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~~Articles & Interviews about/of Gaël~~

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#1 ·
#255 ·
It wasn't that long, after all, here's the first part about Dominika. A lot of personal stuff we didn't really need to know, but never mind:

The right mix
Gaël Monfils has found the right balance. A subtle emotional combination with his girlfriend Dominika, his friends, his family, his staff. They all in their own way help him to win. We met them between Roland-Garros and Wimbledon. Welcome into "La Monf' family".

Not the right place for a honeymoon. A charmless hotel in a boring suburb of Barcelona, the air conditioning is broken, the room tiny. The tournament ends in a fiasco: abs injury and retirement in the first round for the young lady. And it’s raining like in Wimbledon. Gaël Monfils and Dominika Cibulkova are not lucky for their little trip after the French Open. And now the French media are coming, Paris Match on Sunday, l’Equipe Magazine on Monday. “I don’t get all the buzz around our story”, the French Open semi-finalist says. “Dominika is my girlfriend, she’s great, that’s it.” Gaël’s mother Sylvette also calms things downs: “Gaël introduced Dominika as a friend, the journalists are the ones who made a big deal out of it”, she says. “As I told him, you’re young and having fun. I don’t think anybody is thinking of getting married.”
He’s 21 years old, she 19. The relationship between the 32nd of the ATP rankings and the 31st of the WTA rankings looks more like a teenager’s romance. In their room of the Husa Via Barcelona, iTunes is running non stop. In the playlist: Usher, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Kanye West and ‘Viens voir le docteur’ of Doc Gynéco. Gaël knows the lyrics by heart, Dominika doesn’t understand a word. The ‘Monfshow’ begins. “Give me some lyrics”, he says to his girlfriend and exhibits a pair of ‘Nike dunks’ with multicoloured crystals on the comma he let customize in a shop of the Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, the CLVII. He’s very proud of them: “They’re fresh, don’t you think so?”
The nice story between the big burly black guy and the tiny little blonde thing began in a night club. The French DJ Bob Sinclar was playing a set at the Mansion of Miami Beach on the 30th of March. “Dominika had just lost a very close match against Dementieva, so I allowed her to go out and have a little fun”, her coach Vladimir Platenik says. “We know each other since our Juniors time with Gaël and they let us in because he’s a friend of Bob Sinclar”, she says with her beautiful blue-green eyes and her gorgeous smile. Once in the club, they talk, Gaël dances, Dominika doesn’t dare to follow him. “He was moving so well, I was afraid to embarrass myself next to him”, she confesses. She barely reaches his shoulders with her 161 cm.
But the 2004 Junior world champion isn’t in Florida only to wiggle his hips on the dancefloors of Miami. After a difficult time with two changes of coach and different kind of injuries, Monfils finally wins a match again. The first one since September 2007. The opening of the operation ‘Revival’ which will go on with a victory in a Challenger in Marrakech and a semi-final at the Porte d’Auteuil. Is Dominika maybe the key of La Monf’s comeback? “There isn’t really a connection between my private life and my career”, he says, sitting in a comfortable leather armchair in the player’s lounge in Barcelona. “I was dating somebody else before, you cannot talk of a Dominika effect. It would be too easy.” Very well then.
The story is indeed hardly two months old. And Gaël already had brief romances with fellow players of the WTA Tour (Alizé Cornet among others two years ago) without any obvious effect on his results. Thierry Champion, coach and confidant of the young Parisian, has a different opinion on this, though: “At one point, he needed to talk to somebody of his age, to settle down. Dominika is a great girl, she’s sharp, very dynamic, she’s at ease with herself. She’s good for him. Gaël is an emotional person, he can’t stay alone.”

Champion is so sure the small Slovakian girl is good for Gaël that he recommended himself the trip to Barcelona after Roland-Garros. Monfils already went to Bratislava in April to cheer for Dominika in a thrilling Fed Cup encounter between Slovakia and Uzbekistan. The occasion for him to meet the parents of his girlfriend, Milan Cibulka and Katarina Cibulkova, lawyer and member of the Slovakian Parlament for the SDKU-DS (right party). “They’re nice. They have authority over their only child, but they were cool with me”, Monfils says while Dominika is answering an insistent phone call of her mother.
As for him, Champion lets him do what he wants and only sets some limits. Gaël wanted to stay one week in Spain after Roland-Garros, his coach asked him to come back in France on Wednesday already to start the preparation for Wimbledon. “He needed to get back to his tennis, but I didn’t have to argue a lot”, Champion adds. To negotiate, to discuss: that’s the routine when you coach Gaël Monfils. “He now is more mature and more rebellious at the same time” according to Rémi Barbarin, his co-coach and physical trainer. “We have to listen more to him. Maybe we didn’t listen to him enough in the past. That way we show him that we want him to make his own choices. Even though his choices sometimes are the wrong ones.”
It might have been the wrong decision to play the mixed doubles with his girlfriend during Roland-Garros. “Dominika wasn’t the problem, but to play a mixed doubles match after having played 5 sets in singles isn’t exactly the best thing to do”, Thierry Champion means. But he never considered imposing himself upon Gaël’s choice. “Gaël needs to be happy to play”, he says. “If I had forbidden him to play in mixed doubles although he really was eager to play, I don’t think it would have been helpful for him.” The pursuit of happiness is an obligation for Monfils. “And that doesn’t apply only to Dominika”, Champion says. “Also his friends, his family, his staff. He needs to feel that everybody around him is happy. If there is some problem, he’ll be sad on the court and nothing will work anymore.”
Right now, everything is looking great. Luck seems to smile on Monfils. He spends his evenings at the casino of Barcelona with Dominika and Vladimir Platenik. ‘Sliderman’ has nothing of a scatterbrained gambler at the blackjack table: efficient strategy, perfect knowledge of the game, total composure. He makes 3500 euros in 2 days. Everything is obviously going his way.
 
#257 ·
Here are the parts about the staff and the family (it's not the original order):

The staff
Thierry Champion (41 years old, his coach from 2004 to 2006 and since the end of 2007 again): I have great respect for Thierry, I thank him everytime I can.
The first training with him was very hard. We were playing indoors and he was spitting on the court. I kicked him out and told him: ‘we can tear the contract to pieces right away’. We had a discussion and moved on. He’s never lacked respect for me since then. Actually, he’s very well bred. No matter if I am angry or happy about him, there is a real communication between us now. It used to be more of a monologue.

Rémi Barbarin (37 years old, physical trainer): Our relationship grows gradually. He’s one of the people who figure me out the best.
I saw him for the first time in 2003 in Roland-Garros. He was the sparring-partner of Arnaud Clément whom I was coaching at the time. He was a beanpole, pretty relaxed. Arnaud asked me: “who’s that Martian?” One year later, Thierry Champion asked me to join him to coach Gaël. I thought he had an amazing potential, humanly and technically. One could immediately feel that he needed a structure around him. It can be tough for one person alone. With a two-person team, it was easier to show him which direction he had to go.

Philippe Manicom (41 years old, acupuncturist): We had a great feeling from the very first moment with Philippe. He belongs to the family now.
One week before Roland-Garros, I didn’t know them yet, I got a phone call of the father, Rufin. Gaël was injured, might have to pull out of the French Open. I jumped straight on a plane. Like Rufin and Gaël, I’m a ‘Guada’, I’m coming from the Abymes and my father lived in the Moule. I'm having 2-3 sessions every day with Gaël. I’m a specialist in very old therapeutics like the moxibustion, the burning of medicinal plants on painful areas and articulations.

Stéphanie Champion (32 years old, press attaché): I like her a lot, she helps me in private matters. She also has the perspective of a mother.
He’s kind of our baby. He’s very endearing, very strong physically and very fragile at the same time. He’s very nice, very generous, always ready to help. He gave us a puppy dog. A golden retriever. He had bought it and couldn’t take care of it anymore. We took it to us 7 months ago. Gaël named it ‘Sparky’.

