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Journalist
Holder of a Master’s degree in sports journalism, I fell in love with tennis since childhood and have always loved reading the great stories of this sport. Today, I want to tell them about them, take full advantage of my passion and be as close as possible to the aces of the circuit.
Author of an immense feat in the previous round by overcoming world number 4 Taylor Fritz, Gaël Monfils was there in the round of 16 of the Australian Open this Monday morning against another American, Ben Shelton ( No. 20). Unfortunately the 38-year-old Frenchman had to give up at the start of the fourth set, exhausted by all the efforts made in the tournament. He could no longer operate the machine.
With this breathtaking start to the season, Gaël Monfils could hope to climb one more step to try to reach the quarter-finals of theAustralian Open. At 38 years old, the Frenchman has already achieved an incredible performance by being the second oldest player to join the second week at Melbournejust behind Roger Federer. But in the face of Ben Sheltonthe walk was a little too high physically to continue. He even made the decision to give up to avoid getting injured.
-Monfils still in combat
In the third round, Gaël Monfils had managed to achieve the greatest victory of his career in Grand Slam in terms of ranking in a controlled match. But at 38 years old, efforts are necessarily more difficult to repeat and in the face of the powerful Ben Sheltonthe Frenchman held on for three sets before breaking down. “When I broke it, I was dead. If we look at the break point, we see that I’m struggling, I didn’t even know that I had broken, limit… And I said to myself, truthfully: ”But why did you go and get it? , this ball”… I was roasted. I felt that I couldn’t push my legs too much anymore, I had to maintain my service game, I told myself that I had to stick to the experience. And it didn’t happen like that. And behind it, it was very long” he explains according to The Team. The two men neutralized each other on their serve during the first two sets, the American concluding in the tie-break the first and the French imitating him in the second.
“I was really scared”
By taking his opponent’s serve at the start of the third set, Gaël Monfils failed to realize this advantage, he who was suffering. “From the start, I felt tired. It was very heavy. I hoped that we would both serve well, without too much exchange. We served well, but there were still exchanges… The plan did not start well. To turn it over, I forced it on the legs. His game wore me out. And I felt like I had crossed a line. The head, it wants. We’re going to say it, the sentence: ”At some point, I’m not twenty years old anymore!” It’s too physical for me. There was a barrier, 100 m in front of me, where it was marked: ”Forbidden” (he laughs). Even going back was too hard. At first, I wonder if it’s not a cramp, I even wish it was one. But it didn’t vibrate in the leg, you feel the stab (in the thigh). I drink the pickle juice and I’m like, “What are you doing, you don’t have cramps…” I just see that I’m dead. And I’m super happy because I was really afraid of making the wrong move trying to pull away to win a game or two.” continues the 41st player in the world.
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