It was a year ago… Winner of Richard Gasquet in the quarter-finals in Dubai, Gaël Monfils signed his twelfth victory in a row, best series in his career before falling on Djokovic in the half.
And since then, nothing.
Six games, six losses in the last five months.
Burning before the spring 2020 containment, the Parisian, who has further postponed his resumption of competition by skipping the ATP tournament in Doha, has completely lost the flame.
“I have been touched by a lot more things.
I lost my mental strength, he confided last fall.
I spent a lot of time without seeing my family.
Psychologically, it's hard and it left its mark.
Mentally, there is a problem, I have no more fire ... "
The arrival at his side of the hot Günter Bresnik, former mentor of Dominic Thiem, did not succeed in making the embers red.
“I would like to get out of this nightmare but I can't… I train like a butcher and it doesn't work.
I would like to get up and say that this nightmare is over but here I am in it and I do not know when it will end, ”breathed the Habs, his eyes wet after his first lost lap in Melbourne.
Gaël #Monfils in tears after his defeat in the 1st round of the # AusOpen .... 347 days without the slightest victory, a “nightmare” from which he cannot get out 😔 # Tennis # AO2021 pic.twitter. com / jJ3uqXYBP3
- COURTS Mag (@CourtsMag) February 8, 2021
At 34, half of which spent on the professional circuit, the world No. 12 remains a sensitive person.
On edge.
His SOS of a player in distress, unarmed on the court and in tears at a press conference, sums up the character's flaws, sometimes annoying and often touching.
In a word, endearing.
"There are times when you want to slap him ..."
“Gaël Monfils… it's not easy to express, so I'm not going to say it,” says Gilles Simon, who knows the complexity of the character by heart.
The two men have been working together since their young years at Insep.
“Gaël is nice.
Often too much.
Generous.
Often too much.
In fact, you have to put too much everywhere, says the Niçois.
There are times when you want to slap him but you can't because he is two meters with the strength of a bull.
But in any case, he is endearing.
Afterwards, he has an ability to disperse.
It's hard for him to be focused on something.
"
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Monfils is not a robot.
Or a production of which we would have increased the emotionality of artificial intelligence.
Aware of this weakness in a high level that requires cold-blooded killers, the former junior world champion has worked on his sensitivity with the help of specialists in recent years.
But his famous "personal problems", almost a trademark, will have marked his post-defeat press conferences.
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“We are human.
If you have a personal problem, it interferes in your professional environment.
I touch wood, but if your mother dies, you go to work the next day?
he told us at a lunch a few years ago.
A divorce, a birth, it affects anyone.
Privacy inevitably has an impact.
How do you want to separate?
When you have the unexpected, it shows right away.
Afterwards, some on the circuit have tidy lives, and only the extreme cases affect them.
Me, I have stockings a little more easily because my life is less orderly than theirs… ”
In the wake of the Australian Open, the French No.1 and his companion Elina Svitolina, No.5 at the WTA, announced their separation on social networks after two years of relationship.
Difficult therefore to keep your eyes riveted on the little yellow ball ... "I don't really want to talk about tennis or think about tennis", explained the No. 1 tricolor last week to his followers on the Twitch platform after declaring package for Rotterdam, where he was double title holder.
Back to Dubai?
On Friday, Monfils posted on Instagram images of his training at the Geneva Country club punctuated by the words of the rapper Dinos' Namek:
"Roland Garros or the casino, I hit the jackpot in three sets (...) Life is far too beautiful to take the lead ... "
Before moving on a little later on the much darker 6:16 am in Orelsan:
"So many times have I cherished my demons so that they come back / To steal away from me, without wondering about the life that I leads / If I take with me these giggles, these memories of scenes / I neglected my family and even lost the girl I love… ”
The Parisian's next meeting on the circuit is scheduled in ten days in Dubai.
If all goes well…
