Tennis: no feat for Monfils against Alcaraz at the Masters 1000 in Shanghai

“He’s going to crush me.” Before his match against Carlos Alcaraz, Gaël Monfils did not give much of his skin. The French veteran, 38 years old, finally showed good resistance against the world number 2 but ended up lowering his head, dominated in two sets (6-4, 7-5).

Impeccable on serve (10 aces, 70% first ball) with always a touch of fantasy like this magnificent winning backhand jump to conclude a rally of 25 exchanges, Gaël Monfils even made the Spaniard doubt in the first set, obtaining the first break point. But behind in the score (3-4), the winner of Roland-Garros and Wimbledon showed exemplary composure in the heated moments to collect twelve of the last fifteen points of the first set (6-4).