Strong against the weak and weak against the strong.
This perfectly sums up the current level of the French number one.
Last night in Indian Wells, he only stayed on court for an hour in a one-way Masters 1000 round of 16.
Time to undergo a small correction from Alexander Zverev, seeded 3 (6-1, 6-3).
The semi-finalist of the US Open, winner of twenty of his last twenty-one matches, notably shone at the net (19 points won out of 25 appearances) and in service (76% of points won behind his first balls).
I felt him much more solid than me.
I failed to hurt her
Gaël Monfils after his defeat
Monfils, for his part, obtained only one break point, unconverted, in the second set at 2-2 and accumulated unforced errors. Powerless, he summed up in comments reported by the
Team
.
“I didn't get into the game well, but he was fine
.
He was able to relax faster than me. And it quickly became a steamroller. He didn't have an air hole. I felt him much more solid than me. I didn't manage to hurt him. He was really stronger than me. He is solid, he changes his pace, he moves very well. The guy is the cream of the crop. He crushed me. The more I get to play these guys, the more I can hook them up a bit more. "
No victory against a top 10 since February 2019
The Parisian had never lost in three meetings against Alexander Zverev (last duel in 2016), But the Zverev of 2021 has nothing to do with the young hopeful of 2016 and Monfils, 35, is far from evolving at the level of five years ago, when he reached 6th place in the world, his best career ranking.
He has not beaten a player ranked in the top 10 for ... two and a half years (success against Marin Cilic in the first round of Dubai).
An eternity.
So, yes, the year is ending better than it had started for the Frenchman. In tears, in February during the Australian Open after his pitiful elimination in the 1st round against the Finnish Emil Ruusuvuori, alternating for six months, eliminations in the first or second round on the circuit. Released in the second round at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, Monfils regained some confidence this summer (quarter-finals in Toronto, 8th in Cincinnati and 3rd round at the US Open). A small improvement confirmed at the start of autumn in Metz (semi-finals) and Sofia (final). But let's not talk about Indian summer. If he beat without trembling second knives to allow him to finally win more than two consecutive matches,he stalled against the top 20 (close defeat against Carreno Busta in Metz) and correction suffered against Sinner in Sofia. Against the latter, the French number one had never existed. Like against Zverev last night.
Before facing the German, he declared:
“The more I play, the more I hope to titillate them. Why not just try to beat them? I recently played Rublev, Sinner, this is Zverev, a big game. I'll try to be more aggressive, for sure. And try to serve better ”.
Missed. The French number one now has the opportunity to shine at home at Paris-Bercy in three weeks. A Parisian Masters 1000 that he has only played once in the last five editions. He can still hope to finish number one in France at Race 2021. Little consolation. The “Monf '” is currently only 49th in the Race, behind Benjamin Bonzi, 48th, and Ugo Humbert 41st. Very, very far from the world top, like the moribund French tennis.