Gael Monfils insists that the life of an ATP Tour professional isn’t as glamorous as it might seem.
Monfils revealed that there is a lot of hard work that goes into big wins and even just staying on the Tour at all.
The Frenchman had to receive treatment during his Cincinnati Masters victory over Cameron Norrie.
He said that battles with fitness are a big part of the life of a veteran of the ATP Tour.
“It’s quite tough to talk about it in a way because it’s tough to be in the shoes of an athlete,” Monfils said.
“People, they see always the good stuff, always smiling, always the show, always the charisma, the wins, the followers, the nice pictures and all this. They are never there when it’s raining, your coach is there screaming at you, that you need to work, all this.
“They think we are robots. Like, Wow, we wake up and we are super happy to go run for an hour and do the fitness.
“Some days is tougher, as for everybody. That’s part where we are better as athletes because we have this discipline.”
Monfils believes that people have the impression that a return from injury is something thay players will find quite simple.
“People sometimes think it’s easy to come back. They see me move easy. They see me quite chill and laughing and doing that,” he said.
“As I say, no one knows all the pain that I need to impose on my body to get back into shape. All the mental discipline. More it’s tough to get back.”
Monfils missed several months with a heel injury and now appears to be carrying a knee problem.
“The physio, when he stepped on the court, was a big help, to be honest. He told me the ligament was well, okay, seemed stable. He was more making me calm in that way, [that it] was maybe not too bad.
“Then obviously you need to block this out of the mind and stay focused. I felt good these weeks… I believed that I could win even with this pain, and I made it.”
Monfils, a quarter-finalist in Toronto last week, managed to oust an out-of-sorts Norrie, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in Ohio.
While both Monfils and his wife Svitolina have returned to action, they are also adjusting to life as new parents.
Monfils is scheduled to meet Toronto Masters finalist Alex De Minaur in the Round of 32 in Cincinnati.
READ MORE: Don’t dare compare Carlos Alcaraz to Jannik Sinner
