Whatever it is they put in the water of a certain pair of neighbouring European countries, other nations around the world must long for the secret.
Not for the first year, and certainly not for the last, Spain and France dominate the men’s rankings not just with numbers but also with quality.
Spain? Of 14 men in the top 100, five among the 13 in the main draw were seeded for the Australian Open, two of them in the top three: Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer.
And France? With 11 in the top 100, this prolific nation boasted six seeds among 16 in the draw with two of them making the top 10: Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Little wonder, then, that 13 of the players among the 32 to reach the third round at the Australian Open came from this corner of Europe.
By the start of a star-packed Day 6, however, Spain had already whittled out two of the French seeds. In the top quarter of the bottom half, Ferrer, having already stopped Adrian Mannarino in Round 2, put out No29 Jeremy Chardy; in the bottom quarter, the evergreen Tommy Robredo, who dispensed with Julien Benneteau in Round 2, won the battle of the single-handed backhands to beat No9 Gasquet.
Come the first weekend in Melbourne, Spain and France were again to the fore, promising perhaps the two best contests of the day between, on Rod Laver, Nadal and the mercurial Gael Monfils, and on Hisense, Tsonga and Gilles Simon. But even before these two pairs packed out the night-time sessions, their compatriots were confounding the odds.
Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, ranked 62, showed that his high-quality performance in beating Juan Martin del Potro in five sets was no fluke: He put out the No27 seed Benoit Paire in three easy sets.
Even more of a surprise, the 119-ranked Frenchman Stephane Robert—33 years old and falling in the third round of qualifying—picked up a lucky loser ‘seed’ spot when Philipp Kohlschreiber pulled out, and made hay in a segment that also saw No13 seed John Isner retire to the only other lucky loser in the draw. Robert faced, and beat, Martin Klizan to reach a Grand Slam fourth round for the first time in his career.
But it was to his compatriots that all eyes turned to complete the last-16 line-up.
Monfils had been showing much of the form that took him to No7 in the rankings almost three years ago. He only just made the seedings for Australia, though, as injury saw him fall last year to 119. But with wins over Tomas Berdych at the French Open, over Federer in Shanghai, plus a final finish in Doha a fortnight back, Monfils was seen as a real threat. He may have lost to Nadal in that Doha final, but he took the world No1 to three sets.
And there are few who can match the athleticism, creativity and unpredictable easy power that Monfils has at his disposal. If he has lacked one component, though, it is consistency—and the one man who can expose such a flaw is the ruthless and insistent Nadal.
And it was Nadal who took first blood to break in the first game, but he then had to defend six deuces and three break points in a 13-minute second game. It felt hugely significant, a moment when Monfils might impose himself on his opponent, but Nadal finally held, and it seemed to open the floodgates for the Spaniard. He broke again and raced through the rest of the set, 6-1.
The second set began with longer and more intense rallies, Monfils trying all kinds of angles and huge pace, but too often wielded from behind the baseline. He veered between show-stopping winners and desperate defence as the Nadal machine pounded his territory, and by the fourth game, with the match entering its second hour, the quality of the tennis reached the level that many had hoped for. Monfils held off a break point in the fourth game to hold, 2-2: The crowd erupted with delight as Monfils roared “Allez”.
But a disastrous game from the Frenchman on his next serve as good as sealed the second set, as a couple of magical rallies were neutralised by three doubles faults for the break. In a flash, Nadal went on another tear of superb ball-striking, and broke again for the set, 6-2.
It was a thoroughly demoralising situation for Monfils: Nadal had made only two errors in the set and dropped only one point on serve—though surely the 22 unforced error stat by Monfils’ name was ungenerous? Few could have withstood the Nadal bombardment.
The third set began much as the other two, tightly contested through long and punishing games. First Nadal fended off a break point, then Monfils survived break points with a couple of aces, one of them 134 mph on a second serve.
They stood all square at mid-set, with Monfils looking more determined—and serious—than has been the norm for this natural showman. It paid off, too, as he had produced more winners by 3-3 than he had managed in the previous two sets together.
He was rewarded with two break chances, but some terrific serving from Nadal—perhaps the most improved and underestimated facet of his game—held off the challenge and, almost inevitably, that took its toll on Monfils’ concentration. Nadal broke at this key moment and served out the match, 6-3, in a performance he afterwards conceded: “I think I played my best match of the year so far.”
And many experts agreed with the view of Greg Rusedski, too, that this was the best anyone had played in the tournament so far.
But what of the tricolour? Well it was certain that one French seed would make the last 16, since the remaining two were playing one other. And the sound money was on Tsonga, for a number of reasons.
Simon is a battler, one of the toughest baseline counter-punchers to despatch. He was looking for his 50th Grand Slam match win at the Major where he had enjoyed most success—the quarters in 2009—but, as has so often been the case, he had taken a long, hard road to get to the third round.
It was doubtful, indeed, whether he would even play in the tournament, after he retired with an ankle injury in Kooyong the week before, but not only did he play, he twice came back from two sets to one down to win arduous opening matches. His first, against Daniel Brands, went to 16-14 in the fifth in four-and-a-half hours, while his second against Marin Cilic also went to five sets and four hours—all in some of the most punishing conditions seen in Melbourne.
For his part, though, Tsonga, a runner-up here in 2008 was showing impressive form since his come-back from injury last season. He was yet to drop a set and, after a competitive opener against Simon, it was soon clear he was not going to lose one here either.
The first set was a high-pace affair that showed an unusual willingness from Simon to come to the net: He won nine of 10 approaches. But Tsonga’s serve and attacking variety proved too much when it came to the tie-break and, despite having the same number of points, the momentum shifted even more in Tsonga’s favour.
Now massaging his leg, Simon immediately faced break points, and tried to resist with some brave serve-and-volley moves, but the damage was done. Tsonga’s easy movement, serving, net game and punishing forehand took him to a 6-4 second set.
Simon started the third set well, twice holding serve to love, but could not take advantage of an early break point. Tsonga broke in the fifth and seventh games and served out the win, 6-2.
It sets up one of the most eagerly anticipated matches of the tournament, a replay of last year’s five-set thriller in the Australian quarter-final against Federer.
If Tsonga loses, as he did then, it would surely be the last French hoorah in Melbourne, for few expect Robert to survive Murray. Meanwhile, Spain surges onwards, with a score of 6-2 over French opponents and with four men still in contention.