Embracing the change
Thursday 22 January 2009
By Alix Ramsay
Without wishing to worry Roger Rasheed unduly, he might want to start taking
an interest in the "positions vacant" page in the paper.
At the moment he is gainfully employed as the mentor to the tall, talented
but less than predictable Gael Monfils, but nothing is ever guaranteed with
the Frenchman. To use a very British expression, Monfils has "previous" when
it comes to coaches, and tends to change them as others would change their
socks. Some last no more than a few days, others consider they have done well
to last a few weeks, but none seem to last longer than six months. And
Rasheed has now been in harness for half a year.
In the past two years, Monfils has worked his way through a raft of teachers,
gurus and trainers. After a brief spell alone after splitting up with Thierry
Champion, Monfils hired Pier Gauthier, once the guide to Sebastien Grosjean.
That lasted a good three weeks before Monfils fired him on the eve of
Australian Open 2007.
From there, our hero had a look around the Nick Bollettieri Academy in
Bradenton, Florida, and on his return hired Olivier Delaitre. That
relationship was never destined to last, and by the time of the French Open a
few months later, Monfils was working with Tarik Benhabiles, the former coach
of Andy Roddick. That only lasted until the end of the summer, and in the
autumn of 2007, he got back together with Champion.
Come June of last year – and after passing the magic six-month mark –
Monfils and Champion went their separate ways and by July, Rasheed had been
hired. The two have been in tandem ever since.
In that time, the Australian-French combo has achieved much. Monfils's talent
has always been obvious, but channeling those various natural gifts into a
consistent, winning whole has been the bane of many a coach's life. Rasheed,
though, seems to have found the answer, and having worked his charge hard
over the Christmas break, he sat back and watched with pride as Monfils moved
into the third round with a 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-2 win over Stefan Koubek. He now
plays Nicolas Almagro and moved towards a possible quarterfinal with Rafael
Nadal.
The most obvious change in Monfils is his muscles. He has always been a good
athlete, but Monfils has never been what you might call ripped. In fact, he
used to have arms like pipe cleaners, and his sleeveless shirt used to hang
from his shoulders and flap in the breeze without a six-pack in sight. But
that was before Rasheed got hold of him, and after six weeks of training
behind closed gym doors – Monfils is keeping his regime a secret – he has
emerged with bulging biceps and rippling triceps.
This extra bulk is not all good news, though. As Monfils tried to find his
way past the small but speedy Austrian, he was hitting the ball well enough -
but every time Koubek looked across the net between points, he saw his rival
puffing and sweating and looking the worse for wear. This set Koubek to
thinking: either Monfils's fitness trainer is not very good at his job, or
the Frenchman is a very good actor. Given that Rasheed is known for his
knowledge of fitness programmes and produces players who can run until dawn,
the chances were that Monfils was merely appearing to be exhausted.
As it turned out, Monfils was not acting, nor was he tired. He managed to put
on 2.5kg of muscle over the off-season, and he is still trying to work out
what to do with it. When he gets to the ball, he can hit it with more power,
but it is just the running to get there that is causing the problems. With
the extra weight, Monfils believes he has lost a little speed, but his
physical conditioning is still a work in progress. He may opt to lose a pound
or two to get the spring back in his step, or he may just wait and see
whether he grows into his new and muscular shape. Either way, Rasheed will be
helping him do it.
The six-month marker may have been passed, but the Rasheed and Monfils
partnership has plenty of life left in it yet.
--
FRA_hotties∥法國網球板
國家體育場 汗水, 鬥志, 膽識
PttTennis 網球 Σ網球/國家/區域/球星
FRA_hotties 國家 ◎ ～～～法國網球，網球法國～～～
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 134.225.29.143