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BNP Paribas Masters—Paris
Third seed Novak Djokovic captured the final regular season match of the year on Sunday, defeating an inspired Gael Monfils, 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (3).
Djokovic, who dominated his French opponent in a first set with two breaks of serve, won a total of 84 percent of his first-serve points in the 30-minute set.
The Serb began the second set with the same amount of poise, breaking Monfils early to lead 3-1.
Monfils simply looked spent throughout the first set and a half of the contest; remaining in recover mode from his near three-hour epic with Radek Stepanek on Saturday.
However, in the spirit of all that is French flair, Monfils began to mount an incredible comeback which featured recommitted movement and improved serving.
Monfils, who won seven of the last nine games in the second set, was determined to give the Parisian fans a match to remember—he surely did not disappoint.
Monfils' embracing the fans after every winning shot did not sit well with Djokovic.
During the change over before the start of the third set, Djokovic spoke to chair umpire Carlos Bernardes to oversee Monfils' antics after winning and losing a point. Djokoivc's concern stemmed the rowdy crowd's noise level between points.
Monfils accepted the warning from Bernardes with a sheepish smile, only to continue his entertaining tennis for the remainder of the encounter.
Djokovic, who drew first blood in the final set, led 2-0 before Monfils leveled the set on serve.
The rollercoaster, poor serving set continued for both players, which saw a total of four break conversions, leading to a fatiguing groundstroke affair.
Monfils' bicep pump, which was exhibited upon entering the Palais Omnisports, continued its course throughout the latter stages of the set, drawing energy and conviction from the legion of French followers.
With a final-set tiebreak determining the titlist for 2009, Djokovic gained a mini-break to lead 4-2, only to set up his first match point with a routine overhead smash.
Monfils, who had exhausted all of his resources and then some to stay with Djokovic, double-faulted on match point, handing the Serb his fifth title of the season.
Djokovic, who immediately dropped to his knees after winning his first Bercy title, shouted in continuous compelling joy, acknowledging his well-deserved win.
"Winning back-to-back titles on this level is a huge achievement for me, and adding to that, beating No. 1, No. 2 of the world," said Djokovic, who dismissed No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals on Saturday. "So I'm very pleased with my performances in the past four, five weeks.
"I think winning back-to-back titles probably for the first or maybe second time in my career gives me even more motivation to make the same success in the future."
Djokovic, who improved to 76-18 on the year (first on Tour), remained perfect against Monfils in the pair's career head-to-head matches at 4-0.
Monfils, who was devastated by his loss, took solace in telling his hometown fans that he had given his utmost best on Sunday.
"Of course, [the] big support of the crowd gave him even more motivation and more energy towards the end of the match. So I was kind of fighting him and fighting the big pressure of the crowd.
"I was trying to hold all my nerves. At the end of the match, I threw all my emotions out and was happy."
"The only thing I see is that everything depended on this tie-break in the last set. I was not able to win that final tie-break," lamented Monfils. "I will be disappointed. I'll be disappointed today or tomorrow or in three weeks, because it was really tight.
There's nothing that I did wrong. He played very well. He was hitting well and no mistakes," complimented the Frenchman. "I needed to fight and stay in there. I started playing better in the third set. He broke me. I was able to find my energy to come back."
Monfils' heroic finals performance dropped his season mark to 42-19, while ending the year with one Tour title and two final appearances.
The Paris native will end the year just outside the world's top 10 at No. 13.
"This end of season gives me really the desire to work hard so that next year maybe I will have a full season. I'm thinking if I was able to play all the year round, all the tournaments, how good it would be.
"Without doing that, I'm already Top 13. I don't want to over-estimate myself, but if I had played a full year this year, I would have been among the Top 10. I'm almost sure of that. I'm sure next year I will be able to get back within the Top 10."
Watch out for Monfils in 2010; if he can keep his head in the game, there is no telling how far the athletic and entertaining Frenchman can go.
Djokovic, who will be hard pressed for recovery time leading into next week's Barclays ATP World Tour finals in London, remains confident that he will be able to repeat his title in Shanghai.
"I'm very happy that I managed to win a big tournament just two tournaments before the end of the season," said Djokovic. "Now I'm coming with a lot of confidence in London, and the only question is if I'm able to physically rest and get energy for that event."
Well, folks, that ends what has been another terrific year of jaw-dropping regular season action on the ATP World Tour.
Please check back shortly for a preview of the London finale, where the top eight players in the world will be vying for the prestigious year-end crown.
All quotes courtesy of the atpworldtour.com
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