The family: It feels good to have my clan with me. It gives a great energy.
Big family meeting in Roland-Garros. Rufin and Sylvette are separated since Gaël was at the Insep [the French Institute of Sport], but they always get back together to cheer for their son. Élodie and David, the cousins from Poitiers, Nicole, the aunt from Bobigny, are there too with their “tchimé rèd Gaël” tee-shirts (which means “hang in there” in creole). “They’re here every year for Roland-Garros, Gaël says smiling. I don’t see them much the rest of the time. I don’t even see my parents much…”
Sylvette and Rufin have been very close to their son lately though. “I spent ten days with him in March when he was in California”, Sylvette says. “He had been out of the tour for 7 months and he’s really grumpy when he’s injured, he’s bored. I had a feeling that he needed me.” And his father was bringing him his breakfast in person during Roland-Garros. “When he was at the Insep already, I was bringing him his dinner every night. Pasta, rice, products from the islands he likes, dombrés, ignams. The food at the Insep was terrible…”
Rufin was the first coach of his son. He made him start playing tennis at the age of 4 and has never given up. “Gaël was a hardworker. He was training with Richard Warmoes at the TC XII next to the Bois de Vincennes on Wednesday. But he also wanted to play on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday or else he was crying. Tennis was his dope.” And not only tennis. “He could never stand still, Sylvette remembers. When he was 6 years old, he was able to spend 8 hours on the tennis court if nobody was stopping him. Foot, volley, judo, basket… He even took piano lessons at the Conservatoire.”
First separation at the age of 14 when he enters the tennis school of Reims. “I made the trip from Paris almost every day because Gaël wanted me to be there, Rufin says. Then he went to the Insep.”
“My parents are so cool with me. They advise me, they’re still young, they mean everything to me, Gaël says. I can’t separate them. My father is from the Guadeloupe, my mother from the Martinique, but it’s the same for me. I listen to them a lot.” Here’s a piece of advice from papa to his son then: “He still needs to make efforts. Gaël should have an healthier life and also better watch his circle of friends. Since he’s nice, everybody is taking advantage of him. No other tennis player has so many people around him.”

Next: the friends - he has many of them!
 
#262 ·
They just need to be qualified in singles to be eligible for the doubles competition in Beijing.
They all are hopeless in doubles except Jo, so I guess Jo made the decision and he picked Gaël because he's his friend.

I so hope Jo will make it to Beijing. I know everybody thinks it's crazy, but I'm all for it. :p He seems to want it so badly.
 
#264 ·
Oh ouah!!!!Thx for the scan , and the translation you rock guy :yeah::worship:
Well this is a scan of the article of l'équipe of today (well sorry in advance it's a bad scan but i m really lazy to do it again lol :eek: :tape:)

Well they don't say sth important except what he got and the medical staff of team lagardere doesn't really approuv that gael had an acunpuncturist because he see less the staff and in short they said that gael come to them just when he had injury...
 

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#265 · (Edited)
Sorry, I had not seen your post. I also put the article on the GM.com forum if people want to run it through an online translator (http://www.gaelmonfils.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=166&start=30&sid=22eff0ebbe4e8afd643170b671ae6762) But yes, that's about the idea, they complain about Manicom...

Better late than never, sorry - the friends!

Émilie Chartier, 26 years old: Émilie is my best friend. She always finds the right words to cheer me up.
“I know him since he’s 17 years old. We met during a dinner, we immediately hit it off together and we haven’t parted ways since then. We phone almost every day. He feels it if I’m stressed. I wouldn’t have passed my driving license if he was not there. It was my 4th attempt, I was panicking and I didn’t want to get out of my bed on that day. He told me on the phone ‘Émi, you’re going there! Now!’ Thank you Gaël.”

The new friends: Vince and his ‘gang’ have been there in difficult times, when I was injured, doubting, they’ve always steered me in the right direction.
Nabil Khouri, 21 years old, former student at a cinema highschool:
“I had already seen him at the Jean-Bouin club, but we really met via my friend Richard Gasquet. I followed Gaël on a few tournaments then, out of curiosity. We went to Miami, then Munich, Rome. I love he is so relaxed. He never hides his feelings, he’s very open. It gave him a great energy to be back with Thierry Champion. He likes having a lot of people around him. He looks up at us during his matches, we give him strength.”

Vincent Déprez, 23 years old, computer graphics artist:
“We met because he wanted to put special doors on his Polo GTI and I knew where he could get them. He still has his Polo at home, in Switzerland. He isn’t a big-time gambler in general. He doesn’t drink alcohol, he never has. Even if he had won Roland-Garros, he wouldn’t have drunk champagne. We party for him, we do all the bad things he can’t do. We've been playing golf quite a lot lately. He started with me after Miami. I’m better than him, so I thrash him.”

Alban Djinovic, 21 years old, soccer player:
“I met him at his home in Boulogne, we played poker together, Nabil and Vincent were there too, and he stripped me of all my money. I’m living next to him, not far from the Porte Saint-Cloud. He comes to see me play with my club (Sannois-Saint-Gratien). We sometimes play football in his flat. It’s not common to have such a caliber and not let it go to one’s head. I was hoarse from shouting too much during his matches in Roland-Garros. He told me after his quarter of final against Ferrer: ‘I was hearing only you all the time”. He calls me ‘Patrick Bruel’ (a French singer and poker player with a hoarse voice).”
 
#266 · (Edited)
Le Carré (the Square – his 3 best friends, they all are students and 21-22 years old): We have similar taste with LaParse, we go crazy over the same things, basketball, video games… LaBaze is like a brother to me. I’ve done so much bullshit with him. Ventu is my best friend. He will always be there for me and I will always be there for him.

