JOKER HAS LAST LAUGH
Easy path to final
NEW YORK Facing an opponent who occasionally played as if he had somewhere better to be, Novak Djokovic reached his 21st Grand Slam final and seventh at the U.S. Open with a bizarre 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Gael Monfils on Friday.
Djokovic, the No. 1 seed and defending champion, dipped in form in the third set, and had a trainer massage his left shoulder and, later, his right shoulder. Djokovic entered this match enjoying the easiest path to a major semifinal in the nearly half-century of the Open era: Three of his first five foes either stopped playing or pulled out of the tournament entirely because of injuries.
Then came this 2 ½-hour contest, which topped them all for oddness, drawing some jeers and whistles from the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium: The 10th-seeded Monfils, normally a showman and in only the second Grand Slam semifinal of his career, seemed to just give up at times.
On Sunday, Djokovic will try for his third U.S. Open championship and 13th major trophy overall, facing No. 3 Stan Wawrinka or No. 6 Kei Nishikori.
Safe to say, nothing the rest of the way is likely to be as eventful as Djokovic vs. Monfils. There were two one-way sets in which Monfils hardly looked like a player who wanted to win. Then came the third, when Monfils finally made a stand, and Djokovic ripped off his white shirt in anger à la The Incredible Hulk. In the fourth, both men tried to buy time between points on a steamy day with the temperature reaching 90 degrees and humidity topping 50 per cent.
The outset certainly was memorable, if indecipherable. Djokovic raced to a 5-0 lead thanks in part to two games with a pair of doublefaults apiece from Monfils. After all of 19 minutes, Djokovic earned a set point. But Monfils held there to 5-1, then transitioned into what either appeared to be an attempt to “tank” — in other words, lose on purpose, for who knows what reason — or the tennis equivalent of a “rope-a-dope,” in which he wanted to appear not to be interested in defending against Djokovic but then would whip a big shot of his own.
Instead of his usual crouch preparing to return serves, alert and with elbows on knees, the Frenchman stood casually at the baseline, without a worry in the world, looking like someone waiting in line to place his takeout espresso order. During points, Monfils would hit slices or make truly half-hearted, half-swinging strokes, then occasionally smack a 100 mph forehand. Monfils even repeatedly tried serve-and-volleying, a style he almost never employs, and erred often.
“This,” John McEnroe told ESPN’s viewers, “is weird.”
Somehow, though, it actually worked briefly. Maybe Monfils got in Djokovic’s head, because miscue after miscue started coming from that side of the court. Monfils won three games in a row, before eventually dropping a set for the first time all tournament.
It would be an indication of things to come.