Baseline Player of the Week: Gael Monfils
The Frenchman won his first title of the year at Qatar.
Every week Baseline will select a “Player of the Week.” That athlete may not always win the highest category tournament that week, but perform the best compared to their recent playing history.
Gael Monfils is always a dark horse in whatever tournament he enters, and he proved it in Doha. At the ATP 250, the world No. 39 defeated rising youngster Andrey Rublev in the final to claim his first title of the year.
The unseeded Frenchman was in fine form, improving as the week wore on and whipping out hot forehands to get past Rublev, 6-2, 6-3.
It marks the 31-year-old's seventh career title. Since the start of his professional career in 2004, Monfils has only won a maximum of one ATP title in a season.
With the rest of 2018 now wide open for him, this may be the year he finally wins multiple titles.
JANUARY: THIS MONTH ON TENNIS CHANNEL PLUS
NEW SEASON, MORE TENNIS! Get Tennis Channel Plus now at BuyTCPlus.com
A LOT of tennis action will be played on Tennis Channel Plus from January through June
Starting with January … gear up for the Australian Open with LIVE tournaments in the lead up to AO, exclusively on Tennis Channel Plus
ATP Sydney
Fast 4 Sydney
World Tennis Channel – Adelaide
Australian Open Qualifying
Australian Open (Best 20 Matches of AO will be on-demand)