Watch: Hot-shot extraordinaire Gael Monfils on strategy and shotmaking

Gael Monfils, the ATP's resident entertainer, insists that the dazzling hot shots he's hit throughout his career remain secondary to his competitive desire to

Courtney Nguyen | Aug 13, 2014

Watch: Hot-shot extraordinaire Gael Monfils on strategy and shotmaking /

Gael Monfils, the ATP's resident entertainer, insists that the dazzling hot shots he's hit throughout his career remain secondary to his competitive desire to win matches.

"It's a good mix, but in my mind first comes that I want to win the point," he tells the ATP World Tour. "And then if the show is on, it's on."

Watch: Gael Monfils hits a leaping, between-the-legs shot in Toronto

In this great video, the ATP sits down with Monfils and has him talk through his ridiculous highlight reel of hot shots from his second-round match against Novak Djokovic last week at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. One point in particular stumped him.

"This one...I have no idea what happened in my mind," he said, after watching a point that ended with him running around the court without his racket. "But it looks good actually."

The video ends with one of the more ominous sentences ever uttered in tennis: "On match point at Roland Garros I prefer to win with a tweener." Oh dear.

Watch the video below:

Published Aug 13, 2014

COURTNEY NGUYEN

Contributor, SI.com Nguyen is a freelance writer for SI.com, providing full coverage of professional tennis both on and off the court. Her content has become a must-read for fans and insiders to stay up-to-date with a sport that rarely rests. She has appeared on radio and TV talk shows all over the world and is one of the co-hosts of No Challenges Remaining, a weekly podcast available on iTunes. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and received a law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002. She lives in the Bay Area.