In his own words, Paris for Gael Monfils is “magic”.
No matter his build-up to the French Open, Monfils more often than not manages to lift his level for his home grand slam and he’s an expert at knowing how to use the crowd to his advantage.
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The French No13 seed has tied Harold Solomon’s Roland Garros record of winning 10 five-set matches at the tournament after his back-from-the-brink victory over Pablo Cuevas in the third round. He described himself as a “phoenix” after that win.
Standing between Monfils and the quarter-finals is world No2 Roger Federer, a player who had beaten him the first five times they met, but since 2010, it is Monfils who leads their head-to-head 4-3.
What a comeback by @Gael_Monfils ridiculous match amazing to watch!!!congrats
— Jarmila Gajdosova (@tennis_jarkag) May 29, 2015
Federer, a champion in Paris in 2009, has lost to Monfils in their last two meetings – in Monte Carlo last month and in the Davis Cup final end of last year.
The Swiss feels Monfils has been playing him “tough” recently and expects another tricky encounter.
“Davis Cup was rough. Monaco was so early in the clay court season it was always going to be tough, even though I wasn’t hitting ball that bad, I still didn’t quite understand how passive or aggressive I needed to play.
“I thought he played a good, solid match, and me, too. It came down to a few points,” Federer said of their most recent clashes.
“He’s played me tough throughout my career. Especially the last four, five years now. He’s been tougher for me to play against.”
Monfils believes he has a few tricks up his sleeve to throw off Federer in their fourth round showdown today.
The 28-year-old, who has never beaten Federer at Roland Garros, turned Suzanne Lenglen stadium into a party in his previous match and it’s likely he’ll do the same.
“I just play my game because some matches Roger kills me,” Monfils said.
“Somehow I just find a couple of shots in my game to put him in trouble and to actually move him about.
“I think Roger is very comfortable on couple of shots or a couple of areas so I try to put him out of his comfort zone.
“And then I also try to find a rhythm with Roger that I’m happy with, because he always wants to dictate the match the way he wants.
“Especially the way he makes you wait or speed up the match and the way he will select his shots.
“I really try to change it up, and sometimes Roger gets p***** a little bit. I saw it the most in the US Open.
“Roger was very unhappy when the crowd was not behind him. And that will help me a lot, for sure.
“As I say always, Paris is different, it’s magic.”
