In an interview to Figaro, Gael Monfils spoke about his passion for video games. “We are playing Fifa a lot. There are Gilles Simon, Nick Kyrgios, Jack Sock, Diego Schwartzman, Benoit Paire… We play all together.” “Some years we took PS3 but now it’s easier with mobile games.
You just have to turn the mobile phone, put your headphones on and play on Discord (social media mainly used by players). When we have a long flight, we have a lot of free time and play games are sort of escapes. It takes a lot of focus.”
In a press conference, analyzing his loss to Dominic Thiem in the French Open, Monfils said: “I tried to stay closer to my baseline and not to be taken away by his powerful shots. Sometimes I was able to do that; other times it was too difficult.
I gave him too many neutral balls, because I couldn’t impose my game. So I gave him neutral balls, and he played his game. So my game plan was a bit truncated. I thought I was going to be able to have inside-in backhands a bit more.
And today I thought I would go more to the volley and it didn’t work. I was not present at the volley. He also surprised me, his first shot after the serve surprised me a lot. Also, when he returned, he returned much better than I had expected. So the game plan was easy for today.”
