Round 3: No. 17 Gael Monfils (FRA) vs. No. 13 Jannik Sinner (ITA)
Louis Armstrong Stadium — Day Session — Third Match
- It seems like only yesterday that Gael Monfils was chasing a calendar-year Grand Slam of his own at the US Open, albeit on the junior circuit. Monfils was the boys’ titlist at the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon in 2004, falling just short of a clean sweep here in Flushing Meadows. Some 17 years and more than 500 professional wins later, the freakishly athletic Frenchman is still going strong, and with new bride Elina Svitolina—the other half of g.e.m.s.life—remains one of the most popular draws in the sport. Into the third round for the eighth time in New York, he finds himself matched up against fast-rising Italian Jannik Sinner of Italy, who holds the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals title. Their career head-to-head stands at 1-1, having split matches in 2019 in Antwerp and Vienna.
- Sinner arrived in New York only weeks removed from his second title of the year in Washington, where he became the youngest ATP 500 champion and first teenager to win an ATP 500 trophy since the category was created in 2009. Now 20, he knows well what it takes to push through to the second week at the majors. Last year, he became the first Roland Garros debutant to reach the quarterfinals since Rafael Nadal in 2005. “When you play against the best, you have to go out of court and really play your best tennis,” he said. “I think there is still much work to do, to be honest. A lot of experience to put in, working hard as we are doing now, trying to play important matches and important moments of a match.”
- He may have been raised on European clay, but some of Monfils’ best tennis has come on the hard courts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where the recently-turned 35-year-old has reached three quarterfinals and one semifinal. He didn’t drop a set in reaching the final four in 2016, but was subsequently defeated in four sets by Novak Djokovic.
- As Sinner continues his rankings climb, the competition is taking notice: “He has a great future coming up,” said Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, who was knocked out of the Miami Open semifinals by Sinner in March. “He has everything, no? He has a big serve, he’s tall, he’s big, he moves well, he has very good groundstrokes. Mentally he’s also great and improving. He has a great future coming up.”
Watch: Gael Monfils vs. Steve Johnson, Round 2 Highlights
