Matches of the Year: No. 9 – Monfils vs. Berdych

The Grandstand presents its 2013 Matches of the Year, continuing with No. 9. Unseeded at the French Open, Gael Monfils got a tough draw…but it was Tomas Berdych who was dealt an even tougher one. Ricky Dimon and Hasan Murad recap the gripping first-round match.

Gael Monfils d. Tomas Berdych 7-6(8), 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-7(4), 7-5 – French Open first round

Monfils is often at his dramatic best in Paris. In 2006, the Frenchman won three consecutive five-setters at Roland Garros before losing to Novak Djokovic in the fourth round. Two years later he upset David Ferrer to reach the semifinals then fell to Roger Federer 7-5 in the fourth. Monfils advanced to the quarters in 2009 (lost to Federer again). In 2010 he played Fabio Fognini into sheer darkness before dropping their second-round thriller 9-7 in the fifth one day later. Two years ago he made another quarterfinal, only to see his French Open kryptonite—Federer—on the other side of the net.

One more memorable Monfils offing was seemingly guaranteed with the revealing of the 2013 draw. Right off the bat, Monfils and Berdych had to face each other in the marquee matchup of round one. It lived up to its billing, and then some.

Serving big, chasing every ball in his typical gymnastic fashion, and pounding his chest with his fist while thriving on the support of an ecstatic Philippe Chatrier faithful, Monfils grabbed a hard-fought two sets to love lead. The world No. 81 could do absolutely no wrong in the first and second. He converted his fifth set point at 9-8 in the opening tiebreaker before losing a mere one service point in the entire second set. Heading into the third, Monfils had 32 winners and just 17 unforced errors.

Berdych responded to his dire predicament in imposing fashion, snatching the next two sets in tiebreakers. In neither the third nor the fourth did Monfils strike more unforced errors than winners, but Berdych served at 71 percent in the third an 70 percent in the fourth to help his cause. The fifth-seeded Czech erased a 4-4 deadlock in the fourth-set tiebreaker with two forehand winners and a service bomb.

Monfils lacked match play going into the tournament, but he amazingly dug to depths in his tennis soul that perhaps not even he knew he had. Serving at 2-3, 0-40 in the fifth, he saved four break points in that game for a miraculous hold. The crowd favorite finally seized the winning edge with a decisive break at 5-5 and closed out an enthralling match after four hours and three minutes. The fact that injury problems had dropped Monfils out of the world’s Top 100 earlier in the season and he got into the main draw via a wild card makes this an even more improbable and indelible accomplishment. It was, quite simply, a magical, mammoth effort on the part of Monfils.

When asked to reflect on his emotional victory, the victor replied, “It’s magic [here]. It’s a place where I feel really good, and I can go beyond myself and play a type of tennis I wouldn’t even think of.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS9WPgtA7gk]