"La Monf" Gael Monfils put on a show at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) in Frankfurt, demonstrating just how much he loves entertaining the crowd.

The former World No. 6 went up against the World No. 8 "Rublo" Andrey Rublev at the Süwag Energie Arena on Saturday, September 16. The Frenchman had been having a difficult time at the tournament against "El Peque" Diego Schwartzman and "The Rocket" Christopher Eubanks.

However, despite losing his third match in a row to the Russian player, Monfils showed a much better performance against "Rublo".

Read also

"I didn't play every round either": Djokovic jumps to defense of Carlos Alcaraz despite being gutted at Davis Cup absence

Monfils puts on a show for crowd

The 37-year-old kept the German crowd entertained with dancing, incredible shots while interacting with the crowd and his opponent throughout the match.

The UTS differs drastically from tournaments on the ATP Tour, with an entirely different points system and a focus on entertainment and allowing players' personalities to shine. Speaking after the match, Monfils explained how much he loved the format.

"It’s the format we like, difficult matches with a high level of tennis. I think he played very well. I’m playing well. I try to do my best, but he [Rublev] hit incredibly.

Read also

"A raging racist and misogynist": Navratilova slams Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner

"This touch of fun to make a show, in a way, people can enjoy, say 20 seconds of dancing in the show. But then they have more than 3/4 minutes of intense tennis. And today it was the perfect mix. There were lots of winning shots and we laughed. In the end, I was happy because it was great tennis," he said.

Monfils also recalled his earlier matches, saying he didn't 'have the same energy' as he did in his encounter with Rublev.

"It was difficult yesterday. I had a very bad day yesterday. You know, it happens, you know, I come back and I didn’t have much time to train, to, to adapt. I was a bit sad that the first two matches were back-to-back because I was flat. I don’t think I had the same energy as today," he continued.

UTS Tour

@uts_tour_

·Follow

Did you see this? 🤯 UTS shot the year by @Gael_Monfils 🏆 #UTSFrankfurtbyBuilderAI

Watch on Twitter

495

Reply

Copy link

Read 8 replies