Will Gael Monfils ever utilize his natural potential?
In the line-up of greatest athletes ever to grace the court of tennis, majority would perhaps name Rafael Nadal at the top of the rankings. However, there is no doubt about the fact that there are a couple of other tennis players on the tour, who beat Rafa
by a hair or two.
The twenty-four year old French tennis sensation, Gael Monfils is surely one of them.
The level of Gael’s athleticism is such that watching one of his clashes almost assures a few hours of action packed entertainment, however, that does not always imply that the outcome is a victory.
Monfils as a junior tennis contender was a real threat on the court. Back in 2004, as a teenager, he grabbed a total of three junior major trophies namely the Australian Open, Wimbledon as well as the clay court French Open tennis tournament and looked confident
to be among one of the greatest ever tennis players of the future, who could potentially dominate on the tour.
However, sadly that never actually happened.
Part of Gael’s trouble is without any question his back to back injuries over the past few years. More than perhaps any other contender, Gael has been affected with almost every minor injury that most tennis stars might deal with over the course of a lengthy
professional career.
Some of this might be a cause of Monfil’s bad luck, however, it happened more as a result of bad body management, including over practicing on the court or weight room, which are in fact the actual culprits.
Gael’s greatest problems are a trio that together are nearly more of an issue than his health matters.
The first one is the French player’s over dependency on athleticism. Gael’s does now what the world number one, Rafa used to do, which is going after absolutely every point, instead of grabbing his spots.
The second and actually the worst of his problems is his ability for showmanship.
There have been such moments when his wish to hit some breathtaking shots overrides Gael’s common sense. This was never in the limelight more prior to his quarter final clash versus Novak Djokovic at the United States Open tennis tournament in New York.
Early in the opening set with Gael up a break and serving at 2-1, 40-0, a rally followed between the two of them. After forcing a hit by Novak, Gael smashed it back, however, the world number two Serbian, who had come to the net, smashed a short ball directly
back with the help of some pace.
Now any contender would have wound up a forehand and attacked it past Novak. It was a comfortable hit, however, Gael instead of going for the boring and usual shot, the French tennis player decided to spice it up by dancing into the air and tried to smash
the shot between his legs. The end result was nothing more than a real disaster.
Any of the top ranked tennis players on the court, such as Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer would never have even tried something like that which explains why they are among the tennis greats and Grand Slam winners on a number of occasions in their professional
life. Monfils, on the other hand is still waiting for that.
Lastly, Gaels will at times space out on the surface for lengthy hours of time. He either looks apathetic, or just misses the level of confidence required to work within his game. Anyhow, it is something the French tennis player will have to work on if
he wants to get to the next level of the game.
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