Day 5 - Under the lights: Gael the entertainer

Gael Monfils and Lorenzo Musetti – two crowd favourites – do battle for a place in the third round. What’s not to love?

 - Alix Ramsay

Gael Monfils is known for many things but understatement is not one of them. Yet when asked about playing his first night match on Monday, a rip-roaring four-set win over Thiago Seyboth Wild, he merely said: “I like not to disappoint”.

Ah, Gael; you would not know how to disappoint even if you were playing tiddlywinks. One of the best athletes on court and one of the most charismatic players on the tour, he can turn a swift straight sets win into one of the best watches of the week.

And on Monday, as he stepped out on the Court Philippe-Chatrier, he gave the packed house just what it wanted.

Now he is back to face Lorenzo Musetti, the world No.30 (Monfils is the No.37) and this promises to be another cracker. There is something special about Monfils and his relationship with the French crowd: they love him and they give his 37-year-old, injury-ravaged body a new lease of life. 

“They help you amazingly,” Monfils said. “You get all of the positive energy and adrenaline. When you have more adrenaline you feel like a conqueror, and you're more focused on your shots and you have an energy boost.”

That may help him more than usual against Musetti. The Frenchman picked up a bug before the start of the main draw and when Amelie Mauresmo, the tournament director, asked him to play on Monday rather than his scheduled Tuesday start, his doctors doubled his antibiotics dosage to get him ready. After the match, he felt well enough but just a bit more tired than usual. Now he has to do it all again tonight.

Monfils has beaten Musetti before. That was back in 2021, the year the Italian made his mark on tour by taking Novak Djokovic to a fifth set here in the fourth round. He eventually ran out of steam and had to retire but he had shown his potential and later that season, Monfils did for him in Vienna.  

Much has changed in the intervening three years. For a start, Musetti is now a father and the experience has changed him. He raced home between the Indian Wells and Miami events in March to be there when his girlfriend, Veronica, gave birth to Ludovico. He then flew back to Florida to reach the fourth round – an impressive result on no sleep and no preparation. His path to Paris was rocky but reaching two Challenger finals helped his confidence. Fatherhood has calmed him down, too: “A smile from my son is a good help to decompress,” he said.

Whatever the result tonight, the match is guaranteed to be entertaining. As Monfils said: “You can win or lose, but you have to give a good performance.” And both men know how to do that.