
Unfortunately, according to MTF you're as good as your last match.
I never understood the assumption that Simon has some sort of amazing mental strength. He's not the worst, but I'd definitely rank Tsonga way higher.
The French media especially likes to portray him as the not-so-talented player who manages to win relying solely of mental strength and Tsonga as a weak minded player. When actually Tsonga will win most of his matches when he's in a position to do so while Simon is prone to losing matches he shouldn't or pulling himself out of tough positions that he brought on himself. In Tokyo, the French press was praising him for saving six match points against Bautista Agut, which is impressive, but I wouldn't qualify having to save six match points when you started the set with a double break as great mental solidity.
True. French media are terrible when it comes to tennis. Never saw a newspaper saying Tsonga is one of the greatest 10 active players or that he's the 2nd greatest French player of the Open Era.
To be honest, Tsonga has his serve which often gets him out of trouble (even though you need huge mental strenght to use it as effectively at the right moments as he often does).
I'd be curious to see how Simon would have done with a good serve
He fights (like Cornut who I am also a fan of) but mentally strong is a huge exaggeration. Maybe compared to the other French spit but still not at all. Competitive and mentally strong is a big difference.
Exactly! Combativeness doesn't equal mental strength. It's the same with Alizé Cornet, she's a fighter and has pulled some great comebacks but she's very far from being "mentally strong".
Edit: I'm dumb, I didn't read your entire post and didn't see that you had already mentioned Cornet. Obviously I agree with you on that as well
I actually wish Gasquet was arrogant, he would have probably had a far better career than what he had.
Also, i don't find the likes of Monfils and Tsonga particularly arrogant.
I mean, Djoker for example is probably more arrogant than all the 4 best french players combined (and he already was before he even became a top player).
He is. It's amazing that the guy has 11 titles, considering that is more than berdych and Tsonga. Yes I realize these guys have masters titles and better overall careers, but it is still impressive.
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