2010 Davis Cup Final: Friday Preview - Gael Monfils vs. Janko Tipsarevic
Although ATP’s regular season is over, French and Serbian players continue to practice and prepare as France meets Serbia for the Davis Cup Final that begins on Friday.
Led by Guy Forget, the French team is made up of Gael Monfils, Michael Llodra, Arnaud Clement and Gilles Simon. France moved into the finals after enjoying a perfect 5-0 win against Russia in the semi finals. Serbia, on the other
hand, moved into the finals after a close victory of 3-2 against the Czech Republic. The Serbs Novak Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic, Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic are led by Bogdan Obradovic.
Playing the opening match on Friday will be Monfils as he takes on Tipsarevic. Monfils is the highest ranked player on the French team, currently ranking at number twelve in the ATP rankings. This has made him the best choice to
play the opening match. Although Tipsarevic is not so high in the rankings, he is still a very strong player and one of Obradovic’s aces.
This will be the pair’s fifth meeting on the court with their head-to-head score tied at 2-2. Their last meeting on the courts came in the 2010 United States Open, where Monfils managed to defeat Tipsarevic after four sets, two
of which went into tiebreak. Since this was their only meeting this season, Monfils currently leads the season head-to-head by 1-0. Previously, in their three meetings in 2009, Tipsarevic had led 2-1.
Currently ranked at 49 in the ATP rankings, Tipsarevic had a mediocre season with no title wins and a win-loss mark of 25-22. He was a finalist at the UNICEF Open in the Netherlands. He also made two doubles final appearances this
year, once with Lu Yen-hsun at Chennai and then with Troicki at Moscow. However, when it comes to the Davis Cup, Tipsarevic has played in the competition for 10 years with a career record of 25-10. With the home crowd advantage, Tipsarevic might just secure
a win for himself over Monfils.
Monfils, one the other hand, finished the season with a title win at the Montpellier and three final appearances at Stuttgart, Tokyo and the Paris Masters. He finishes the season with an impressive 45-19 win-loss mark. Although
Monfils failed to make it into the elite eight at the season finale in London, he finished the season in superb form and Captain Forget sees much promise in the 24-year-old French.
Ranked highest in the team, it was evident that Monfils would be put against a tough player. Therefore he showed almost no shock when he was informed that he would be playing Tipsarevic. Talking about the match, Monfils said, “He
played like two great matches in semifinals. So I knew we had like 99% of chance of play against him again. Janko is a tough opponent. I know he can beat like every player on this planet. He’s playing great and for sure he is at home so it will be different
for him. So I expect a really tough match tomorrow.”
Although Tipsarevic is a veteran when it comes to the Davis Cup, the fact cannot be denied that Monfils is enjoying his greatest form yet. With their head-to-head score tied at 2-2, it remains to be seen as to who would take the
lead after Friday’s match.
Tags: