Dubai: Gael Monfils is hoping a good showing in Dubai will set him up for another good season where he aims to shine brightest at his home Grand Slam, the French Open, in June.
The World No. 12 reached three finals in 18 events last year, winning one in Washington. He also reached the quarters at last year’s Australian Open and made the semis at the US Open.
They were career best finishes in those majors, but he now aims to use that as inspiration to go beyond his record best semi-final finish at the French Open, which he achieved in 2008.
“It’s a dream to play well there and win, that’s definitely a big goal of mine to perform great there,” he said of Roland Garros. “Last year I missed it, so this year I definitely have expectations on myself.
“Home support definitely helps, but also [I raise my game there] because it’s the highest goal I have in tennis.”
Of Dubai, where he has only made one appearance getting knocked out in the first round to Tomas Berdych in 2008, he added: “If I play good here, it’s a strong field, with good names and you will build a lot of confidence. That will help through the season, my goal is pretty much the same as last year to play consistent and try to catch a big title at the end.”
Monfils, who has reached the last 16 in Melbourne and made the quarters in Marseille so far this season, has Egyptian wild card Mohammad Safwat in the first round, but he’s not taking anything for granted.
“I know him a little bit and have seen him play a couple of times, I saw him play in Doha. I’m not too confident because you never know, every match is tough, I’m just confident that I’m [coming in] 100 per cent.”
Asked what enabled him to raise his game last season, he added: “We never know why but I guess I was confident with my early season, I worked hard, and changed some things, maybe it was this that benefited me but I don’t know.
“We’ve kept doing what we are doing, and have added new stuff to improve, and at the end we hope, it’s going to be as good as it was last year.”
