Federer and Monfils match at Roland Garros

As all of we followers of Roland Garros men's singles know by now, Federer took the match with Gael Monfils in three straight sets. Mr. Federer states that Mr. Monfils is a beautiful athlete. As an athlete with innate talent that appears true and it is delightful to watch when Monfils is on his game but... As an observer, I would add that Mr. Monfils would be a much better package as a true professional athlete if he spent some training time on pro-tennis court manners. It is rather distasteful to see a pro-tennis Frenchman pounding his chest. In Monfils, it just doesn't come across as entertainment. Sadly, he doesn't have that many years to develop that side of his "game." Monfils can add that professional depth to his game if he wants to do so. He looks like a clean-cut, hardworking young man. This is the easiest part of his game to improve. Reach for it, Monfils. Tuesday, I came out swinging in chastising the crowd of the Monfis-Andy Roddick match and I stand by that. Their over-all behavior was rude. But not entirely their fault as they took the bait thrown at them by their "favorite" son. But what an improvement in the next match. KUDOS all around for the crowd, the spectators, at the Federer-Monfils match. You cheered for both players and demonstrated great spectator sportsmanship. We all want the players we support to win. When we get this far into the tournament, we sometimes find ourselves cheering the next day for the player we did not support the day before - as the field narrows. To the Chair Umpire and the line umpires, thank you for demonstrating fairness. I tend to believe that if the night match had been between Federer and Monfils instead of Monfils and Andy Roddick, and had Federer said he could not see the ball, the match would have been called until the next day so that play could have continued in daylight. The clear chair and supervisor umpire bias against Roddick and against fair play was shameful. As it turns out the umpires did call a match for darkness just the night or two nights before when the same Monfils was down and he "complained" that he could not see ball. Amazingly, one can play better in daylight when one can actually see the ball. Amazing! Plenty of Kudos for the crowd and for the Chair Umpire and line umpires during the Federer-Monfils match. Thank you.