Rafa Nadal: ‘This is a great victory for me and a very emotional one’ in Monte Carlo

Rafael Nadal needed nearly three hours to defeat Gael Monfils 7-5, 5-7, 6-0 on Sunday and win a record ninth title at the Monte Carlo Masters.

The Spaniard claimed his first trophy in the principality since 2012 as he played in his 100th final and tenth in Monte Carlo.

The win pulled Nadal level with ATP leader Novak Djokovic on 28 trophies at the Masters 1000 level.

Winning a first Masters honour since Madrid in May, 2014, Nadal improved to 12-2 over Monfils

The pair were plagued by unforced errors in the tight contest, with the winner striking 36 while Monfils made more than 50.

The match was also riddled with 34 break points, with Nadal converting on eight of 21 while Monfils managed five of 13.

“It’s great to win a Masters title again,” Nadal said.

“I had a tough season last year, but I’ve had better preparation this year, even with a tough start to the season.

“I hope this week will help me a lot,” the Spaniard said as he prepared to move onto his home clay of Barcelona next week. “I’m very happy to win a tough match.

“The defence in the first two sets was just unbelievable. In the third I told myself I had to hit my forehand harder. I went for winners, but at times it was tough to find the right feeling.

“This is a great victory for me and a very emotional one.

“It’s just amazing to win here again. This is an event I love so much, I’ve been struggling in the past and I came here and am able to play well.

“This victory means a lot to me. I hope it helps my season with confidence for the next few tournaments. I’ve been able to play well for two events in a row – Indian Wells and here – and I’m very happy about that.”

Nadal now owns 68 titles and will carry on in the run-up to the French Open with renewed confidence; Monfils can take small consolation after winning his first-ever set against Nadal on clay.

The opening set took almost an hour and a quarter and set the stage for the second, which at one point featured three consecutive breaks of serve out to 4-4.

Monfils moved into winning position with a break for 6-5 and kept the struggle alive as he won the set for one apiece.

“I‘m feeling good. I’m not trying to assess the tournaments here and there. I just want to continue the work I’m doing, which is good work. I’m trying to improve my intensity in the tournaments match after match,” Monfils said.

“I try to play better and develop better tennis. I even try also to feel better. Today, it was a beautiful final. It was a high level of tennis,” said Monfils.

“In two weeks I’m hoping to be better. In three weeks, too, and be better for the French Open.”

But the third was all Nadal as the Spanish fifth seed swept to a love finish to win his eighth clay match against the Frenchman without a defeat.

Nadal improved his superlative tournament record to 58-4 after winning eight straight titles from 2005-2012. His last finals appearance here was in 2013 when he lost to Djokovic.

Nadal’s specialist record on his favoured clay is all but untouchable, with the 14-time grand slam winner standing 48-8 in clay finals.

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Small Things Like These

Director: Tim Mielants
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Watson, Eileen Walsh
Rating: 4/5

The Africa Institute 101

Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.

Veil (Object Lessons)
Rafia Zakaria
Bloomsbury Academic

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Forced Deportations

While the Lebanese government has deported a number of refugees back to Syria since 2011, the latest round is the first en-mass campaign of its kind, say the Access Center for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization which monitors the conditions of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

“In the past, the Lebanese General Security was responsible for the forced deportation operations of refugees, after forcing them to sign papers stating that they wished to return to Syria of their own free will. Now, the Lebanese army, specifically military intelligence, is responsible for the security operation,” said Mohammad Hasan, head of ACHR.
In just the first four months of 2023 the number of forced deportations is nearly double that of the entirety of 2022.

Since the beginning of 2023, ACHR has reported 407 forced deportations – 200 of which occurred in April alone.

In comparison, just 154 people were forcfully deported in 2022.

Violence

Instances of violence against Syrian refugees are not uncommon.

Just last month, security camera footage of men violently attacking and stabbing an employee at a mini-market went viral. The store’s employees had engaged in a verbal altercation with the men who had come to enforce an order to shutter shops, following the announcement of a municipal curfew for Syrian refugees.
“They thought they were Syrian,” said the mayor of the Nahr el Bared municipality, Charbel Bou Raad, of the attackers.
It later emerged the beaten employees were Lebanese. But the video was an exemplary instance of violence at a time when anti-Syrian rhetoric is particularly heated as Lebanese politicians call for the return of Syrian refugees to Syria.