I’ve seen Nicolas Massu play live for the first time in Umag 2009 and he is now one of my favourite players.

The forehand of Massu is just unbelievable; he can take the ball early, hit it with massive spin and yet the ball is still extremely fast.

Nicolas Massu played the first round against Blaž Kavčič from Slovenia, that’s why I went to see the match.

Nicolas – nicknamed Vampiro   – quickly took control of the match with his devastating forehand even though Blaž did everything possible to keep the ball to his backhand.

But at 5:3 for Massu in the first set something happened and Nicolas just lost his zone. He started to miss more and more while Blaž just kept the ball in play and focused on getting the shots to Massu’s backhand.

Blaž Kavčič eventually won the set 7:5 and Massu was still struggling in the beginning of the second set to find his rhythm and range. But from 3:2 in the second it was all Massu again.

He then won comfortably 6:3, 6:2 and his forehand was working like a charm.

I then HAD to see the next match of Massu and it was a great match against David Ferrer. David of course plays fantastic counter-punching tennis and that meant that we were able to see even more Massu forehands whizzing past us.

Ferrer’s game forced Massu to raise his level of play and some of the forehands in this match were just unbelievable. Massu finally won with 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

His quarterfinal opponent was Andrea Seppi who plays very smooth. His shots fly low over the net and he plays quite flat but very fast.

This prevented Massu from running around his backhand to play more of his forehands and he just couldn’t attack as much. Seppi’s backhand is also faster than Ferrer’s and is definitely a better shot than Massu’s backhand and this is where the match was decided.

Seppi won most of the backhand exchanges and prevented Massu from attacking with his big forehand.

The crowd really enjoyed Massu’s forehands, his courage to go for the shots and his exceptional talent that allows him to play such great shots. If you have a chance to watch Massu live, don’t miss it.

Here’s another video where he lost to Federer but you’ll see plenty of big shots from Massu and Roger…

For all Massu fans, please check NicoMassu’s blog – run by Céline!