GAEL Monfils could be the fastest, funkiest (check out those shorts), funniest (his game is full of exclamations) player I've seen in a while, bounding around the court with an explosive enthusiasm only the young seem to own.
Source: AFP
On Thursday night, Monfils beat Rafael Nadal, and even though Rafa now wears conventional (read: boring) shirts that hide his trapeze-artist-like-biceps, this was a confrontation between two of the most muscular men in tennis. And Andy Murray isn't far behind. The Scot, who would make the perfect canidate for a "before" and "after" advertisement for Bullworker, was scrawnier than a scarecrow two years ago but now looks like he could benchpress a fridge.
Tennis has come a long way from John McEnroe, who had the pale, unmuscular look of a lost accountant. McEnroe had the exquisite touch of a Persian carpet weaver, but his absence of fitness was eventually his undoing.
Conversely, Ivan Lendl, who fittingly came from the steel town of Ostrava in Czecholsovakia, turned himself into a lean instrument of destruction. Of course, when Lendl first started working with nutritionist Robert Haas, McEnroe sneeringly said he was on the "Haagen-Dazs diet".
Around the same time, another podgy Czech, Martina Navratilova, transformed herself and the women's game with a stunning appetite for hard work. It's why, a month from 50, she was able to win a mixed doubles title at the US Open.
Players in this new generation are not just fit but immensely strong. Apart from the fact that Monfils looks intimidating in his no-sleeves T-shirt, his game hums with power. Against Nadal he would rally, and then suddenly, even if 10 feet behind the baseline (a position usually not recommended by coaches), he'd unleash a massive forehand or backhand for a winner.
Source: REUTERS
These were strokes of effrontery, confidence and muscle. If he can control this power, and get it to work consistently for him, Monfils, now world No 13, could possibly be a Top 5 player.
Such strength helps Nadal, Monfils and Murray to defend ably (they get the ball back, on the dead run, with a mere flick of the wrist), it allows them to hit strongly late into a match and it adds useful kilometres to their serve. All sports evolve, and perhaps these men are the protoypes for tennis' future. Of course, Federer (who plays Murray tonight) might disagree.
A lithe athlete, with slim arms, whose body carries no physical menace, he doesn't so much hit the ball as whip it. He is elegant proof that it takes more than a bicep to hit winners.
It takes exquisite timing.