Gaël Monfils Makes Strong Start in the Desert

It’s a perfectly placed first step into the desert for Gaël Monfils. Thursday, on court no. 2, the Frenchman easily disposed of the Australian Max Purcell (71st in the world) in two neatly packaged and expeditious sets (6-1, 6-2) in 1 hour 10 minutes of play.

Efficient in serving, aggressive in the exchange, Monfils nimbly tore apart the Australian’s game, carried towards the net and very often perforated. From the baseline, in the tempo, the 54th in the world showed himself to be serious and efficient. After the first two games of the match, Monfils then completely took the measure of the Australian, who was quickly dominated in the exchange. “I felt good. I served well and it was important today to get free points. I had my game plan in mind, I really wanted to impose rallies with a lot of violence in my shots and I did it well. On his serves-volleys, I was ready for that, too,” summed up the former world No. 6.

It is therefore without any fear and with a physique that has been purring as it should for some time that Monfils reached the second round. “It’s been a few weeks, I’m getting good movement back. It’s important for me to feel good, to move well. It also allows me to gain confidence in other things. I know that if I move well, I also have this little defensive side which can be a little annoying (for the opponent). It allows me to dare a little more with the forehand, to go a little more with the backhand. Moving well is the basis of my game,” noted the Frenchman with satisfaction.

“I try to keep this momentum

Things therefore seem to be going well for the recent semi-finalist in Doha, one of only three players (with Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic) to have taken a set since the start of the year from the currently invincible Jannik Sinner (in Rotterdam). “I’m trying to keep this momentum going. The body follows, I try to win one, two matches, one, two, three, four perhaps and the confidence returns”, summed up Monfils, calm against Purcell, but who will face a completely different adversity in the second turn, in this case the Pole and 8th in the world, Hubert Hurkacz, whom he has not faced since a double confrontation in 2019 (1-1). “A player who has a lot of strengths in his game, who plays very flat, who takes up a lot of space on the pitch, who comes on the fly a lot, who mixes a lot. I will have to be able to set the pace. But I find it cool to be able to play a Top 10 again,” he said in advance.

2024-03-08 02:12:10
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