Black Tennis Pros

Given that he was highly doubtful about his ability to play in the 2009 Roland Garros because of a knee injury, Frenchman Gaël Monfils has begun the tournament very impressively.

“I’m not thinking too much about my injury,” said Monfils. I decided to play. I’m going to stop talking about being hurt or not hurt. I’m in the tournament, and for once, I started at a high level. Now it’s a question of how I can build on it.”

Monfils’s impressed the crowd in the Suzanne-Lenglen court with his 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Bobby Reynolds.

“I feel strong, and I was hitting strong,” said Monfils. “After a few more matches and with a bit more confidence, I’ll be hitting even harder. And I tell myself, why not take things further?”

“I didn’t have to dig too far into my reserves today,” Monfils said. “But I could see in the rallies we had that I was there and I hadn’t lost too much of my game.”

In the next round, he faces the Romanian Victor Crivoi.