Well we are now into the final of the men's Monte Carlo Rolex Masters event from Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, in Monaco (well strictly in between it). And today promises to be a real cracker of a final as once again the world's two best players, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic, will have it out on the red dirt to claim their right for the trophy in Monte Carlo. But here's a bit more first the men's semi finals....
To start off with we had the first semi final between Novak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych, who took out Andy Murray there on Friday. This match promised to be quite a tough close affair and it rightly turned out to be just that, as both players hammered it out, and they not only were fighting each other, they were also fighting against the blustery, windy conditions on court, which wreaked havoc with their serves. Djokovic particularly in the first set struggled, and his usually composed manner on court, show signs of cracking as he grew frustrated with the windy conditions, smashing his racquet angrily on the court at one point (without breaking it though), which despite after being a break up against Berdy, dropped his own serve and the Czeck broke straight back. After that Berdych broke Djokovic again and took the opening set, in the 2nd however, it was Berdy's time to struggle, and Djokovic managed to get the break and moved ahead to take the set, and in the 3rd, once again Djokovic proved too good for the big Czeck player, breaking twice and closing out the match in 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, to reach his 2nd Monte Carlo final.
This definitely was a match that had its moments, and for the first half, Berdych was the better player, but Djokovic did what he always does in these situations and upped his level when he needed it the most and after winning the 2nd set, you knew there was only one winner. The blustery conditions on court however proved to be a real nightmare for both players, and even Djokovic said it was probably the toughest conditions has had played under, but in the end, it was he that managed to come through it when it mattered.
So onto the 2nd semi final which was between Rafa and the talented Frenchmen, Gilles Simon, who upset Jo-Wilfried Tsonga the other day. But this time Simon really had his work cut out against the King of Clay, who had not lost a single match in Monte Carlo in many years. And the result naturally didn't prove to be any different than what went before as Rafa stamped his authority early in the 1st set and getting the crucial break, however in the 2nd set it proved to be a tighter contest, as Simon broke back after being broken, but he still wasn't able to capitalise on his break and handed the advantage back to Rafa, who went on to close out the match in 6-3, 6-4. To be fair to Simon, he played well in this match and despite the scoreline it was tougher than it suggested, as the two of them fought on for the better part of two hours. But right from the get go, you knew there was going to be only one winner and it wasn't going to be the Frenchman.
Soooooo this sets up yet another potentially exciting clash between the World No.1 and No.2. So the big question begs to be asked: who's going to win??????? Well there are two ways to look at it, on one hand, Djokovic is the favourite from the point of view that he's beaten Rafa in their last seven meetings, and he has also beaten him on clay before, so you would be nuts to write him off here. However on the other hand, Rafa has been looking match sharp here, whereas Djokovic certainly hasn't, and Rafa has never lost a match in Monte Carlo in a long long time (probably since 2003!) and he has played his very best tennis here for many years, and so far he hasn't even dropped a set at this tournament this year. But..... in the last seven matches, what we have seen from Djokovic, particularly in their previous meeting in Melbourne, is that no matter how down and out the Serb may look, his will to win is unceasing, and you would have to say it could very likely see him through here yet again.
However.... I also do believe that somewhere along the way that something has to give for Rafa, and that Djokovic simply cannot go on winning indefinitely against him, so even if it isn't today, somewhere in the near or distant future, Rafa will get his revenge and will win. I would love to see Rafa do it today, but I'm not sure the Serb is ready just yet to lose to his rival, but Rafa has to start somewhere and why not today???? But if there is one place he really needs to do it, then that place is at the French Open, but that's a wee while away yet, in the meantime, let's look forward to today's final and wish Rafa the best of luck in his continuing quest to try and solve the Djokovic conundrum.
So that's eeeeet, I will report back after the final. :-)
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