Roddick vs Monfils

**ZXCVBNM** · 01-08-09, 04:17 PM

Mind says Monfils, heart says Roddick.

Never underestimate how desperate Roddick will be this year, as this is one of his last chances to make a dent in the top 5. He needs this for confidence.

**meganie** · 01-08-09, 04:35 PM

Roddick as under dog is my pick. Think it's gonna be pretty even, so I'm taking the better odds.

**HeeeHAWWWW** · 01-09-09, 06:25 AM

Hrrrm, ok thanks. Oo second thoughts I still think Monfils is favourite, but with the danger he'll have a big adrenaline comedown after a big career victory for him. Roddick is exactly the sort of consistent pro who can take advantage of that, so I'll skip.

**HeeeHAWWWW** · 01-09-09, 09:27 AM

Highly interesting match this. Monfils looked the better player for most of the first set, out rallying Roddick from the back of the court, choosing the right moments when to unleash his huge forehand, some nice variety, occasional good volleying. As against Nadal, the tactics looked spot on, and Monfils looked very confident executing them. He broke at 4-4, then gave the break back and lost the tiebreak. He needed back massage at this point, and you could see from his serve he was really struggling (rather than 130mph+ thunderbolts, he was just spinning the first serve in).

On Roddick's side of things, he's volleying very well, and moving nicely also (apparently he deliberately cut his weight in the offseason to improve his speed). However, other than his experience, he looks to be largely outmatched here. The court is slow, so Monfils can reach and block back his serves. Unless Monfils drops it short, in rallies there's almost no way for Roddick to get through his opponent's defence - he simply doesn't have the power, or flat enough groundstrokes (and frankly vs Monfils on this speed of court, only the likes of Tsonga or Djokovic could do that from the back of the court). He does need to think about his tactics though - as against Tsonga in Paris, he keeps playing topspin approach shots from midcourt to the opponent's forehand, leaving a high enough bounce for a flat driven passing shot winner. You simply can't do that on a court this bouncy. Slice it ffs!

In the second set, Monfils seems to have loosened up his back, and broke early. At the moment, it looks highly likely to go to a third set.

**SexyMit** · 01-09-09, 09:50 AM

What about Federer and Murray? What are your thoughts on that 1?

**HeeeHAWWWW** · 01-09-09, 10:04 AM

Hrrrm - you never know whether Federer might just fancy putting Murray in his place, but the evidence is that generally he doesn't care much about anything other than slams these days - everything else is just a training session (including masters!). If he wanted to beat Murray, why here and not at the Madrid masters, or the TMC? Doha is a warmup for the Aussie Open, not a serious scalp.

Murray by contrast doesn't know how to play at anything less than 100% these days, and that's one of the reasons why he keeps beating Federer (5-2 h2h, and one loss was at age18). You can get Murray +119 at pinnacle, which looks moderately good value to me.

**HeeeHAWWWW** · 01-09-09, 10:11 AM

Good quality third set, Roddick has just broken though. Monfils is playing well, but just a little vulnerable on serve - I think that's the back.

Edit: he served out. Excellent win for Roddick - at the end of the day you can't drop serve so easily against someone who serves like him. He'll be well pleased with his volleying in particular, he normally looks quite clumsy with that.