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BNP PARIBAS MASTERS 2014 - THURSDAY 30 OCTOBER IP: 46.218.233.162 Posted on October 30, 2014 at 11:34:02 PM by David Barnes
BNP PARIBAS MASTERS, PARIS
Thursday 30 October 2014
The Davis Cup, currently the 'property' of France as titleholders, sits on a splendid three-tiered wedding cake of a base in the Hospitality Village here at Bercy, ironically with a picture of Roger Federer in full flow behind it; but it is rather hidden away in one corner, watched over by a solitary security guard, and should be better displayed; I observed a lot of punters, as they hurried lunchwards to their foie gras and steak (on today's menu) walking right past it without realising it was there. It is certainly the case that the forthcoming Davis Cup final is in most people's minds this week, especially those of the French officials and players. Apart from anything else, it gives the latter the chance to fit in some match practice (much needed in the case of a player like Gael Monfils, whose ability to inspire his teammates and work a crowd seems usually to be in inverse proportion to the state of his injury-prone and aching physique, especially his delicate knees).
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Monfils was asked about this tournament, and preparations for Lille, yesterday. He said; "The pressure I feel at Bercy is nothing like what I'll have in Lille. I will try to play each match as it comes, but obviously I'm going to be trying to look after my body especially carefully". The Swiss camp, meanwhile, is affecting an attitude of studied indifference to the circus that awaits it in just over three weeks' time, as evidenced by the comments of both Roger Federer and, late yesterday, of Stan Wawrinka, who said; "It's difficult to talk about the Davis Cup right now because anything can happen. Just two days before, you can get injured or something can happen. So I'm not going to get stressed because of the Davis Cup. We have time. There are beautiful things I can do before that. It's the second year [only] I will be qualified for the Masters, so it's incredible for me to be there". Sadly, losing to Kevin Anderson today 7-6, 5-7, 6-7 was not one of those beautiful things. As Wawrinka said afterwards; "I should have won. I just rushed [the last service game, where he was 30-0 up before handing it, and the match, to the rangy, 14th-seeded South African] and in the end I made stupid mistakes". It will suit the low-key Wawrinka and the effortlessly suave Federer to be considered as underdogs for the Davis Cup, but Federer in particular must yearn to add to his overloaded trophy cabinet the one emotionally significant piece of silverware that he has yet to win.
By the 3rd round today, all top twelve seeds were still in the tournament, which always pleases organisers - it would have been all top fourteen had it not been for 13th seed John Isner's Roddick-like fall from grace yesterday against Gael Monfils. Less pleased was the British press corps here today, trying to work out the permutations of who needs to win (or lose) which matches in order for Murray to qualify for London, were he not to beat Grigor Dimitrov this afternoon and thus qualify by his own efforts. The ATP story as to the Masters Final's dramatis personae has been known to change almost hourly in some years, and certainly, perhaps unavoidably, seems to have been subtly modified as this week has progressed. It'll all come out in the wash and the ice bath, of course. The situation was complicated by the fact that Dimitrov and Ferrer are both in the same half of the draw here. Berdych, Nishikori and Raonic are the others who, according to the ATP guru(s), could still have ruined Andy Murray's end-of-season party.
In the event, Murray took matters into his own hands, with a rampant performance, of great authority, against Dimitrov. He was firing on all cylinders against the Bulgarian, the ethereal beauty of the latter's sliced backhand negated by the Scot's persistence from the back of the court, his willingness to come to the net and volley decisively, and his superior serving. A double fault from Dimitrov's racket at 30-40 handed Murray the first set in a crisp 33 minutes. The Scot was even more imperious in the second, breaking serve and racing to a 4-1 lead before you could utter the words 'Bruno Tonioli' or 'Craig Revel Horwood', or even 'dance floor rigor mortis'. He closed the match out for a compelling 6-3, 6-3 victory in little over an hour, serving seven aces and winning an astonishing 93% of first serve points.
Well done Andy Murray. The lad's a brilliant performer on a good day, even if his mother isn't and should be quietly counselled not to dance in public again - ever. Murray said after his match today; "I played well from start to finish. I hardly made any mistakes throughout the match". As to the year in general, he professed himself well pleased. "Coming back from a surgery is not easy at all, and I learned that. The first few months of this year it was very difficult, and I had to dig deep to salvage the year. I would have signed up for being in this position when I had the surgery last year, I think". He plays either Novak Djokovic or Gael Monfils in tomorrow's quarterfinals. Let's hope, for all our sakes, that Judy can take a break from rehearsals and watch.
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David Barnes/Topspin, 2014
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