First Grand Slam of the season, the Australian Open already makes us want the season to end. The reason? The far too scintillating state of form of a certain Gaël Monfils.
Gaël Monfils all smiles at the Australian Open
We left Gaël Monfils victorious at the Auckland tournament, making him the oldest tournament winner since 1990 on the ATP circuit. Just that. But don't think that the Monf' took the Australian Open lightly, quite the contrary. The 38-year-old Frenchman faced Daniel Altmaier on the 1573 Arena, and against the 101st player in the world, the suspense simply did not take place. In just over two hours of effort, Monfils got rid of the German trap, with a victory in three short sets (7-5, 6-3, 7-6). And a state of form that is far too encouraging for our taste.
This success is the seventh in a row for Gaël, and guess when his last setback was? His opposition against Novak Djokovic in Brisbane, and a certain 20-0 as a bonus. We cheer ourselves up as best we can. This victory against Altmaier is also synonymous with qualification for the third round of the Australian Open. An event far from trivial for the Frenchman, since it is the twelfth time in his career that he has inflicted such a performance on us.
Hoping that Taylor Fritz, his opponent in the next round, ends this winning streak immediately. And the American, 4th player in the world, has time to see it coming. Indeed, Monfils has only beaten one member of the top 5 in a Grand Slam in his career. It was 17 years ago. If our optimism is in order regarding Gaël, the progress of the Blues really bothers us. It's simple, there will be five French people in the third round of the Australian Open, a first in eight years. The good times.
