A Little La Monf

You know who is looking a little bit good at the moment, formwise? Gael Monfils. And there's something you don't hear said a lot.

I don't think anyone would argue with the fact that Monfils is one of the most talented guys on tour. He's also probably one of the best athletes in the world (I read somewhere that France puts all its athletes through some kind of crazy tests, and Monfils broke records in all of them.) When he's on, he's on. But he's the sketchiest damn player you ever met. He is worse than David Nalbandian (at least you know he's going to turn up for Davis Cup) and maybe on a par with Marat Safin. You never which Gael will show.

He hasn't really done anything much particularly remarkable this year. Not that I've noticed anyway... until this week. First, he plays like a gun in Davis Cup to help secure a huge win for France over Spain. And now he's tearing it up in Stuttgart.

Well, I say 'tearing it up'. He lost a set to Pablo Andujar. Maybe this is a little optimistic. But there is cause for optimism whenever Monfils strings a few matches together. It will be interesting to see whether he can close out this tournament. If he does, then... maybe we will be in for a rocket of a summer.

Or maybe not. It is Monfils, after all.