ROLAND GARROS 2008: Men's Semifinals Preview

BY Mad Professah

I previewed the 2008 French Open Women's semifinals a few days ago. Today I'm going to preview the Men's Semifinals.

Roger Federer SUI (1) versus Gael Monfils FRA.This match is extremely important for the host nation France who have had to wait seven long years since they have had one of their own in a men's semifinal. It's been 25 long years since Yannick Noah's Cinderella run to the title in 1983.

However, Federer has played Monfils three times (twice this year) and never lost to the fiery young Frenchman. Monfils has long been talked about as a potential Top 10 player, having been the Top Junior in the World four years ago, when he almost won the Junior Grand slam in 2004 (lost in the 3rd round of the Junior draw of the U.S. Open) but this is his first big splash at a Grand Slam. Happily for him it happened at his country's major. Federer has now been in a record 16 consecutive semifinals, every since tournament for the last four years, starting with the 2005 French Open, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. Federer has proved himself the second best player on clay since then, and will have another chance to prove this on Sunday. PREDICTION: Federer, in four sets.

Novak Djokovic SRB (3) vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2). This match, although it is scheduled first, is actually the more important (and likely to be the higher quality) showdown. The World #2 ranking (and thus eventually the World #1 ranking) could be at risk depending on the result. Thanks to his performance earlier this year having won 2 ATP Masters titles (Indian Wells and Rome) and the first major of the year (beating Federer along the way) Djokovic is a few hundred points behind Nadal. .If Nadal loses, Djokovic will become World #2, and if were to beat Federer in the final he would almost certainly end the year at #1. However, both of those events are very unlikely. The most likely event is Nadal winning this semifinal showdown to produce a Federer-Nadal showdown for the third consecutive year in the Roland Garros final. Nadal has been clearly the sharpest player in Paris this year, demolishing talented Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in the quarterfinals on his 22nd birthday by giving up a mere 3 games in the match (for the second round in a row!) In fact, Nadal has obliterated his competion at the 2008 Roland Garros, losing a total of 24 games in 5 rounds. Last year, Nadal defeated Djokovic easily to reach the final, and it looks like even they both are playing better this year than last, Nadal has improved more. PREDICTION: Nadal, in three sets.