The 2020 Australian Open had been a great adventure for Gael Monfils, it will not be the same this year. The French number one was released in the first round of the Australian Grand Slam on Monday February 8. Just like Benoît Paire, 29e global. Disappointments offset by the successes of Corentin Moutet, Adrian Mannarino and Caroline Garcia.
For their part, Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams, two of the favorites for the title in the women’s table, made solid entries. In the evening, it is the two-time defending champion, Novak Djokovic, in search of a ninth record coronation in Melbourne, who will make his debut against Frenchman Jérémy Chardy.
Lost. This is how Gaël Monfils appeared at a press conference after his defeat against the Finnish Emil Ruusuvuori (86e), after five sets, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, and 3 h 46 of effort.
The 34-year-old Frenchman, who reached the round of 16 last year in Melbourne, hasn’t won for a year. His end of the 2020 season was disappointing: he lost in the four games played after the Covid cutoff before withdrawing for Bercy. And his association in the offseason with the demanding Austrian Günter Bresnik, former coach of world number three Dominic Thiem, is struggling to bear fruit for the moment.
Monfils himself recognizes this: “I have zero confidence. I have no benchmarks, it’s hard. (…) I try to be patient, I work but I can’t find my game. (…) I don’t feel good and it shows. “ “I know I lost a lot and it hurts me. And the worst part of all this is that I work, I train like a butcher, but I can’t … I would like to get up and tell myself that this nightmare is over, but I don’t know when it will stop ”, he explained in a press conference with tears in his eyes.
Benoît Pair (29e world) either: visibly exhausted, he was eliminated in the first round by Belarusian Egor Gerasimov (79e) 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5. After a very poor start to the match and the too easy concession of the first round, the Frenchman regained his colors and seemed superior to his opponent. But the Belarusian hung on to crack his opponent physically.
It must be said that Paire had not had an ideal preparation, quite the contrary. He was first forced into a strict fortnight when he arrived in Melbourne after one of the passengers on his plane tested positive. Barely out of isolation, he was confined again, briefly this time, when a new case linked to his quarantine hotel was detected this week. The Avignon has been accumulating the galleys since the post-containment recovery in 2020, but not the victories: only one, in seven games between August and October 2020, plus two losses in the ATP Cup (against Fognini, and retirement against Thiem) and now the one against Gerasimov.
It continues for Garcia, Mannarino and Moutet
The other Habs competing at the start of Monday in Australia did better. Adrian Mannarino, 35e world, qualified first, and in three sets, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), against the Austrian Dennis Novak.
It was a little more difficult for Caroline Garcia, who had to fight 1 h 11 to pocket the first set before winning 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, against the Slovenian Polona Hercog (51e). The next round awaits a strong opponent in the person of Naomi Osaka, third in the world and winner of the last US Open. A challenge that the Frenchwoman fully appreciates but for which she feels ready. “It’s a big second round for me. (…) After my goal in Grand Slam is to go far and one day win one, so if I want to do it, I will have to go through matches like that. So whether it’s in the second round or later, it’s the same “, she estimated.
Corentin Moutet, 21, had a more difficult first round, but also came out of it. The 80e world will have battled nearly four hours to overcome the Australian John Millman, (38e), in five sets, 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. This is the first time, in three appearances, that the left-handed player has reached the second round in Melbourne. He too will have a lot to do in the next round against Canadian Milos Raonic, 15e global.
Osaka and Williams expeditious
They were expected and they did not disappoint. Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka gave few games to their opponents of the day and spent only about an hour each on the court to validate their ticket for the second round.
It is the Japanese who opened the ball of this somewhat particular Australian Open, postponed by three weeks due to the pandemic due to the coronavirus, and whose threat will have hovered until the end on the first Grand Slam of the year 2021. The world number 3 has made short work of Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 39e world, beaten 6-1, 6-2.
Serena Williams, who followed her on the Rod Laver Arena, will have dragged even less. It only took him fifty-six minutes to defeat Laura Siegemund, leaving her only two small games (6-1, 6-1). A more than successful start for the youngest of the Williams sisters in search of her 24e title in major, to equal Margaret Court’s record.
