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Frenchman sets sight on Tokyo success
Gael Monfils, the No. 2 seed at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016, is a hit wherever he goes. The flashy Frenchman believes that his fan appeal originates from the sincerity with which he approaches the sport.
“I’m a very natural person on the court. I try to be myself and forget about the pressure,” Monfils said. “Some may think that I am really trying to be entertaining, but for me that’s just the way that I enjoy playing the game. I’m happy to see that people like the way I play and that I help them have fun.”
The 30 year old’s charm has won him many fans in Tokyo, where he reached the semi-finals twice in three past appearances. Monfils made the semi-finals in 2009 (l. to Tsonga) and reached the final in 2010, falling to Rafael Nadal. Back for the first time since 2013, Monfils revealed that he has been approaching his physical preparation differently in recent years in order to gain an edge.
“My physio Gaetan and I have been working together since 2014, and over that time he has done a lot to give me the right tools to stay healthy and to recover between matches,” said Monfils. “We use a lot of Chinese medicine; we do acupuncture. I am not afraid of the needles, as I have many tattoos.”
Continued enthusiasm for tennis and improved health may well help Monfils qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the first time. The Frenchman is currently in sixth place in the Emirates ATP Race To London, 150 points clear of seventh-placed Dominic Thiem and trailing Tokyo top seed Kei Nishikori by 960 points.
“It’s not something that I am really thinking about yet,” Monfils said. “My objective right now is just to finish the season well and to win another title. If that helps me qualify for London, then it would be great. But my priority is to find a good level and to perform well at the events I play at.”
Monfils will face Japan’s Yuichi Sugita in the first round.

French star sixth player to qualify
Gael Monfils will make his debut at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after becoming the sixth player to qualify for the prestigious season-ending tournament, to be held from 13-20 November at The O2 in London.
The Frenchman joins Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori in the elite field, securing his berth following Dominic Thiem’s loss today at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna. Thiem is looking to join Monfils as debutants at the prestigious season finale and currently sits in the eighth position in the Emirates ATP Race To London.
“It feels great to qualify for the (Barclays) ATP (World Tour) Finals for the first time in my career,” said Monfils. “It is a great way to finish my best season on the tour and I look forward to competing against the other best players of 2016. I heard a lot of great things about the event, every match is like a final and I always love to play on a big stage.”
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It has been a career-best season for the 30-year-old Monfils. He opened his campaign with a quarter-final showing at the Australian Open (l. to Raonic) and finished runner-up at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam the following month (l. to Klizan). Back-to-back quarter-finals at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Sony Open in Miami then preceded a run to the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters final (l. to Nadal).
Injury forced Monfils to miss Roland Garros, but the right-hander returned to top form over the summer, winning the biggest title of his career at the Citi Open in Washington (d. Karlovic) before reaching the semi-finals at the Rogers Cup in Toronto and the US Open, both times falling to Djokovic. Earlier this month, he reached the semi-finals at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 in Tokyo (l. to Kyrgios).
Two singles and two doubles spots remain up for grabs with less than two weeks remaining in the regular ATP World Tour season. Earlier today, Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram clinched their place at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the first time. The South African-American duo will join Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, and Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in the English capital.
The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals has welcomed more than 1.8 million fans to The O2 arena over the past seven years, establishing itself as the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world since moving to London in 2009. A record 102 million broadcast viewers also tuned in across the eight days of competition in 2015. The ATP announced last year that the event would remain at The O2 through to 2018. Tickets can be purchased at: www.BarclaysATPWorldTourFinals.com.

PARIS -- Frenchman Gael Monfils has pulled out of next week's Paris Masters because of a rib injury.

The eighth-ranked Monfils, a US Open semifinalist this year, has already qualified for the season-ending ATP finals in London next month. He is making his first appearance at the finals.

Tournament organizers said Friday that Spaniard Marcel Granollers has also pulled out of the Paris Masters, without giving a reason.

They will be replaced in the main draw by Ukrainian Illya Marchenko and Argentine Guido Pella.

