ATP Dubai: Gael Monfils - will it work against Novak Djokovic in the 17th attempt?
Gael Monfils is in excellent form for the semi-finals of the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Dubai. The Frenchman's only problem: his opponent. Monfils has lost all 16 previous duels on the ATP tour against Novak Djokovic .
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Feb 28, 2020, 11:53 am
It was once in 2004 when the very young Gael Monfils and Novak Djokovic met at an ITF future in Italy. And lo and behold: Monfils won the quarter-final match in three sets, the signs were of a great rivalry between two future tennis superstars. Well, Novak Djokovic has long earned this status, Gael Monfils made surprisingly little out of his possibilities: 78 tournament wins for the Serbs, including 17 majors. Ten successes for Monfils, including zero Grand Slam successes.
The French record against Djokovic has been even more depressing since that distant day in Italy: there have been 16 duels on the ATP tour since then, only three times Monfils ever came close to a win: 2005 at the US Open (Djokovic won 7: 5 in the fifth set), and in 2009 in Paris-Bercy and in 2014 at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Toronto, where a tie break had to make the decision in the third set.
Monfils and Djokovic without loss of set in Dubai
The most recent encounter to date, however, reflects the true balance of power between Monfils and Djokovic: The world ranking first had no problems at 6: 3 and 6: 2 in the group stage of the ATP Cup. As with all other opponents in 2020, except Dominic Thiem , who seemed to be heading for a win in the Australian Open final at the beginning of the fourth set. In the end, Djokovic prevailed, the performances so far in Dubai have been at least very impressive: Neither against Malek Jaziri nor against Philipp Kohlschreiber or Karen Khachanov did Djokovic play more than four games.
On the other hand, perhaps the best Gael Monfils of all recorded times will be on the court in Dubai on Friday (not before 4 p.m. CET, as a live stream at tennistv.com). Hubs of the defeat against Djokovic at the ATP Cup were only one more for Monfils, at the Australian Open against Dominic Thiem. Afterwards: tournament victory in Montpellier, title defense in Rotterdam. And now the semi-final entry in Dubai. The results are not exactly as confident as Novak Djokovic. But also without losing a sentence.