Novak Djokovic wins Paris Masters
PARIS (AP)—Third-seeded Novak Djokovic scrambled to a 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (3) victory over local favorite Gael Monfils on Sunday to win the Paris Masters for the first time.
The victory gave Djokovic back-to-back ATP Tour titles after his win over top-ranked Roger Federer in the Swiss Indoors final last Sunday.
The third-ranked Djokovic also beat World No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals in Paris and will be a strong favorite when he’ll try to defend his title at the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals from Nov. 22-29 in London.
“Winning back to back titles at this level is a huge achievement for me, and adding to that, beating the World No.1 and No. 2,” Djokovic said. “I really feel that I’m in great form right now.”
The Serb looked set for a comfortable triumph after winning the first set in just 30 minutes, but then struggled to stay at the same level.
“It was unbelievably difficult,” said Djokovic, who has won a record 76 matches on the tour this season and claimed his first Masters 1000 tournament of the year following defeats in four finals.
“Gael was very unpredictable and he was hitting the ball very good,” said Djokovic, who is 4-0 against Monfils.
Djokovic will defend his title at the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals from Nov. 22-29 in London.
The former Australian Open winner fell on his knees and screamed on the center court when Monfils—who was chasing his third career title— double-faulted on the first match point to give Djokovic his 16th career title.
“I didn’t find any solution in the beginning, I was playing too defensive”, Monfils said. “But I didn’t lose faith in my chances and I almost overturned the match.”
Losing only three points on his serve in the first set, Djokovic pumped his fist when he took a 5-2 lead with a forehand winner down the line. He won the set in the next game when Monfils hit his first double-fault.
But Djokovic made 21 unforced errors in the second set and Monfils finally gave his supporters something to cheer by converting his first break point of the match in the fifth game after Djokovic missed an easy backhand volley.
Monfils then leveled at 3-3 and kept the pressure on Djokovic, failing to convert three other chances to break before taking the Serb’s service with a return winner for a 6-5 lead.
In the final set, Djokovic broke in the fourth game with a little help from Monfils, who lost his serve with his third double-fault of the match. Djokovic also double-faulted on Monfils’ break point in the seventh game and the 15th-seeded Frenchman leveled at 4-4 and eventually force a tiebreaker.
“The support of the crowd was one of the probably crucial things of today’s match in his favor,” Djokovic said. “So that makes my success even bigger.”
206 Comments
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Glad to read your post again. Actually there is no saint here, all of us are ordinary people. So just do what you have to do: analyze the matches & the players with your wisdom as well as your sharp eyes, make comments with good reasoning. I do believe your continual posts will enlighten most of the readers.
Regarding what miquel b wrote, I was wondering if he has any bitter time when his personality has been humiliated. According to a very shallow theory in psychology, what one has done reflects his suffering. For example, an inferior trying to please the superior must be a guy who will yell loudly to someone lower than him, because he needs mental balance.
Now, doesn’t what he did fully reflect his bitter life? A reflection of mental balance!? In fact, one who tries to please the higher level guy must hope to gain some benefit---promotion, but those, who mutually praise & have respect for each other, even pay attention to someone who is lower, obtain nothing but show kindness & respect. He tries to use rude language to humiliate others, doesn’t mean he needs some balance too?
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It is common knowledge that people often hate what they cannot understand or conquer. From what we see on these threads, there is yet a thin line between eccentricity and cynicism. I say keep on with the tennis talk and let those with unwholesome intentions continue to envy others' progress. I mean, for all we know, some of them may have NEVER set foot on a tennis court for playing purposes, and everybody knows it's easier said than done.
To those with hitherto negative and sensitive comments:
No one here is trying to be your parent, but please be more decent and respectful on this site. Thank you.
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The next time you post, I'm going to bust you upside the head with the Plymouth Rock.
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I know you nkow what I'm talking about.
By the way, the comments on these threads have become much more positive and informative...not totally but, much, much better.
Stay............................(does that help?) smile.
