The number of participants is on the level of a Slam Tournament, which is very nice to see!Before Miami, my last match was on March 15th, and due to some circumstances involving possible opponents it was just on March 28th that I had my next official. I did not spend serious time on the court before that, experimented a bit playing with a pad.
In my first match here in R32, against Elias, I was "so good" that Elias had to interrupt in first set and tell me to stop using the pad.
I have been on keyboard, but moved like an average player, but eventually found the groove to go from 3-3 to 6-3, 4-0, both of us holding serve in the last games, 6-3, 6-2.Next up was IsniperXZ, who caused me some problems in the first of our last encounter. This time I expected even more problems, because he was using Djokovic (suiting him better than Murray) and I was maybe not on my best. I managed to put in a bit more practice, although I preferred to watch the final season of Breaking Bad.
The match started well for him: First game, triple break point for him, but I held and got the early break in a game where he had double game point -- instead of 0-2 it was 2-0! He managed to break back later on, fortunately I broke back immediately and served it out, 6-3. Second set was then more straight-forward and I won 6-2.In the QF it was finally time for a clash with C4iLL. I've been getting back more into the game and felt good about my level, but also did not feel 100% confident about everything.
So, my goal at the start was to be good on serve and take my chances, which is how the first set went: I broke early and held serve comfortably all the time until 5-3, with some chances like 15-30 or 0-30 on his serve to eventually get a second break, but he made me serve it out at 5-4. One point was a good return by him, which immediately put him in control of the point. Another one I was in control, came to the net and put the ball out (happened several times in this first set), so here I was 0-30 down. Next point I put everything into, was in control, just to be down 0-40 after he hit a dead netcord winner. I think I saved one break point, but he broke, of course.
We then both held comfortably to reach the tiebreak. He got the first mini-break, I got back to 3-3, then he got another mini-break and at 4-3, I put a rather easy shot out by a little bit, 5-3 for him. This was it, he won this set.
Start of second set I was angry about myself, disappointed that I lost the first set and was out of the match, quickly down 0-3 with a double break. I at least wanted to save some honour, even thought this was still possible to turn around, but that game at 0-3, him serving, tells the story of the match: I get to break point, dead netcord winner for him! On deuce, he gets another netcord, I put the ball a little bit out, game point for him, he holds. It put the nail into the coffin of this match, a delicious bagel awaited me!
Overall it reminded me a bit of our first official match, China Open 2012 SF, where I won the first set, second set I was up a break and lost it with a break down, final set I collapsed and took a breadstick.
While some problems here were due to myself (too many errors and the mental collapse after first set), this Monfils controlled by C4iLL (especially in second set) caused all kinds of problems: Served over 80% first serves in averaging 115mph, the returns were good, defended his BH very well (turning it around to hit FHs) and good mental. With a better version of me I think this could have been a thriller like his SF, where he prevailed against MaGav (once again due to his mental!). Good luck to him in the final, it would be a nice statistic if he won, because then I would have lost to the eventual champion in every tournament I participated in this season.
I think I am getting back my confidence on the courts the last few days and hope to have good success on clay again: I will try some players this month I have not used at all in 2013, so let's see what is going to happen in Monte Carlo and Barcelona. I also plan to play a 250, BMW Open most likely, using a pad -- this means I will be an average player in that tournament, but for sure it is going to be fun for everyone involved.
