Gael Monfils rewarded the home crowd that stayed until close to 21:00 to witness the Frenchman outlast world No6 Tomas Berdych 7-6 (8), 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 in a four hour and three minutes marathon.
Monfils, who was in Nice up until last Saturday where he lost the final to Albert Montanes, had dropped to No119 in the rankings having suffered a series of knee injuries but the former world No7 is clawing his way back up the rankings (he is currently at 81) and posted the biggest upset of the tournament so far when he took out the fifth-seeded Berdych.
The entertaining Frenchman – who we started off the match commenting on his bizarre and poorly chosen outfit – won a Challenger in Bordeaux two weeks ago, before his good week in Nice, and comes to Roland Garros having played 10 matches in less than a fortnight. Despite his concerns over his fitness levels heading into the match, Monfils managed to compete over four hours against the No5 seed.
When asked how he can explain his form, he said: “My only answer is I worked. I worked and I believed in myself.
“I have gone through very difficult moments, so necessarily you get tougher.
“It's very strange, but here it's magic here. It's magic. It's a place where I feel really good, and I can go beyond myself and play a type of tennis I wouldn't even think of.”
Meanwhile a dejected Berdych rued his missed chances in the final set, where he converted zero out of four break points. When asked what made the difference in the end after he launched a comeback and levelled the match, the Czech said: “I had one chance in the fifth set. I didn’t make it. He made one, so he made it. That’s absolutely what was the difference between us today.
“He’s playing at home and he’s a great player. He made a good decision to come back in the right time and I just hope that his form is going to stay with him for a long time.”
For Monfils, he believes the crucial moment came late in the final set. He said: “I started believing in it even more because I believed I would win during the whole match, but it's 5 5, 0 15 (in the fifth set).
“The forehand, my forehand at that moment, that's when I thought, yeah, I saw the light. I was tired, and I tried it. I had not tried such a big forehand like this one. And what was strange, strange enough, I saw his reaction, his body language, and that's when I thought ‘okay, there is something, something, put pressure on him’.”
Monfils has another tough test ahead of him in the form of Ernests Gulbis. It's safe to saw we won't be caring what the Frenchman will be wearing.
* For breaking news, follow us on @Sport_360 or find us on Facebook.
* You can follow the author on @ReemAbulleil
