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QATAR EXXONMOBILE OPENDecember 31, 2012Gael MonfilsDOHA, QATAR THE MODERATOR: It is good to have Gaël back in Doha, finalist from last year. We will start with questions in English, please. Q. It's good to see you again. Are you fit? How is the knee? How are you feeling? GAËL MONFILS: Thank you. I'm good. I am fit. My knee is fine. All good. Q. Did it take a long time to get fitness back from the knee problem? GAËL MONFILS: Yeah. I mean, quite a long struggle last year, like a lot. And then it took me, yeah, couple of more months after I try to come back, and now it's good. Q. You have done pretty well here in the past, haven't you? You've got to two finals and played a great final last year. You like it? GAËL MONFILS: Yeah, yeah. You know, I feel very comfortable here. I like the atmosphere here. I like the people here. I like the tournament. It's always a good place for me to come back. And, you know, it's been helpful, I would say, after such a long time without playing in competition to come back to a place where I like and I used to play good. So I'm happy to be back. Q. Your appearance is different since I last saw you. Do you mind me asking what brought that about? GAËL MONFILS: Oh, well, it's going to come off in a few days. It's just something I made with my family when I was home. Q. You have had a knee injury. There is another important player who is having the knee injury, too. It's Rafa. I would like to ask you, how can you confront when you return to competition after so long break? GAËL MONFILS: I have to confront? Q. How can you go for the return after so long break? GAËL MONFILS: You know, first, for myself it's just to enjoy on the court. When you're injured, you're not a tennis player anymore. You're just someone try to get healthy quick. When you choose to be back on the court, it's because you 100%. If not, there is no point to come back. You know, for me if I'm here it's because I feel 100% and I'm ready to give my best and ready, you know, to challenge myself to try to be back at my top level. Q. Can I ask you for your opinion about this long absence of Rafa on tour, what he means for the tour and for all of you? GAËL MONFILS: I mean, it's tough for me to talk because I was not on the tour, but it's always‑‑ you know, it's always bad for a tennis player to be out for a long while like this and a long time. I think Rafa is strong mentally, and I wish him like a quick recovery because for sure tennis miss him. You know, it's always better to have top player on the tour. Hopefully he's gonna come back healthy and quick. Q. Coming back here as the last year's finalist, what do you think are your chances this year after looking at the draw, which include players like Ferrer and Gasquet? GAËL MONFILS: I haven't seen the draw, to be honest. So I don't know. I just know my first opponent, and that's it. Then I'm not looking further. Q. How far ahead do you look? Obviously if you reach your best, you're capable of anything, really. But do you look sort of one month at a time or do you have targets? How do you view the year? GAËL MONFILS: Well, honestly like the start of the season would be very hard for me because I need to get in matches for confidence, and I feel I'm back, like definitely back week after week. So it will be easier to say after a couple of weeks, but I know I can be a very good tennis player. I have been in the top 10, so for sure I want to come back there. Honestly I want to play for 7. Then I would say that would be my potential, like I will see what is my potential. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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