Gael Monfils: The Chosen One to Defend French Pride Against Spain
The Davis Cup quarter-finals are starting this weekend with an anxious French team. The sportive year has been difficult for France, which had a rather controversial football team during the 2010 World Cup, causing its early elimination. Now France must host the tennis quarter-finals without its key player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who has just withdrawn from the tournament due to a knee injury.
The withdrawal of Tsonga leaves Gael Monfils to lead France’s team, which includes Julien Benneteau, Michael Llodra, and the rumored Gilles Simon. Despite their loss of Tsonga, the French might become optimistic now that the World No. 1, 2010 French Open and Wimbledon champion has withdrawn from Spain’s team; Rafael Nadal will take some time off to treat his injured knees.
However, the news of Nadal was not too upsetting for the Spaniards. They had, actually, many players to choose from. There are currently 12 Spanish players ranked in the World’s Top 100—an amount that overrules any other nation in the world.
Monfils will be facing Fernando Verdasco, who was a decisive player during the Davis Cup finals in 2008 and 2009, both resulting with Spain as victor. Verdasco is the second-highest ranked Spanish player. The Davis Cup Spain team also includes David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro and Feliciano Lopez.
The second-highest ranked French tennis player, Monfils, is novice to the Davis Cup. He has won two ATP singles titles, one in 2005, and the other at Metz in 2009. He was later seeded No. 1 at the 2010 SA Tennis Open, and faced Feliciano López in the semi-finals. The Frenchman unfortunately lost 3–6 6–1 7–6(1) to the Spaniard. Lopez is also currently part of the Davis Cup Spain team.
In February 2010, “Monf” was third seed at the 2010 Open 13 in Marseille, France. He passed the first round and defeated Andreas Seppi in the second in three tight sets. Monfils had, however, to face France's Julien Benneteau—who is also part of the Davis Cup France team—and lost in the quarter-finals.
Unfortunately, after this tournament, Monfils’ health seemed to take a turn. The young player has often withdrawn from major events, which makes him an intriguing choice for a replacement player. Monfils had to opt out from the Medibank International in Sydney, Australia, this year due to a shoulder injury. He later had to withdraw from three consecutive Masters 1000 events: the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, the 2010 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, and the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. He was supposed to return at the 2010 Estoril Open, and had even received a wildcard, but he withdrew once again, this time due to a stomach injury.
Monfils ultimately came back and entered the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open. He reached the quarter-finals without losing a set, but then faced a Spaniard that turned the tables around. He was defeated by the World No. 1 Nadal in two sets 6-1, 6-3.
Monfils, however, appears to be maintaining his high spirits and expressed in an interview his joy to join the French team against Spain: “I think it’s going to be great. It’s two big countries in Europe and we love sport as well. So for sure we’ll have a great atmosphere and if I’m part of this weekend it will be an amazing experience. I hope people will enjoy and I hope we will have high level tennis and for France it could be a really nice story to talk about later.”
France now has another chance to show the world its love for sport, despite what happened during the FIFA World Cup. It was six years ago that Spain confronted France for the Davis Cup and won 4-1 in Alicante. All eyes are now set on France to see if history will repeat itself.
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