Le Carré (an invention of LaBaze and LaMonf) is a circle. The circle of the closest and oldest friends.
“I met Gaël for the 1st time at the age of 11, at the Maurice Ravel school in the 20th arrondissement [it’s a rather popular arrondissement of Paris], Xavier Elbaz remembers. I was more the intellectual, he was the opposite [I’m just guessing here, I don’t understand myself what he says…] The intellect and the body. He was shorter than me at the time, very slim, with big glasses. He was always running. It was all about tennis-tennis-tennis. I’ve never been jealous of his success, we were not playing at the same level at all. Then I went to another school, he left for Reims, we were not in touch anymore. I saw him again when he played the Juniors event of Roland-Garros. He had grown 50 cm, had no glasses anymore. We’ve always been in contact since then.”
Alexandre Venturino has been another side of the square since he played a team event together with Gaël for the Paris Jean-Bouin club at the age of 15. “We played 2-3 doubles matches together, he bawled me out a little bit. I was impressed, he was much better than we were, he already had his picture in Tennis Mag. I’m one of the few people he was calling all the time when he was playing Juniors tournaments. I’ve followed him on many tournaments on the tour, in Monte-Carlo for example. He suggested I should go with him for the American tour this summer. It will be fun, but it must be quite boring to do that all the time, training, match, dinner, going to bed… We understand why he’s sometimes wondering, doubting. He grew up too quickly.” Being LaMonf’s best friend is no picnic: “He sometimes has hairbrained ideas, he can call me at midnight because he wants me to burn a CD for him. A lot of American TV series, Lost, Las Vegas, Entourage…”
4th component: LaParse. Guillaume Parsegny wasn’t in Roland this year: “I’m studying in England. I met Gaël at Jean-Bouin, I was on the basketball team, he saw me one day with a ball and we went for a match. I play forward. He would be a great guard, his first step can be really dangerous.”
LaMonf, LaBaze, Ventu, LaParse: the Square was born. “It was heart-warming to see Gaël put on our shirt after his quarter of final against Ferrer, LaParse says. Gaël knows where he’s coming from, he knows his real values. Xavier was ready to pick me up with his car if he had made it to the final. I had an important exam on the next day, but I would have given it up.”

Here's the pic of the shirt:
 
#268 · (Edited)
Champion's wife said after Roland that she got tons of requests from the media, but was declining everything because they wanted Gaël to stay focussed, so it didn't go overboard. And most people only care about tennis during the French Open anyway, the buzz was just for a short time.
But I still found it quite impressive, I saw him in a lot of non sports-related media.

He also was FHM's "Man of the month". :worship:
 

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#272 · (Edited)
According to l'Equipe, he works no more with Champion and Barbarin :confused:

Gaël Monfils ne s'entraînera plus sous la houlette de Thierry Champion et du préparateur physique Rémi Barbarin. Quelques mois après être revenu dans le Team Lagardère, "La Monf" a décidé de se séparer des deux hommes, et se débrouillera seul pour le tournoi de Bastad, qui commence lundi. Selon Xavier Moreau, responsable du Team Lagardère, le joueur de 22 ans a des exigences incompatibles avec son maintien dans la structure d'entraînement. (Avec AFP)
It's written that he'll probably go alone in Bastad and that according to Xavier Moreau, project manager of Team Sports Lagardere, Gael's demands were incompatible with his remaining in the structure of training in Paris.

It always happen something with Gael !
 
#273 ·
Thank you for the news Soulage, and well, that is bad! However he works well with Champion and Barbarin, can be that there was a problem following his withdraw in Wimbledon? I know that some doctors of the TEAM Lagardere didn't understand the withdraw of Gael. That is really bad :sad:
 
#274 · (Edited)
Not really his withdrawal, but all this Manicom BS. Great move from Rufin Monfils to call Manicom out of the blue a few days before Roland-Garros, it was very helpful. :devil: (Papa Monfils is totally going on my nerves, so I have to blame him. :p)
That said, I can't stand the Team Lagardère either and I won't cry if he leaves that "powder keg". But I kind of liked Champion and especially Barbarin.

