Nadal’s 11th Monte Carlo title
Nadal stil on the road
The European aura of Monte Carlo did act as the curtain raiser of the continent’s Tennis season. The jewel of the French Riviera, with the blue Mediterranean as its backdrop, the Monte Carlo Country Club hosted the ATP 1000 event. It was an attractive start to the European season.
In the last 10 years, 3 Men’s players were known in homes that played and did not play Tennis. They are Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. Now in their 30s, they are nursing and rationing their appearances to last year by year.
Of the 3, at present, no one still can write off Federer and Nadal as spent forces, even in their mid-30s. This year, they have done enough to maintain their rankings of 1 and 2 in the world. Come what may, they are still there.
11th Title win by Nadal
Nadal won again last week in Monte Carlo. He, literally, sailed through as a foregone conclusion. The player who came close to match his Clay Court (CC) game was Japan’s Kei Nishikori. The Japanese is not an outsider completely, and has a track record of being in the Top 5 in the world, and winning the US Open convincingly. In good parts of the 2 Sets he played against Nadal in the Monte Carlo finals, he matched and held fort. What Nishikori could not do was not sustain the winning game.
Nadal is always known as a CC specialist. However, his Hard Court and Grass Court (GC) results are equally impressive. Opponents will have to raise the average speed of their shots to over 100 kmph, to beat Nadal at the baseline. Players do not get that kind of comfort zone to play high-speed shots consistently for 2 Sets against Nadal. His super athleticism is the open secret of his success. While others need 3 days to settle down on CCs, coming from other surfaces, Nadal, with his CC as his home surface, is in form in the first hour.
The only other way to give Nadal a good amount of trouble would be to get to the net and play well. Today, even in the professional circuit, good net game players are rare. Russia’s Micha Zverev, brother of his top 5 ranked Alexander, has pretty much the making of a good net player. His classical net game pattern is effective, and has done well in the last 2 years. Again, CCs and, especially European CCs give net players all the disadvantages.
Nishikori reappears
Nishikori is also returning after nursing injuries. Considering he beat 2 top 5 ranked players, Marin Cilic and Alexander Zverev, one cannot say he underperformed in capacity against Nadal. However, he may have been exhausted, playing more than Nadal to reach the finals, with many 3-Set matches.
Frenchman Gasquet’s 500th win
Richard Gasquet is the first Frenchman to win 500 matches in the professional circuit. He was found by the famous Pierre Barthes, and played his first professional match in Monte Carlo at the age of 15 years and 10 months. Now, at 31, he has the track record of 500 wins and 288 losses. Strangely enough, his 500th win was also in Monte Carlo. Although appearing short in appearance, with a signature walk, he is 6’1″ tall. He often sets himself on fire and pulls off matches he is not expected to win. Even today, after back surgery, he is a formidable opponent.
Gasquet too, was brought up on Clay. His early kin-esthetics from Clay is an advantage he has to date.
Djokovic struggles
In Monte Carlo Djokovic did better than what he did in previous events. He has changed his coach and showed glimpses of his previous self. He is supposed to have elbow problems. In the match he lost, he took his opponent to 3 Sets and, in form, was far from what he is known for. It is difficult to know what is happening with him. On the whole, its easy to see that he is very defensive and does not have the enthusiasm to break through opponents’ resistance, for which he is known.
The ATP will be having 7 major CC events from now on in Europe. All of them are ATP 1000 events. They are in famous cities of Europe and will end up with the French Open in Paris, before moving to the European GC season.
Federation Cup (Fed Cup)
The Women’s Team championships were worked out by the ITF last weekend. In a well fought out contest, reigning Champions USA came through to the finals beating France,while Czech Republic beat Germany. For Czech Republic, Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova won enough matches to reach the finals. In the USA vs France match, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys came up with Singles wins and clinched the tie. The finals will be in November.
This Women’s Team event is keenly contested in the 3 world groups. In the lower groups of the Fed Cup, not many countries have good Women players.
The Davis Cup has confirmed changes to the format of play in 2019, and all expect the Fed Cup to follow suit.
-George Paldano, Former int. player; Accredited Coach of German Federation; National coach Sri Lanka & Brunei, Davis-Cup, Federation Cup captain/
coach– contact 94 77 544 8880
geodano2015@gmail.com -