“I apologize to the people who had to watch that”, loose Monfils after his defeat



Gaël Monfils was no match for the young Swede Mikael Ymer. – Christophe Ena / AP / SIPA

At Roland-Garros,

He was our last lifeline, as is often the case in these places, except for Richard Gasquet’s cosmic exploit in the evening. But Gaël Monfils is no longer really Gaël Monfils, lately, otherwise he would never have disappeared from the table against Michael Ymer, a defender certainly respectable, but with a limited arsenal of blows. Used to growing his opponents more than reason, the Frenchman did not overplay the brilliant guy in the face after the defeat: “he handed the ball, he played intelligently. He didn’t have much else to do considering the unforced errors that I could have made ”.

“I can’t relax”

62, an astronomical score over four sets, which is difficult to explain. Is it the old knee injury that woke up and forced him to do some physiotherapy at the end of the first set? “I won’t talk about it, you know, I played, no problem”. We relaunch it: “It’s a match that I have to win as it is. I have to do better than that, much better. I apologize to the fans and people who must have watched this. Porridge of tennis, a wireless directing match, dead ends without tail or head, and attacks that came out of three meters, like that suicidal forehand on the match point. Gaël gave the impression of having let go in his head, conceding seven games in a row from 4-2 in a third and that he was leading, however.

“From the outside, it looks like I am lowering my arms, but not at all, I am very tense, I cannot relax, because the confidence does not return. Why continue in this case to water the court and not be satisfied with swinging bells, as in the good old days? Monfils brings us the anthem of Brusnik, his new coach. Aggressive, aggressive, aggressive. “If I decide to change my game, it’s not to get back to filing. Hitting harder sometimes means more unforced errors, but confidence plays a big part. You have to force yourself to go even if there are mistakes. On the match point, ten years ago I would have let him get the point. Well there I tried this forehand, it might not be the right ball to hit, but I believed it. If I don’t keep trying to play differently, I never will ”. At 34, there is not much time to waste.



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