Gael Monfils Unhappy With Rafael Nadal's Tactics, Spaniard Breaks 34-Year Record

Gael Monfils admitted he was unhappy with Rafael Nadal’s time wasting tactics during his second round loss to the Spaniard at the Mutua Madrid Open on Wednesday.

The Frenchman went down in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 to Nadal, but was annoyed with the referee for not acknowledging his complaints about the world number one wasting time between serves.

It has been a complaint from more than one player in the past about Nadal taking longer than necessary to serve, but the Spaniard has generally adhered to the time allotted. The 16-time men’s singles Grand Slam winner has a process before he tosses the ball in the air and as everyone is aware he is very diligent when it comes to following a pattern on the tennis court.

Monfils brought it up during an interview after the match Wednesday and seemed rattled despite Nadal’s serve timing not contributing too much to the end result, which was a dominating win for the Spaniard.

“What p*ssed me off was that the referee was looking at me as I said, 'Look at him!' It annoyed me,” Monfils said, as quoted by the Express.

“He's too strong for that. These are trivialities. But, yes, it's a bit too long. He is fast when he leads, but from time to time he takes too much time,” he said when asked about the time taken by Nadal during serves.

The Frenchman, who is making his return from injury, also claimed Nadal is beatable on clay, but admitted the Spaniard was too strong for him on the day. The 31-year-old is unbeaten in 2018 and has thus far defended his titles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona prior to his arrival in Madrid.

The 10-time French Open champion progressed to the quarterfinals in Madrid after his win over Diego Schwartzman in the third round Thursday. Nadal’s domination on clay has been such that he broke a 34-year-old record to go unbeaten for 50 consecutive sets on any surface – the previous best was held by John McEnroe, who won 49 consecutive sets on carpet in 1984.

“He plays very well. Unplayable? Everyone is vulnerable necessarily once,” the world number 41 added. “But today he was stronger than me. ... It's up to us, to continue to progress and to believe that we can beat him. ... At the beginning of the match, I did not have much success. An entrance break ball. I’m breaking on an advantage. I still have break point after,” Monfils said. “I’m recovering gradually. This is my second week on clay. I had a good start to the match. Afterwards, it was harder physically.”

Nadal will face Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals at the Madrid Open on Friday and the Austrian is the last person to beat the Spanish tennis legend on clay – at the Rome Masters last season.