On June 1, the sixth matchday of the French Open, the Philip Stadium at the French Open home stadium.
The first game at the Philip Stadium was the women's singles, Yankovich, against Great Williams, followed by Federer against Stares. Zhang Guan and Monfils were scheduled for the third game.
Federer won easily 3-0, but he did not leave immediately but continued to stay on the court, waiting to watch the game between Zhang Guan and Monfils.
Monfils is a Frenchman. As soon as he appeared at the Philip Stadium at home, he was immediately warmly welcomed by the audience. The audience knew that Monfils was a player who likes to perform very much, so his fans are extremely big. Most of them hope to see Monfils make several wonderful "performance moves" during the game.
Zhang Guan, although holding the title of a tennis Grand Slam champion, is still not as popular as Monfils.
The two sides immediately entered the first set of the game. Monfils was very passionate at the beginning. He ran very quickly and his feet were flexible. He used both the forehand and the backhand to show come beautiful shots, showing very delicate technique and strong physical talent.
In the first two games, the two sides tested each other, and then Zhang Guan began to strengthen the running and began to use a running attack. Facing Zhang Guan's rapid empty-handed conversion, Monfils was caught off guard, and his rhythm was disrupted.
"It's this trick again! Zhang Guan began to take away the rhythm again, and Monfils would find it very difficult to win" Federer in the stands sighed softly.
On the pitch, Zhang Guan's movements became more frequent, and several consecutive turns from defense to an offense led to frequent mistakes in the return of Monfils, and then took the lead in breaking.
Monfils doesn't seem to be surprised by this result. Although he became famous as a young man, his career after adulthood was not smooth. At that time, Djokovic was ranked sixth in the world, and Murray was ranked tenth in the world, but Monfils has been hovering around the fifties in the world ranking, so he did not have the attitude of being the first in the world when he was a teenager, his current mentality is very low.
Although today is the home game, the opponent is the fifteenth-ranked champion in the world. Monfils has no intention of winning. For Monfils, entering the third round of the French Open is already a qualified result.
However, after all, Monfils is at home, and in the face of the tens of thousands of French audiences on the scene, he certainly cannot easily surrender.
"Zhang Guan's strength is really strong. His movement is faster than mine. The accuracy of his forehand is no less than that of Federer, and the rotation strength is similar to that of Nadal. He also uses this set of tactics to constantly improve the rhythm of catching the ball. In this way, I can hardly find a sense of rhythm." Monfils thought while looking around.
"The French Open is my home stadium. Even if I can't beat Zhang Guan, at least I have to play a wonderful game and dedicate it to my home fans!" Monfils thought of this and started his "performance career".
...
"Wow... Ao Ao Ao Ao!" After the exclamation, it was the excited cry of the audience.
On the field, Zhang Guan put a small ball. After the ball hit the ground, it didn't play too high, but it just bounced and it was about to land.
He saw Monfils running a few steps, then fall directly to the ground, while extending his arms, the racket returned the ball to the net, and also played a diagonal.
This extremely exaggerated method of catching the ball fits the audience's appetite, and there was endless applause from the scene.
Monfils stood up, also showing a happy smile. Although he was behind in the score at this time, the applause from the audience gave him unparalleled satisfaction. He enjoys this feeling, this feeling of being praised, at this moment, he feels like an actor on the court, surrounded by stars in the center.
Monfils was boiling with blood.
A few minutes later, Zhang Guan forehanded back to the right, and at this point, Monfils had started running, and he found himself running in the wrong direction.
It was too late for Monfils to run back. He saw him turn like a ballerina, turned 180 degrees, and then leaned forward to swing the ball, just hitting the tennis ball, but his body fell to the ground because of inertia.
There were another exclamation and applause.
After a few more minutes, Monfils ran to a sudden stop, and the horse straight on the ground layer on the ground with the racket against the ground, saving the ball...
In a few minutes, Monfils didn't choose a good route to run. He saw that he was about to collide with the ball, but he jumped sharply. Made a hurdling action crossed the tennis ball in flight, and then stretched the racket towards the crotch, an aerial walking crotch hit the ball and returned the tennis ball to Zhang Guan's half...
The audience at the scene suddenly boiled.
"Pretty, so pretty! Crotch hits in the air!"
"It's so imaginative to play tennis like this!"
"Gael (Monfils), I love you!"
"Gael, come on! We support you!"
A few beautiful saves, with success and failure, but all are very ornamental, but the audience on the spot liked to watch this. At this time, everyone almost started to support Monfils.
Federer looked around, his ears full of cries of support for Monfils.
"This kind of performance style of Monfils attracts the audience, and the state of Monfils is getting better and better because of the cheering of the audience. Zhang Guan may face more and more pressure." Federer smiled, and he looked at Zhang Guan in the field, obviously wanting to see how Zhang Guan would respond.
In the first set, Zhang Guan won 6-4, but Zhang Guan did not feel the joy of winning. The atmosphere at the scene made him feel a dull sense of depression.
Monfils is in a gleeful look. He is immersed and enjoying the cheers of the audience. He likes this feeling of being the focus of everyone.
"Sure enough, as coach Zhang said, although I was in a leading position in the score, on the scene, I was caught in a passive position." Although Zhang Guan does not understand French, he can feel what the audience at the scene is saying. They all hope that Monfils will advance. Although the home battle is one of the reasons, more importantly, this performance style of Monfils is very ornamental.
Zhang Guan didn't like this feeling very much. He recalled the few exaggerated saves with performance elements in Monfils just now, and suddenly felt that if he did it himself, the effect might be better.
"Isn't it better than acting! I will too!" Zhang Guan stared at Monfils in the distance, and secretly said, "I used to rely on strength to eat, but it is also very good to work on the acting occasionally. Today we will come to fight, to see who is the leading actor on the court!"