Monfil's potential?

tamdoankc

tamdoankc

Rookie
I was watching the Enquist/Monfils match and observing his technique. His service motion/technique is identical to Roddicks. Forhand is very odd. Has a big hitch on his take back and breaks his wrist down on the follow through. Backhand is extremely compact. Looks like he's going to chip the ball everytime. Didn't see him volley. Was a scrambler the whole match just chasing balls. Could have been his strategy for this match. Very lanky. Hopefully he fills out. His game definitely is not beautiful ala you know who.
 
Wow, that's an impressive win. With Monfils and Tsonga the French look to be in good shape for the future.
 
It amazing how the best junior the world can have ugly strokes that need refining. You'd think that he'd be pretty solid by the time he hit #1 and won three junior slams.
 
i think this is the guy who has a really bad attitude. i remember watching him go up for a smash and end up on his ass and getting a lower back massage. lol. what an idiot.
 
Mikael said:
It's not very impressive to beat Enqvist at this stage in his career...
Click to expand...

Can you beat him? 3-1 is a pretty good start for Monfils. Too bad Nadal would school him like a fool.
 
I'm watching a replay of the monfils-enqvist match. Monfils was really pumped for the match, for obvious reasons. His serve like some of you have already mentioned, is a carbon copy to roddick's...with perhaps a tad less power. His groundgame I think could use a little work. His forehand has a little bit of an unnecessary loop, which I think he'll need to correct since the balls will be hit much faster on the pro circuit. He won't have the time to take his racket back like that, IMO. His backhand though seems more than servicable. He seems to be a pretty good athlete....very thin though.
 
I wasn't impressed with Monfils.. I just watched his enquist match.. Seems to me enquist was attacking a lot and monfils was just blocking/slicing balls back. He seems like a counter puncher / pusher with a big serve and big forehand when he wants to use it.. but he basically plays defensive the whole match.
 
Monfils definitely modelled his service action from Roddick's. Even the way he hits that forehard is with similary swing.

I agree though, he also played smart for most part of the court by just blocking back the balls and wait for errors from Enqvist, which it works as Enqvist missed quite a few of easy volleys and forehand.
 
That forehand is way too long and loopy for a top pro. Congratulations for a big win, but a lot of changes needed to climb the pro ladder. Looked like Enqvist beat himself.
 
Mikael said:
It's not very impressive to beat Enqvist at this stage in his career...
Click to expand...
That is true and Thomas seems to be sorta going thru the motions now. I watched this match and Thomas made alot of unforced errors which only inspired Monfils scrambling efforts even more. Monfils is really athletic with alot of power, reminds me of a young Venus with those whippy unorthodox strokes. He will still need improvement in several areas to compete with the top players. I dont think he will have much luck with Layton next.
 
first off, roddick's service motion already looks ugly with him doing it. now, i have to be subjected to watching a copycat do the same ugly butt waddling service motion. monfils is a scrapper and the days of chang are so long gone. his strokes are so loopy. he needs a total game makeover to make a dent. one win over a veteran having an off day doesn't cut it for me. enqvist just had a really, really, really, really, really bad day. trust me.
 
Match is live at the moment with Lleyton. Latter won the first set and we're on serve in the second. Looks like the younster is holding his own, ugly strokes notwithstanding. Should be interesting to see the outcome of this one....
 
Max G. said:
Well, 6-3 7-6(3) seems like he definitely held his own.
Click to expand...

Beat he gets pounded by federer if they played.. Federer can usually demoish counter punchers/scrappers like monfils... Look what fed does to hewitt!... THe only way to beat fed is to let go and attack!
 
Let's not forget that the kid is only 18 yrs old, so he defintely has some time to mature both mentally and physically. I think he has the tools to be a top 20 player. Obviously, his forehand is a little too loopy...but everything is pretty solid. Good movement, solid backhand, potentially huge serve. I might be wrong, but I think that small loop on the FH can easily be corrected without changing too much of the mechanics. He's still very young.
 
