It was an almost sporting-philosophical debate which was held on Friday in Vancouver. With the central theme of knowing whether the Laver Cup, this exhibition tournament created by Roger Federer and which does not appear on the ATP calendar, is above all a pleasure competition or an event to be taken very seriously. For the Frenchman Gaël Monfils, showman among showmans, if the players are there to offer games, they are also there to have fun and entertain the public. An opinion that Félix Augier-Aliassime clearly does not share, who was annoyed by the behavior of the Monf during the Canadian’s two-set victory (6-4, 6-3).
Auger-Aliassime notably criticized him for briefly sitting next to a linesman instead of preparing to receive the service. After this game, at 3-2 for Auger-Aliassime, the two men explained themselves at the edge of the court. “He sits for like 30 seconds. It’s a time violation,” the Canadian first denounced the referee, who wanted the ATP rules to be applied. “I can play these little games too,” he added.
A debate between friends, nothing too bad
“I don’t know what you’re playing,” the Canadian continued to Monfils, new to the Laver Cup, making him understand that the custom in this tournament was to play seriously. “Is it an ATP tournament or not? I don’t know what they told you. I was told: ‘you can do what you want'”, replied the Frenchman, who was coming out of a week at the UTS, another exhibition tournament created by Patrick Mouratoglou and which, for once , places pleasure and laughter at the center of the concept. Note that the two men, who know each other well and like each other, did not end up angry and continued their debate arm in arm on the way to the locker room.
For those who don’t know, the Laver Cup is a sort of Ryder Cup of tennis, pitting a European team against the rest of the world. No ATP points are distributed and the teams are made up of current players, qualified according to their ATP ranking, other players selected by the captains but also tennis legends (Björn Borg and John McEnroe were invited this year ). With all the respect we have for the Canadian player, we’re still getting pretty close to a cool exhibition tournament.