After Nearly Deciding Not to Play Roland Garros, French Hopeful Gael Monfils Surges into Quarterfinals

 He has a made a racquet switch for the first time in his career.  He has a new coach.  And he seemingly has a new pair of knees.  Never afraid to get his “uniform” dirty, the gritty, athletic Frenchman, Gael Monfils, has taken out the #6 seed Andy Roddick (USA) today to reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. 

Amazing since only eight days ago, the 22 year-old was unsure whether he would even be playing this year’s French Open.  Now, the colorful crowd favorite and last Frenchman standing finds himself preparing for a rematch of last year’s epic semi-final match with Roger Federer.

*Information from Monfils’ coach Roger Rasheed on why the racquet switch happened and what it has meant to Monfils’ game and the overall “package”. 

“Gael said to me, Roger, the minute I pick up a racquet I will know if it is a great racquet or not.  He hit, no exaggeration, two balls and he instantly had greater spin and margin on the ball…two of the other things I was looking for in his game.  He said, ‘that’s it. Done.’ 

For me, it was a bizarre experience to have a player at that level change racquets and go to a completely different frame after hitting only two balls.  And at the end of the day, all that, and putting a smile on your face when you pick up your major weapon…and trusting it, all the time when you get out on the court… that’s a big thing.  Gael is an interesting player.  He trusts his racquet now and it’s 100% that racquet.  So the product itself is a big key to the whole package.”

                                                                      - Coach Roger Rasheed

Gael Monfils’ new racquet:

Prince EXO³ (pronounced ex-oh-three) Rebel 95