14th seed Gael Monfils said he is not looking for excuses after crashing out in the second round of the French Open on Thursday.
The world No.15 hit a total of 62 unforced errors during his 6-0, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, loss to Sweden’s Mikael Ymer. A player who is currently ranked 90 places lower than Monfils and had only ever won two Grand Slam main draw matches prior to the tournament starting. It is the second year in a row that he had failed to win back-to-back matches at the French Open after losing in the first round in 2020.
During his latest clash against Ymer, Monfils suffered from what French newspaper L’Equipe described as a ‘physical problem.’ Although he refused to blame the issue on his latest performance. Besides his unforced error count, the former top 10 player also produced three double faults and only won 40% of his second serves.
“You know I won’t talk about it (the problem), I was on the court, I played and I lost,” Monfils said during his press conference. “I lost, I have to do better, much better.’
“It’s a match that I have to win as it is and I didn’t win it, Mikael was better than me.”
The loss continues what has been a lacklustre 2021 season for the 34-year-old who has only won two matches. Although he has missed three months of the Tour between February-May due to injury. Monfils last won back-to-back matches in a tournament almost 16 months ago at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
“It’s very hard. Another bad start to the match, a match that I control quite well. I am very frustrated, I can do better,” he said of his latest performance.
“I apologize to all my fans and to the people who must have watched this game. It’s a game I clearly have to win and I didn’t get through. I am the first to be frustrated, I am so disappointed not to find the solution to drive the point home and play a little better. I tried to relax but I was very tense. I made a lot of bad choices.’
“I hope the confidence will return.”
As for Ymer, he has become the first Swedish man to reach the third round at Roland Garros since Robin Soderling in 2011. He will next play Italian 18th seed Jannik Sinner whom he did defeated in Montpellier last year.