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I strongly agree with your comment~Well stated :-)
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hope uncle tony realize " rafa's future " is more important than his ego.
yes tony has been an essential part of rafa's success. but it is time for rafa to get some " professional advice " from a tennis expert.
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I just read your post and john's too. I think you give far too much credit to some of us because we are no different than you! I look to my God to help me through difficult times and even though I firmly believe He's still in the miracle business, I AM still a work in progress, as we all are. It's a good thing He is so patient with me.
None of us is a saint, that I know of, and honestly I don't think you give yourself enough credit for the hard "work" it takes to overcome giving in to something when CLEARLY that would be the easy way to handle it!
No one expects perfection, (no one is capable of it), but I try to be accountable for 'me'. "Me" is the only one I do have any control over and at times even that is really difficult. That is really the only way I know how to handle adversity and the world's grittiness.
I read john said he really would LOVE to go off on a "hater" right now and was wondering if it was the same thing I saw earlier (on another thread) and was REALLY upset about too!!!!
In fact SO upset I wrote one of my long dissertations, but thought better of it, reduced it to a short story and posted. Writing those long things makes "me" feel better, but probably really makes other posters cringe..but as I told one, who was fairly outspoken about them, I said trying to change me would be futile~so just skip over it when you see my moniker~
When you take that "High Road" you do immediately poison the hater's water..you given him no fuel for his fires and you remove his "power" over anyone else! That is always a very good thing :-) I also believe they just "roam" searching for things to be hateful and obnoxious about. Most of the time even they have no clue just how ignorant they sound.
I'm sure we'll all be upset with something else soon enough, and we certainly don't need to 'look', but the fact that we all (some of us) simply try to do better, be better, I think, does make us better and cripples those who would do harm to anyone else~
We never know who, exactly, is reading these blogs and I think there is strength in numbers and it's great so see the strength so positive right now~
I can't wait for next week's tournament!! And Rafa's playing Davis Cup, hope he can remain healthy next week :-) It's an amazing final (8)!!!
It was a great win for Novak!! When he's on his game, he is truly amazing & welcome to some new posters who are Serbian or of Serbian ancestry~It's always nice to see positive new comments :-)
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Haters scour these threads looking for "food" so they can continue to exist. They exist in an atmosphere where hey can thrive and feel comfortable. When they appear, our first reaction is to give them some of their own "medicine". This is exactly what we DON'T want to do. The "HIGH ROAD" is poison to them.
When I first started posting on these threads, I thought it was my job to go after hate. I thought that I could "out hate" them. I felt that I was a champion of truth and justice, but instead I was becoming one of them. It didn't work. The quality of the threads was literally going to hell and I was a major contributor. I have since tried to take the high road and I feel SO MUCH BETTER.
I am not a saint either so don't feel bad about that...just do the best you can. That's all you can do. I am not proud to say this, but I would like to attack a hater RIGHT NOW...so badly it hurts. Pray for me.
I apologize in advance for any hiporacy that I most assuredly will display. Maybe in my next post...who knows?
Nightwing...your change of heart has been a blessing and encouragement to others who want to stay on point...Thank you.
Rest well my friend.
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DNY, Pete'sbest14, Theo H. and johnp have been TREMENDOUS ROLE MODELS. These four (and some other distinguished posters) have enlightened me to a point where my knee-jerk reaction is not to crack a jerk's knee.
As I stated on this thread earlier, I'm not a saint BY ALL MEANS; I cannot promise that my double-barrel, super-soaking SMACKDOWN POSTS won't return...but, at least for the time being, on Yahoo's tennis message boards, I'm going to do my best to ignore this nonsense.
Congratulations to both Novak and Gael for putting on a whale of a match! Kudos to you, Novak; enjoy your victory!
