“It’s a slightly more complicated period so winning a match would be cool”: Gaël Monfils in search of confidence at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier

Gaël Monfils veut toujours disputer les Jeux Olympiques cet été. Alexandre Dimou – Midi Libre

Lacking sensations and confidence on the court, Gaël Monfils (70th in the world) comes to Montpellier with the objective of “winning a match" while he will face the Italian Flavio Cobolli (76th) in the first round of the Open Sud de France.

A smiling and very relaxed Gaël Monfils presented himself at a press conference this Monday, January 29. A regular here after winning the tournament three times (2010, 2014, 2020), the Parisian returns to the Open Sud de France after his absence last year due to injury.< /p>

"We've been coming to play here for 14 years, we've seen this tournament born and then grow. An important person was here in this tournament unfortunately among us, speaking of Patrice Dominguez, former director of the tournament who has since passed away.

"It's a sentimental and emotional tournament for me, because it has always been present in my career, helped a lot when I was young . But I feel good here, I have family and friends who live there,” said the current 70th in the world rankings.

A lack of sensations since the start of the season

After a few small physical glitches at the start of the season, with his back or ankle, things have returned to normal for the Parisian. It's more in the level of sensations that the problem lies, with therefore objectives revised downwards this week in Montpellier.

“Winning a match would be good. Flavio (Cobolli) is playing very well, he's in good shape so it's going to be a big match. It's the start of the season, I want to gain confidence. As he's a good player, it's the kind of match that, if you win it, you gain a lot of confidence,” he replied, speaking of his Italian opponent and 76th in the world.

"I train well but I don'have that confidence, Monfils continues. At the end of last year I was playing very well and I think it showed. But here, I have average feelings, I don't play catastrophically but I don't play well either. This period is a little more complicated so winning a match would be cool."

"We don't like to say that"

A frankness assumed by the Frenchman himself, which is rare enough on the circuit to be underlined. "I'm honest with you. I'm at the end of my career so I'm into sharing. But we don't like to say that. We're becoming a little more transparent, we're not robots."

A difficult period for which the main person concerned cannot find the explanations. "I train well but it's impossible to explain it. I'm not completely confident."

The clear objective of the Olympic Games

Gaël Monfils will not have to wait much to find the reasons for his problems, he who has made qualification for the next Olympic Games in Paris a priority. To do this, you will have to be among the four best French players in the ATP rankings published the day after the Roland-Garros final.

"It's going to be complicated because I'm going to have to play a lot and at the same time manage not to get injured, which is important in this start of the season. To then be in good shape in big tournaments and get big points, explains the former world No.6

"If I couldn't enjoy being a tennis player, I would have stopped"

At 37, Gaël Monfils is in any case closer to the end than the beginning of his career, that goes without saying. However, the pleasure is still there for one of the darlings of the French public ? 

"If I couldn't enjoy being a tennis player, I would have stopped, he answers. It's really a blast to play. The sacrifices are always easy, they are different, a little more demanding in a lot of aspects. I discover my body in a different way."

"But sport and competition' that's what I love. Traveling is harder, traveling is a little less easy because you are less the center of attention so it is more demanding, once I I'm on the ground, it's a real treat."