It is 12:18 a.m. in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday and Gaël Monfils collapses on the Central, both drunk with fatigue and happiness. With his back on the ground, his arms outstretched and his gaze skyward, the Parisian cried bitterly after a winning backhand passing that caressed the side of the net. Then he rubs his eyes as if to really believe it. At the end of a baroque, breathless, improbable match, roughly in his image, he has just beaten the solid Argentinian Baez at the end of the 5th set and a fight of 3h47 (3-6, 6-3, 7-5 , 1-6, 7-5).
“I experienced something crazy, he says in the press room when the clock already shows 1:30. I managed to find unexpected solutions. The atmosphere was amazing. In terms of emotions, I put him in the top 2 with a match against Cuevas on the Lenglen (won in five sets in 2015). But there, I’m starting to be old and I had less chance of winning… It’s one of the best moments in sports I’ve had. »
“I haven’t won a game since I became a dad”
For almost two decades that he has walked the courts of Roland-Garros, the former world No. 6, who fell to 394th place, had accustomed the public to incredible scenarios. But in front of incandescent stands at a time when he is burning with the last fires at almost 37 years old, the disconcerting Habs have set the bar even higher.
After twists and turns of all kinds, Monfils found himself trailing 4-0, ball 5-0 in the final set. On the edge of the precipice. Almost six feet underground before a mind-blowing resurrection despite a body crippled with cramps and barely able to walk…
“The truth is that at 3-0, I said to myself: I haven’t won a game since I became a dad (his daughter Skaï was born at the beginning of last fall) and my daughter is in Parishe smiles. I’m still going to win one! I started to play more relaxed, to mess around in my head, to be a little less in the match by taking the energy of the public, by continuing to believe in myself. Honestly, I have no words…”
Monfils made Monfils. Like completely letting the fourth run slip away to try to regain some semblance of health. “I let go, I can’t take it anymore and I do it very consciously, he laughs. It seems stupid but it’s crazy, I just say to myself: I’m going to recover and I’m going to n… in the 5th! »
“I want to love the end”
Back on the circuit in March after seven and a half months of absence due to a recurring injury to the arch of the right foot, the former French No. 1 had lost seven out of eight matches and won the eighth… by abandonment. He hadn’t won in five sets for two years. Suffice to say that this return to full light is as much a miracle as this impalpable but implacable magic that is born each time he puts down his snowshoes in western Paris.
“I don’t have a specific date but the end is coming soon,” he said before the match. I want to dig the end. I am content and happy. I said it well, there are no more expectations to have on me. Let the people who liked what I was able to do come and share a good time. »
And what a moment! It is still quite rare to see a referee let a Marseillaise end completely during a game before asking for the game to resume… “All that is really really exceptional”, is surprised the Monf.
Thursday, in the next lap, the march will be much higher with the Danish scarecrow Holger Rune (n°6) and a tank already well under way. Monfils has not won two games in a row in Paris for four years. But whatever the result. These last outings have reassured him and removed any apprehension related to his injury “This first round was a great party, he says. Let’s try that the second one is too. Don’t worry, I’ll be ready…”
