Frenchman Gaël Monfils qualified for the second round of the US Open on Tuesday August 29 by beating Japanese Taro Daniel (95th in the world and from qualifying) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 ( 7/4). The next step will be much higher since the Parisian who will celebrate his 37th birthday on September 1 will find the Russian Andrey Rublev (8?).

Facing Daniel, Monfils struggled to get going, looking listless in the first set. Then he woke up, made fewer fouls and took the game into his own hands.

“I felt heavier, the bullets were heavier, slower. I had to adapt: ??I circled around my forehand very little, instead I played a lot of backhands,” he said. “Besides, in the beginning, he was serving extremely well and that strained me a bit too. Fortunately, he started to serve much less well afterwards and I got into my game. I served well when needed and then I was able to find the trajectories I wanted,” he added.

In the end, he placed 23 aces, hit 68 winners and committed 56 unforced errors (10 winners for 13 unforced errors in the first set). A fall, however, nearly threw everything into question: Monfils landed on the wrist that had kept him out of competition several weeks after Roland-Garros.

“Falling on the wrist is the only thing I shouldn’t do…but I couldn’t help it.” I think the strap helped me a lot. I hope it will be ok tomorrow, “he commented, acknowledging that he was hurt.

Return of injuries

Monfils had not won a match at Flushing Meadows since his second round in 2021. Away from the circuit for months to treat a foot injury that occurred in Canada last summer, the Frenchman attempted a comeback in the spring ahead of his public at Roland-Garros. But after dismissing the Argentinian Sebastian Baez after a fight in five sets, he forfeited as the new terror of the circuit stood in front of him, the Dane Holger Rune. New wrist injury and new convalescence of several weeks.

Since the start of the American hard court tour, however, Monfils has regained its luster. He thus reached the round of 16 in Washington, the quarterfinals at the Masters 1000 in Toronto and again the eighth at the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati with three victories against players from the World Top 15 (Tsitsipas, Norrie and De Minaur).