Flashy Frenchman makes his Barclays ATP World Tour Finals debut
This year’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals features plenty of regular faces making their annual appearance at the O2, but one of the most popular veterans in tennis is also making his deserved debut at the season finale, which begins at The O2 in London on 13 November.
Gael Monfils qualified for the first time after producing a career-best season in 2016. Having started the year at No. 25 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, the 30-year-old Frenchman now sits at a career-high standing of No. 6.
Monfils largely attributes the remarkable run of form he’s had this year to his team.
“[Coach] Mikael [Tillstrom] helped me a lot, but my fitness coach gets a lot of credit as well. They’ve both done a great job,” said Monfils. “Mikael jumped on the team last year and we’ve changed a lot. I’ve changed my routine, the way I practise and recover. It’s been working well.”
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The Frenchman won the biggest title of his career at the Citi Open in Washington (d. Karlovic), in addition to reaching his first Masters 1000 final since 2010 at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (l. Nadal). Monfils also finished runner-up at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam (l. Klizan) and produced another big run at a Masters 1000 event with a semi-final showing at the Rogers Cup (l. Djokovic).
But Monfils is far from content with simply going deep in tournaments. Although he managed to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final in eight years at the US Open (l. Djokovic), he described the experience as bittersweet.
“I was happy, but very disappointed, to be honest,” admitted Monfils. “I had such high expectations for the last [Grand Slam]. But it definitely helped me to have more belief in myself and put in a lot of work to be even stronger.”
Watch: Monfils Beats Karlovic To Win Washington 2016
His view on one of the biggest results of his career is a testament to the improved temperament and more measured approach that Monfils has shown both on and off the court. Gone are the days when he would lose focus for long stretches of a match or not bring his best tennis to tournaments. Monfils has long had the talent to place himself among the world’s elite players, but now has the mentality to go with it.
“People forget that we grow up," said Monfils. "I turned 30 and we have a different view on life now. It’s just a general change in my mentality and living style. All of this helped me change my routine more easily with Mikael, because I was changing my way of living in other ways as well.”
Although Monfils was forced to pull out of last week’s BNP Paribas Masters with a rib injury, he has already been practising at The O2 and appears ready to make a big run in the last tournament of the season. He features in Group Ivan Lendl alongside Novak Djokovic, Milos Raonic and Dominic Thiem.
“The end of the season is always tough. Mentally, it’s been very demanding for myself,” said Monfils. “But I feel very confident because I’ve won a lot of matches. I feel my game is not very far from the top, so I’m in good spirits and with a lot of hope.”

Monfils is looking forward to his debut at The O2
Fun is Gael Monfils’ buzzword and the gregarious Frenchman is determined to enjoy his debut at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Monfils has always illustrated his scintillating talent and athleticism on the court but in 2016 he exhibited a steel behind his flamboyance.
The first-time qualifier at The O2 is following in the footsteps of his generation of countrymen to feature in the season finale. He will hope to draw inspiration from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s (2011, l. to Federer) and Gilles Simon’s (2008, l. to Novak Djokovic in Shanghai) run to the semi-finals.
“It means a lot to me, I am very happy. I can’t wait to get onto the court and play my game,” stated the World No. 6.
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Monfils is the first player since 1972 to take his bow at the ATP World Tour season finale at the age of 30 or above, the sixth in history, and that is credit to the evident evolution under coach and former pro Mikael Tillstrom.
Monfils claimed the Citi Open in Washington back in July whilst recording career-best results at the Australian Open (quarter-final) and then the US Open (semi-final) during a consistently impressive campaign.
“It means the work I have put on the court with my team has been good," explained Monfils. "The changes we have made are good, the sacrifices we made have been worth it, because sometimes when you make these decisions you don’t know if you’ll get the value. Playing here for the first time will definitely help me to continue in this way.”
Playing in the Group Ivan Lendl alongside Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem, Monfils limbered up for his opening clash with Milos Raonic (leading the head-to-head by 3-2) by practising with good friend, Stan Wawrinka, on Saturday.
Perhaps the Swiss maestro could pass on some wisdom to Monfils. Wawrinka lifted his third Grand Slam at the US Open having beaten Djokovic, an opponent that holds a 13-0 record over the Frenchman.
“I have to face Novak and it is another chance for me to try and beat him for the first time,” Monfils said. “We’ve played twice this year [at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada and the US Open] and I think I will definitely have to change my game plan. But it will be really fun.”
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