Gael Monfils may not have many more matches left in his French Open career and he may never be the tournament champion, but none of that matters following the scenes the 36-year-old produced in front of the home crowd on Tuesday night.
Even before it started, Monfils was a heavy underdog–having not won a match on the main tour since last summer in Canada and facing one of the rising stars of clay-court tennis.
“When I saw the draw, I was not very happy,” Monfils said. “I thought, ‘no, this is not the game play I want–not for the first round.’ And then once the match started, well, you have to accept, you accept, and then I found solutions–unexpected solutions.”
The Frenchman did well to take two of the first three sets, but the situation remained dire given his physical state. After all, Monfils is just now coming back from a bad foot injury and he had not played a best-of-five match since the 2022 Australian Open.
Unsurprisingly, after Monfils fell behind early in the forth he made a clear decision to conserve energy for the fifth. Through four games in the decider, it was energy he did not have. Baez raced to a 4-0 advantage, sending Monfils to the brink of defeat and more than a few fans to the exits.
Whoever left won’t ever forgive themselves.
In hard-to-believe fashion, Monfils reeled off seven of the last eight games to beat Baez 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 after three hours and 47 minutes amidst a raucous Court Philippe Chatrier atmosphere. In typical Monfils fashion, he looked dead–and in all likelihood really was–in between points but ran like a gazelle during them while firing winner after winner from the baseline especially throughout the last three games of the match.
A clinching backhand pass off the net cord sent Monfils into disbelief and the fans into a frenzy.
“I’m very, very happy,” Monfils said afterward. “It’s one of my best matches; the best sports moment I could experience…. It’s definitely in like [my] top two [matches of my career]. I had the same one almost kind of some years ago against [Pablo] Cuevas on [Court Suzanne] Lenglen. It was unbelievable atmosphere, as well. Of course this one is another flavor. I’m older, and even less chances, let’s say, to win this match today.
“It was [a] great atmosphere tonight, I guess for some spectators, as well. I know I have some friends for the first time they came to Roland Garros, so I think it was a good experience for them.”
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