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what you said is right: defensive should be credited. however, according to rafa's injury, (chasing after all kinds of the oncoming balls all over the court---trying his best to counterattack or let his opponents make errors), it might not be a good idea or good way to keep on going anymore. i don't wanna deny his playing style, but if it more or less will lead to poor situation---being injured, to my thinking, something is needed to change. everyone knows recurrence of injury will destroy one's career. rafa is young enough & has talent---good footwork, excellent ball control so that taking a bit initiative to attack rather than under defensive situation trying all the time to counterattack would benefit him not only physically but also mentally---building up confidence in marvelous long-term career. as a matter of fact, what i said a small change (easier said than done) is not easy to do, first of all one needs strong will to overcome the old habitual stuff, then requiring full concentration on early backswing, body leaning forward as well as early hitting point. the poorest thing one might encounter is losing the matches one is most likely to win if nothing changes. so long as one can jump over this barrier or overcome the fear, both "said & done" are easy.
lemme say something "stupid" here. in '06, i sent a message to kim clijsters, talking about her forehand follow-through too (same as rafa's), then at her website, she replied that someone would wish her to change follow-through a bit, but she said it was pretty much comfortable for her.
if any of you can remember what she did in the USO this year, you may find her forehand is different. i was surprised to see her swing the racket, then i decided to count her forehand drive in the semi where she met serena: only 5 follow-throughs going up to her right shoulder, the rest of them went forward & to her left shoulder. that means her forehand would be more aggressive. don't you think so?
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It is interesting how fans and announcers do not credit defensive play. "Come on Rafa, winning by forcing your opponent into unforced errors is a losers strategy." Graf was long criticized for her "weak" backhand. Her opponents played to her backhand. I wonder, did she win any tournaments with such a weak shot? If I had to play Nadal, I would hope he would not hit with that fierce topspin. Those players always gave me the most trouble as it caused my ball to sail because of the spin.
The really fun part of tennis is the strategy that evolves through a game. I saw several of the matches in this tournament and it was interesting to see Djokovic play defensively against Monaco and offensively against Nadal. However, even though Djokovic may show how to beat Nadal, it is another thing to execute that strategy.
If you saw any of the Monfils v Stepanek match, who would have thought the defensive player would have one that one? I would not have predicted that Monfils could make the final score close. It seemed like on the big points, Monfils challenged Djokovic to hit a winner or make an unforced error.
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Nice letter and very good comment on rafa's playing style. You are not alone to write to rafa. I emailed him several times. hope uncle tony realize rafa's future is more important than his ego. yes tony has been an essential part of rafa's success. but it is time for rafa to get some professional advice from a tennis expert.
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It was a nice and constructive letter~and I do hope his team (camp) will start taking these problems seriously, before it's too late for this young man~He's simply too talented to whither and die.
I think he needs tennis very much, but Tennis needs him more! His presence showcases his extraordinary skills and determination. I, for one, would miss Rafael very much~
I did try to respond to your comment after I wrote mine~Did you not read it? I hope so :-)
I did misunderstand the meaning of your comment~
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Your letter was extremely accurate~ I hope Rafa's team will acknowledge there is something (fundamentally) wrong right now. Many have written their opinions regarding what they think would be helpful~
I agree. I think right now he needs to consider his team carefully too. I realize that may be very difficult as most of his team are family members. Just because we depend on one thing for a long time doesn't mean we shouldn't try something else to better ourselves or expand our horizons.
Sure "if it ain't broke don't fix it", but if there are problems find them and address them & I do think something is "broken" right now~
Your letter went to the heart of many of the problems & some very sensible advice.
Surely Rafa knows he needs some changes..I'm sure he's feeling enormous pressures right now~
I'm hoping he will be able to clear his head, rejuvenate his body and refresh his spirit after London.
I like this young man enough to really care about him as a person and his professional career.
The first ultimately is much more important~
I remember when Pistol Pete would have a "challenging" situation he had a GREAT circle (team) of coaches, trainers and his family who always gave his GOOD guidance. He KNEW he could trust them!! Very important part of the equation. He had to make adjustments when different players emerged, but all players do that. I hope Rafael can be successful once again and find happiness & peace within himself~
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Very observant comment and I think many of us would agree with you ade.
We're hoping he'll be able to turn 'whatever' the problems are around and return to his great form. It may take some time~
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