THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 5, 2024

Gael Monfils

Press Conference

G. DIMITROV/G. Monfils

6-3, 6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: How are you feeling right now?

GAEL MONFILS: I feel good. You know, is always a nice experience to play on Court No. 1 in Wimbledon, so I just feel good.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Firstly, sum up your week as a whole. How do you think your week has gone?

GAEL MONFILS: It was for me great to be back at Wimbledon after three years. I have two great matches, and today a good experience again.

So, you know, it was a week with joy, and still, you know, some stuff to keep working on. So it's a week under the belt. Hopefully I can keep the good side of this week for the coming up.

Q. On today's game in particular, it looked like Grigor was serving very well. Why was it so challenging to get those return points today?

GAEL MONFILS: Yeah, he was serving really good, playing very smart. Good grass player. Outplay me everywhere. So it was a tough match for me to handle, and credit to him.

Q. How do you think he will get on, Grigor, for the rest of the tournament? Do you think he has a good chance this year?

GAEL MONFILS: I feel I don't know against who he is playing, his next opponent. But those guys, they all play good. It's tough for me to tell you.

Q. In the first set you went down in the back of the court. I wondered how you are feeling and what actually happened, when you went down in the back of the court in the third set.

GAEL MONFILS: Slipped. I slipped. It was unfortunate. I tried to not hurt the lines umpire. The only thing it was tough is I had to put my wrist just, of course, to stop a little bit. Then is the only thing, I think I hurt a little bit my wrist, but the rest I was a bit worried about my knee, but the knee was fine. More wrist was the little issue.

Q. Just overall, you've had a decent grass run. You've had a good run in Mallorca last week and third round here. How would you evaluate your grass court season this year?

GAEL MONFILS: It's tough for me. It's like, again, it's matches under the belt. I don't really, let's say, think about grass or whoever has more matches under the belt, weeks after weeks that I could play.

I was able to play good tennis on some matches, serving good, moving better on grass. It was encouraging.

Q. Lastly, you were junior Wimbledon champion in 2004. I just want to know how special Wimbledon is as a place, if it has a close place in your heart.

GAEL MONFILS: I think it's very beautiful here. Honestly, it's always I say that I wish I could play much better here because I really like the place. I like the vibes.

Unfortunately, I've been not playing my best tennis here yet maybe. It's really hard because I really like Wimbledon, honestly. I really like Wimbledon. It's beautiful, like a really, really beautiful tournament.

You know, I'm sad that I couldn't make at least the quarters.