As the season draws towards its close, David Goffin still has unfinished business as he aims to end the year on a high.
Yet to win a title in 2016, Belgium’s top tennis player has still achieved a series of breakthroughs on the tour. On the Masters circuit, Goffin reached back-to-back semifinals in Miami and Indian Wells for the first time in his career. A couple months later, he reached his first grand slam quarter-final at the French Open. Now approaching the end of the year, he has already defeated three top ten players within the same season for the first time. The 25-year-old could be forgiven for switching to holiday mode following his trio of firsts, but Goffin still has something to prove this week at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.
“I feel good,” he said during an interview with dhnet.be. “It’s a tournament that I like, and the sensations are good. The training is going well. I will give everything.”
Since his shock loss to Jared Donaldson in the first round of the US Open, Goffin has reached one final and two semi-finals on the tour. Nevertheless, the switch from the Asian swing to the European indoor circuit has proven difficult for the Belgian to cope with. Last week at the Swiss Indoors, he was knocked out in the second round by Juan Martin del Potro.
“Antwerp, it was not easy, but I really wanted to do (well).” Said Goffin. “But with the time difference and playing every night at 21h, it was hard to stay in concentration, especially in close games. (Then) I played in Basel and had two or three days rest before Bercy. ”
There is a possibility that Paris might not be Goffin’s final tournament of the season. He is currently one out of seven players that could potentially grab the two final spots to play in the $7 million ATP Finals in London. In order to do so, Goffin needs to exceed his own expectations and at a minimum reach the final in Paris.
“I don’t want to think about it for the moment and just focus on the tournament, match after match and then we will see” He said during an interview with the ATP about potentially qualifying for his first tour finals.
Goffin will start his Paris campaign in the second round after receiving a bye in the opening round. His first match will be against either Nicolas Mahut or Martin Klizan.
David Goffin video interview with atpworldtour.com
