‘You are a big inspiration,’ Gael Monfils thanks Roger Federer for hosting him and Elina at Geneva


‘You are a big inspiration,’ Gael Monfils thanks Roger Federer for hosting him and Elina at Geneva

Roger Federer and Gael Monfils

Top players around the ATP and WTA tour are gearing up for the upcoming French Open and so was the case with 20-time grand slam Champion Roger Federer, Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina.

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Federer was competing at the Geneva Open but unfortunately lost his very first match to Pablo Andujar. Meanwhile in Lyon, Frenchman Gael Monfils too lost his Round of 16 match on Thursday to Yoshihito Nishioka. So Monfils, alongwith his Fiancee Elina, decided to visit Geneva to practice with the Swiss maestro himself.

Monfils and Federer practiced for a day on Sunday and played a short match too. After their session, Monfils took to social media to thank Federer and wished him luck.

Roger Federer ‘nails’ Monfils guring the ‘G.E.M.S Challenge’

Elina and Gael, have a thing where Gael stands still and Elina aims to hit the ball with her racket as close to Monfils’ body without hitting him. They call it the G.E.M.S. challenge and Federer too took a shot at it.

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“I know it’s a big challenge for you but just try to relax your arm, and you can do it,” she said.

The challenge was for Federer to aim close to Monfils but avoid making contact with the Frenchman. He slapped balls to Monfils’ right, his left, but then he smashed the ball right towards Monfils’ body and what followed was a man, in a lot of pain.

The Swiss champ nailed the Monfils right in the ‘crown jewels’ and couldn’t help but laugh over the Frenchman’s pain. Federer then apologised, but we’re not sure how sincere he was given he was still cracking with laughter when he said sorry.

“Don’t try this at home,” Svitolina giggled afterwards. Nevertheless, all this was in the name fun. On tour, all the three players will travel to Paris for the French Open.

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Also read: ‘Djokovic will be very, very motivated in Paris,’ Wolfgang Thiem warns Nadal ahead of the French Open