Rome (AFP)
"A dirty match" by way of recovery: the French Gaël Monfils, seeded N.5, missed his return, for his first tournament since confinement, eliminated by the German Dominik Koepfer, Thursday in the 2nd round of the Masters 1000 from Rome.
"It was really not terrible. It frustrates me enormously to have played so badly", railed at a press conference the 9th player in the world, beaten in two sets (6-2, 6-4) by the 97th in the world.
Like Rafael Nadal, Gaël Monfils (9th in the world) had decided to skip the American mini-tour on hard in New York (Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, US Open) to preserve his "physique" against the calendar sustained recovery after months of hiatus.
And to better prepare Roland-Garros, exceptionally rescheduled in the fall and which begins in ten days.
Faced with Koepfer, a qualifying player who for his part made the two American tournaments, the French struggled more in the second round, interrupted for about 45 minutes by a power failure.
But never without succeeding in finding the right rhythm.
"It's been a week and two days that I'm here, I was able to pick up a little pace in training, but after the match, that changed everything. I've been very stressed for two days, but I can't let go of me completely, "he regretted.
In the round of 16, Koepfer will meet the young Italian Lorenzo Musetti, 18 (249th world), like him from qualifying.
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