Gaël Monfils was not surprised by his elimination on Wednesday in the first round of the Masters 1000 in Rome where Terence Atmane won the second victory of his career on the ATP circuit. After a one-sided first round lost in 36 minutes, Monfils, 37, tied with the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro in the second set, before being broken at 5-5 and capitulating in two sets 6-2 , 7-5.
“It wasn’t good,” he summed up after his match. “I’ve been saying it for years, I don’t play well on clay. That’s not why I’m not going to perform, but it’s the surface where I’ve played the worst in years,” recalled the 38th in the world.
Monfils, who has not appeared in Rome since 2021, has not passed the first round there since 2012 (elimination in the 2nd round by the Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero). He had already been eliminated as soon as he entered the competition in Madrid, a bad patch which confirms, in his eyes, his allergy to clay.
“I don’t know when I last played well on clay,” he said. Maybe in Monte-Carlo in 2016,” where he lost in the final to Rafael Nadal. “I try to perform, but I play better on hard, on indoor hard (…) I do not lose the faith to train and perform” at Roland-Garros (May 26-June 9), however assured the French veteran.
“Paris is magical for me, it’s not a place where I arrive with huge confidence, but there is always a little something that allows me to perform there. I have no expectations, I want to have fun,” concluded Monfils who will participate in the Lyon tournament in ten days to “try to win one or two matches” before Roland-Garros.
Last season, he spent a round on Parisian clay when he was 394th in the world, before withdrawing before his second round match against the Dane Holger Rune. His best result at Roland Garros, a semi-final, lost against Roger Federer, dates back to 2008. Terence Atmane created a small sensation by beating the American Christopher Eubanks, 43rd in the world, 6-4, 6-4.
Even if he recognizes that his opponent, quarter-finalist at Wimbledon in 2023, is “a player who performs better on faster surfaces”, the 22-year-old Frenchman did not shy away from his pleasure. “It’s a good surprise for me, it’s a very nice victory, I add a second player in the top 50 to my list,” rejoiced the 137th in the ATP ranking, from qualifying.
“I am reaching a milestone. Between the Challenger (tournaments) and the ATP, there are a lot of differences in terms of mental intensity, physical dimension, we have no room for error,” he continued. In the next round, he will face a player more comfortable on clay, the Italian Lorenzo Musetti (29th).
Arthur Rinderknecht is on track to reach the 2nd round, but his match against the Italian Francesco Passero was interrupted in the evening by rain while he was leading 7-6 (7/3), 6-5. In the women’s draw, Clara Burel (45th) lost to the Japanese Naomi Osaka (173rd) 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 and Diane Parry (50th) was outclassed by the Russian Anna Blinkova ( 46th) 6-2, 6-3.
