Gael Monfils responds to John McEnroe, critics after loss to Novak Djokovic

September 9, 2016

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Gael Monfils responded to his critics like John McEnroe after losing to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the US Open on Friday.

Monfils lost in four sets 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 and got off to a bad start at 0-5 in the first set. That led Monfils to try a different strategy, which resulted in commentator John McEnroe calling him out on ESPN for tanking.

Here is an example of what led to the comments:

@Gael_Monfils stop to play and break Djokovic, lol !!!!! pic.twitter.com/0VBojaaEaN

— thiseo (@thiseo) September 9, 2016

It’s pretty clear to me that Monfils, having never beaten Djokovic before, mentally felt he needed to try something different because he already felt defeated, so he did something else. And it actually messed with Djokovic and helped Monfils win a few games in the first set, though he ultimately lost it.

After the match, Monfils responded to the critics.

“It’s part of the sport. I think people were expecting a tougher battle,” said Monfils.

“At the end, if I had the mic, I would say ‘stop saying that I’m unprofessional. The guy is killing me. Just embrace that the guy is too good for me and I tried to switch strategy.”

Monfils talking about Djokovic maybe being too good for him is evidenced by Nole’s 13-0 record against him all-time. This was Monfils’ best showing ever at the US Open, even if his performance in the semifinal didn’t reflect well on him. There were questions about his effort as both players struggled with humidity, with Djokovic even getting his shoulder checked.

Here is what Monfils had to say about the criticism from McEnroe: