Paris (France) (AFP)
Gael Monfils is one of the few players ever to be able to still invite himself to the Masters of the end of the season after having reached the knockout stage of the Masters 1000 of Paris at the expense of Benoît Paire Wednesday. But he is tired of hearing about it.
Exempt first round, Monfils (33, 13th) has dismissed his compatriot 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), seriously but without spark. The double finalist in Bercy (2009 and 2010), whose quarter-table was cleared with the last minute package of Roger Federer, will face Moldovan Radu Albot (50th) Thursday.
Monfils is now the last to be able to pocket one of the two sesames still available for the London Masters (10-17 November) regardless of the Parisian course of the last two virtual qualifiers, the German Alexander Zverev, outgoing champion, and the Italian revelation Matteo Berrettini, opposite in the evening to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
A scenario would certainly guarantee the French to repeat the trip to London, as in 2016: lift the trophy Sunday. But please, do not talk to him anymore!
- "Physically and mentally dead" -
"People get drunk with the Masters, my goal is really to finish in the top 10. The Masters, I'm not so far, but I'm still very far, and I accumulated all this pressure. I've been stressed on my own, and playing stressed is complicated, "said Monfils.
He even describes himself as "physically and mentally dead since the Asian tour".
Beyond the case of the Parisian, the Masters race has considerably decanted Wednesday. In the final sprint, the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut (defeated 7-6, 7-6 by De Minaur), the Italian Fabio Fognini (3-6, 6-3, 6-3 against Shapovalov), the Belgian David Goffin (7-5, 6-3 against Dimitrov) and Argentina's Diego Schwartzman (7-5, 6-3 against Edmund) all stumbled on the first hurdle.
If some other players, like the Swiss Stan Wawrinka, still have a mathematically chance to invite themselves, they depend on the results of those who advance them in the standings.
Revisiting Monfils under the roof of Bercy was already, in any case, a small event in itself: he had not played any game in the Parisian hall since 2015. He then lost in the first round, facing the even Pair, after a stunning match.
This time, he did not fall back into the trap and made the difference at the end of each set, breaking at 5-4 in the first, from his first opportunity, and then tie-break in the second.
- Djokovic even suffering -
"I find it very serious this season, he is involved in what he does, he wants to do beautiful things, I really hope he will get to hang this Masters," says Paire (23rd).
Wednesday marked the resumption of the duel between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal for the place of N.1 world at the end of the year.
Even suffering, Djokovic, arrived wrapped in a jacket in a press conference and "not at the best of (his) form", ended up finding the resources to discard 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 of the young lucky French loser Corentin Moutet (20, 97th). But the world No.1 was only the shadow of himself in the first set during which he accumulated 22 unforced errors and had to dismiss two set balls, before getting away somehow .
The turn now Rafael Nadal (N.2) to enter the game, against another player tricolor, thirty-year-old southpaw Adrian Mannarino (43).
Whatever happens this week, the Spaniard will overthrow the Serb next Monday.
And Nadal - as his physique holds - is in a strong position to finish the year at the top of world tennis for the fifth time in his career, at age 33: he has a comfortable mattress in advance at the "Race", the ranking established over the calendar year (1280 points precisely), and a title in the east of Paris, where the undisputed king of Roland Garros has never imposed, would negate the chances of Djokovic to catch up.
© 2019 AFP