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Roland Garros 2009
Federer hanging in, Monfils raring to go
Article published on the 2009-06-02 Latest update 2009-06-05 14:40 TU
Swiss player Roger Federer's victory cry after beating Haas at Roland Garros, 1 June 2009
(photo: Reuters/Vincent Kessler)
For a good hour and a half, we were slap bang on target for a last 16 double whammy. After seeing the defending champion Rafael Nadal lose on Sunday, the beaten finalist for the last three years Roger Federer was well and truly on the ropes against the German Tommy Haas.
Federer was two sets down and had to save a break point while trailing 3-4 in the third. He served and Haas returned deep to Federer’s notoriously fragile backhand. But instead of playing a backhand Federer ran around and smacked the high risk ‘inside out’ forehand. It rocketed over the net, landed just in and scampered off. That brought it to deuce and a couple of points later, he managed to level at 4-4. He went on to break Haas and served out to take the set. The fourth set was his 6-0 and though Haas stemmed the tide at the start of the fifth set at 2-2 in the decider, the Swiss broke loose again and won it 6-2.
Both men spoke about the break point. Federer claimed it was his first good shot of the match. Which leads you to ask, how about a bit sooner next time Rog ? And Haas effectively said he was running ahead of himself because if he won that point he’d be serving for the match. It’s at times like this that I remember the great tennis commentator Dan Maskell. He’d say things like: ‘He (or she) has got to be careful now because they’ll be thinking they should be serving for the match.’ And inevitably we’d witness a player unravel. So the second seed lives on and the dream for the French Open continues. The crowd was rooting for Roger which seems harsh on the very likeable Haas who used to be in the top five before shoulder injuries hampered his career.
However sympathies will be evenly balanced when Federer plays the French 11th seed Gael Monfils in the quarter finals. They played out a tight semi-final last year and Monfils was clinical in dismissing Andy Roddick on Monday evening. Should be an enthralling encounter. France are still looking for a men’s champion. The last one was Yannick Noah back in 1983. But if we do see Federer lifting the men’s trophy on Sunday afternoon – and that’s still a very big 'if' – we might look back on that forehand. Thus are legends born.
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