I have a decent story about Monfils. I saw this kid play a few years back at a men's open tourney. He had the big serve with a pretty big forehand and all that stuff. However, he had a very tough time taking a match away from a former journeyman who is a steady grinder. He was so frustrated after losing the second set he threw a full water bottle two courts over and it landed in the middle of the court while two other players were trading strokes. One of the players was a muscled up college player who was pissed anyway from being down a set in his match. He had thrown this water bottle into the den of a monster who had broken one racquet earlier and threw another over the fence in his ongoing match. It was the last place anyone would have wanted that bottle to land. Luckily, Monfils got away with a long stare and no bodily harm, because I don't know if anyone could have stopped that guy if he charged him. Once the whole water bottle incident calmed down, the torturous rallies continued and Monfils was trying desperately to get a break. The rallies lasted so long that the match was still not over when the the lights on the other courts were being shut off and the sprinklers were coming on. In the middle of the third set, all the other players had packed up and left, and the only people still there were me, a friend, his coach, and two other people. Honestly, the level of play was too good to miss. At any level, it was probably the best match I have witnessed live. To make a long story short, Monfils started going for dropshots to shorten the points and it allowed him to get the break he needed to capture the match to move on. After that match I was starting to think he would win the event. However, he played a net rusher the next day and was beaten in straits. He was actually beaten terribly by from both the baseline and at the net. If I remember correctly, I believe the guy baggled him in second set. Apparently, he had nothing left from the night before. I guess that guy robbed him of his sleep or something. If I had to give an opinion of his worthiness as an ATP tour player, it wouldn't be fair to base it on those two performance. The guys that gave him a tough time were in fact ranked in the thousands, however, it was a couple of years ago. We all know alot can change in two years with young athletes.
 
from foxsports.com

PARIS (AP) - Second-seeded Lleyton Hewitt defeated French teenager Gael Monfils 6-3, 7-6 (3) at the Paris Masters on Tuesday, then heaped praise on the former junior champion.

A day earlier, the 18-year-old Monfils ousted Thomas Enqvist at the $3.1 million tournament. He traded shots for most of the match with Hewitt, a two-time Grand Slam winner, to the delight of a packed crowd at the Bercy indoor arena.
"He had nothing to lose and he is a great player. I knew it would be tough and he could handle the pressure," Hewitt said. "He is going to become a very, very big player in the future."

Monfils was playing only his fifth match on the main ATP tour, following a junior career that included three Grand Slam titles and a No. 1 ranking. He said he was surprised his match against Hewitt had not been more difficult.

"I thought the score would be bad for me," he said. "I still have a lot of work to do but, in fact, the gap between him and me is not that large."
 
Hewitt d. Monfils

Hewitt won.

Monfils serve is modelled on Roddick's, as apparently he has stated this himself, and ackknowledges that he has purposefully copied the serve.

I wonder how many of us (I'm referring to older players here) would feel free to do the same?

I think it's refreshing that a young player (16?) can just go for what's working and copy it. I imagine we'd find it hard to do so. I don't know if we'd successfully change.

However, I admit to every now and then going down the courts with a bag of balls and trying out a Pete Sampras serve, an Andre Agassi serve, a Monfils-copy-of-a-Roddick serve :)

(I always end up with my own though...)
 
I love roddicks service style, its original and flamboyant, maybe not textbook but some of you guys get carried away calling it ugly.

i reckon its cool
 
I honestly don't see what's ugly about it. It's a pretty simple motion. He gets a lot of knee bend which allows him to generate power. My only question regarding the service motion is whether it hinders one's ability to serve and volley. The Sampras service motion for instance was much more fluid which I think allowed him to transition into the net much easier.
 
Ugly? ...No

The Roddick and Monfils (Eng. trans. "My son"?) serve is a triumph of mechanics - but what serve isn't?

Roddick's serve begins with arching up onto his toes (looks really stressful) to gain leg height; then small knee bend as the arm raises and releases a quite perpendicular toss; short horizontal backswing; and then down into the serve.

I find it interesting that a junior player, still learning, still copying, still coming up with his own package, can make the main draw. You'd think you'd want to step out on the court with all your strokes your own. I mean the serve is his own, but as a copy, he's fine with it, so are we, and it's working for him. Scary part is - what if he wants to change?

Changing racquets is hard enough, but changing a stroke, changing a serve at this level... I mean go ask Dementieva...
 
I was watching monfils 1st round match at wimbledon this year. he was getting frustrated but even when he won the set he was throwing his racket. it seemed that when he was winning instead of sayind cmon he would throw his racket.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
The best Federer Blog
Replies
5
Views
2K
TennisLovaLova
TennisLovaLova
d-quik
Unpopular opinion - technique is not that important
2
Replies
50
Views
1K
optic yellow
O
ForehandCross
An assessment of the Wimbledon final and where Alcaraz actually stands
2
Replies
99
Views
4K
optic yellow
O
W
Match Stats/Report - Djokovic vs Monfils, Eastbourne final, 2017
Replies
1
Views
329
Waspsting
W
S
Alcaraz is boring and so is everyone else
2 3 4
Replies
191
Views
5K
CrunchJann
CrunchJann
Back
Top