By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, March 14, 2022
Gael Monfils dethroned Daniil Medvedev from the world No. 1 ranking surging through seven straight games to spark a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 Indian Wells upset.
Photo credit: Getty
Frustrated facing Gael Monfils’ unsettling spins and unrelenting court coverage, Daniil Medvedev finally snapped.
The top-seeded Russian ravaged his racquet to start the final set leaving wreckage across the court and prompting Monfils to pick up the pieces.
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Deconstructing the top seed with variety, Monfils dethroned Medvedev from the world No. 1 ranking with certainty surging through seven straight games to spark a stirring 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 Indian Wells upset.
The 35-year-old Monfils, who took the court with a bleak 1-18 lifetime record vs. world No. 1 opponents, knocked off a world No. 1 for the first time in 13 years following a 2009 Doha conquest of Rafael Nadal.
“First of all, thank you for the great atmosphere—I love playing here,” Monfils told supportive fans during his post-match interview with Andrew Krasny. “I felt great I had a strong start to the year, felt strong, moving good unleashing the forehand.
“I’m quite happy right now. I’m in my zone. I know I’m a tough opponent for anyone and it’s been a long time since I beat a world No. 1 so I’m happy and it’s great to have done it in the States.”
Medvedev carried a 150-point lead over second-ranked Novak Djokovic, who is not playing Indian Wells or Miami, into this match and needed an Indian Wells quarterfinal appearance to retain the top spot.
Instead, Monfils cleverly cut the tallest world No. 1 in ATP history down to size as Medvedev falls back to No. 2, 55 points behind Djokovic in the live rankings.
Afterward, Medvedev said he wants more than a taste of the top and hopes this will motivate him to get retrieve world No. 1 later this month in Miami.
"Well, of course I want to be there for a long time winning many slams, and be there as many weeks as possible," Medvedev said. "You never know how your career's going to turn. I want to try to be better than I was here, maybe fighting better, I don't know, because, yeah, the third set was not good enough...
"Is it better to be No. 1 for let's say one week in your life or never touch it? You know, I think it's still better to at least touch it.
"So I'm going to try my best, on practice courts, on the matches, Grand Slams, Masters Series, to gain, to win as many tournaments and gain as many points and try to be world No. 1 for long time."
The flashy Frenchman fueled his upset with Monfils magic, scorching a few flaming forehand winners over 100 mph, bamboozling the top seed with the underarm serve on set point, displacing the Russian with the slider serve out wide to create court openings and even throwing in the flying fake smash-drop shot.
It was entertaining, it was explosive and it was extremely effective tennis from Monfils, who explored all areas of the court setting up a round of 16 clash vs. Spanish phenom Carlos Alcaraz. Earlier, Alcaraz rolled through seven straight games dismissing Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-0 in an all-Spanish clash.
“For sure my movement [was key],” Monfils said. “I think I moved quite good and then I changed the speed quite a lot tried to not get him rhythm and just accelerate with my forehand and move him around. I think today I was pretty much timing the forehand well so that was a huge help.”
Deadlocked at 3-all in the second set, Monfils elevated and Medvedev deflated. Monfils roared through seven straight games, seizing the second set with this side-spinning underarm serve.
After Medvedev took a nine-minute bathroom and clothing break he returned to court face immediate pressure in the opening game of the decider.
Monfils tomahawked a 93 mph diagonal forehand and a jittery Medvedev committed a couple of unforced errors to drop serve. An ornery Medvedev wound up and spike his Tecnifibre racquet off the court incurring a code violation warning for racquet abuse—and jeers from several fans in Stadium 1.
The 35-year-old Frenchman picked up the debris from Medvedev’s meltdown and continued to use the drop shot and short slice to lure the 6’6” Russian out of his comfort zone at the baseline and up to net. Medvedev netted a double fault and a pasted a backhand into net as Monfils scored his second straight break and a 3-0 lead.
Serving to extend the match, Medvedev badly botched an overhead to face triple match point. Medvedev fought off all three match points then swept aside match points No. 4 and 5 in succession.
Monfils again tormented the big man with the drop shot setting up a backhand pass down the line for a sixth match point.
This time, Monfils blasted a backhand crosscourt dethroning the world No. 1 with a brilliant blow to end a two hour, six minute upset with a big.