Monfils Still Can't Pull It Through

Although he is making steady progress in his attempt to regain his place inside the top 10, Gael Monfils seems unable to put together a winning run. This past week the Frenchman played a solid tournament in Winston-Salem, but when faced with the prospect of winning the title, he once again cracked. It's true that this time he can blame a medical condition, but still, like so many other instances in his career, this is yet another missed opportunity.  

Monfils' run to the final was utterly impressive, the talented Frenchman beating rejuvenated Spaniards Tommy Robredo and Fernando Verdasco, as well as Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov. However, the championship match against Austrian Jürgen Melzer ended in disappointing, Gael deciding to call it quits while trailing 3-6,1-2. "I started to feel it yesterday," the former world No.7 explained. "I had a sharp pain. After about 50 minutes [today], I tried to serve at full speed, and that was it. I felt like something snapped a little bit and it was really painful. It was tough to continue. I will try to get an X-ray tonight and see what's going on."

Monfils, a three time Grand Slam junior champion, has long been considered a strong candidate to one day rule the ATP tour. However, injuries and a lack of mental strength have prevented him to leave up to the expectations. Gael is a show-man and he proved that time and time again. Nevertheless, when it comes to winning the big points, or the important matches, he often falls short. His record in finals is strong evidence to attest this. Out of the 19 finals he played so far, he only won 4, the last coming in Stockholm in 2011. Only this season he has lost already two finals, both accessible, one in Nice, against Albert Montanes, and the one on Saturday, against Melzer.

Gael's case resembles pretty much that of German Andrea Petkovic. Like the Frenchman, Petkovic has been struggling with injuries for most of last year, but in the last couple of months she is starting to get her career back on track with some solid performances. However, just like Monfils, she is missing a happy ending, having also lost two finals already, against Simona Halep in Nürnberg, respectively against Magdalena Rybarikova in Washington DC.

With US Open starting in a few hours, it remains to be seen how well the Frenchman will recover after the unfortunately injury. He really needs to start winning these kinds of matches in order to build confidence when tackling the top guns. For this, he needs to be 100% fit though, so steady recovery Monfils. Hope to see some more winner's stamina from you soon.

Monfils played a pretty solid tournament in Winston-Salem, but his week ended in disappointing as he retired hurt while trailing 3-6,1-2 against Austrian Jürgen Melzer in the final.

While Monfils loses his fifteen ATP final, Austrian Melzer bags his fifth career title.

photos (top-down): GETTY IMAGES (x2), AP, GETTY IMAGES