Here's the article in L'Equipe:
Monfils-Champion, c’est fini
Le demi-finaliste de Roland-Garros a décidé de quitter son coach et de renoncer à la structure mise en place au Team Lagardère.
DEPUIS VENDREDI soir, Thierry Champion n’est plus le coach de Gaël Monfils. Le demi-finaliste du dernier Roland-Garros l’a annoncé personnellement à son entraîneur, quelques heures après avoir eu un entretien avec Arnaud Lagardère. Par là-même, il quitte la structure mise en place autour de lui au Team Lagardère, qu’il avait réintégré en novembre dernier après avoir passé quelques mois aux États-Unis chez Tarik Benhabilès. Bizarre autant qu’étrange ? Pas tant que ça, si l’on dévide le fil des relations qui liait les deux parties depuis le tournoi de Roland-Garros. Introduit dans l’entourage de Monfils par son père, Rufin, l’acupuncteur Philippe Manicom avait progressivement pris une place de plus en plus importante dans la vie quotidienne du joueur. « J’avais commencé à sentir des trucs dès que Gaël s’est mis à gagner des matches à Roland, explique Champion. C’est un peu la rançon du succès : de plus en plus de gens rôdaient autour de lui. Mais, à un moment donné, c’est lui qui prend les décisions. Sur et en dehors du terrain. Voilà, il a fait son choix… On l’accepte, même si on se demande ce que l’on peut bien se reprocher… »
Après avoir pris quelques jours de repos à Barcelone, Monfils était réapparu sur le circuit lors du tournoi de Nottingham. Même s’il y atteignit les demi-finales (battu par le futur vainqueur, Ivo Karlovic), il devint vite patent que ses rapports avec le duo Champion (coach)-Barbarin (préparateur physique) étaient de jour en jour plus distanciés. Si l’on excepte les quelques heures qui couraient de son échauffement du matin au débriefing qui suivait ses matches, le joueur passait ainsi le minimum de temps avec ses entraîneurs. Il leur préférait la compagnie de Manicom, avec qui il discutait parfois en créole, excluant ainsi de facto toute forme de communication. Victime d’une tendinite à l’épaule durant Nottingham, Monfils déclara ensuite forfait pour Wimbledon. De ce renoncement surgirent encore des analyses discordantes. Entre la structure médicale du Team Lagardère (qui l’estimait apte à jouer) et Manicom (qui appuyait ce forfait), c’est peu dire que le courant ne passait pas… Christophe Gaillard, son ostéopathe particulier, apprit ainsi sa défection plus d’une heure après l’annonce officielle de son retrait ! D’où le désir du duo Champion-Barbarin de clarifier la situation au sortir de Wimbledon. Depuis dix jours, de réunions en coups de fil, Monfils a pris le temps de mûrir sa décision. Selon un communiqué publié hier par Xavier Moreau, le responsable du Team Lagardère, « le joueur avait des exigences incompatibles avec son maintien dans notre structure ».
Champion : « Je m’y attendais un peu »
Il suffit de lire entre les lignes pour comprendre que Monfils, injoignable hier, a privilégié ses relations avec Philippe Manicom à la poursuite de son travail avec Champion. L’un était en effet exclusif de l’autre. « Honnêtement, je m’y attendais un peu, reconnaît Champion. Je respecte la décision de Gaël et je ne la commenterai pas. Mais je sentais que son avenir allait changer. Quand il est revenu chez Lagardère, il était blessé, à la fois physiquement et moralement. Il fallait être patient, et tout le monde, y compris le corps médical, a passé beaucoup de temps à discuter avec lui pour le remettre en selle. Je crois que le travail a été fait et bien fait. Quand il a repris la compétition et que les résultats tardaient à venir, on était peinard. Peu de gens croyaient en lui. Et puis, durant Roland, d’autres personnes se sont greffées sur son entourage… C’est devenu plus difficile pour nous. »
Le souhait de Champion est de poursuivre son travail chez Lagardère. Celui de Monfils pourrait être de retourner s’installer aux États-Unis. Chez Benhabilès ? Peut-être, même si les propositions ne devraient pas manquer pour un joueur qui s’est pourtant séparé cinq fois de son entraîneur en vingt-deux mois (Champion un première fois en septembre 2006, puis Pier Gauthier, Olivier Delaitre, Tarik Benhabilès et à nouveau Champion !). En attendant, sauf changement de dernière minute, il devrait se rendre seul au tournoi de Bastad, qui débute demain, en Suède. À moins qu’il décide, au vu des circonstances, de rayer cette compétition de son programme.
VINCENT COGNET
 
#275 ·
Gaël had a discussion with Arnaud Lagardère on Friday and then told Champion he's going to leave.
Champion: "I had a feeling as soon as Gaël started to win some matches in Roland. It's the price of the success. More and more people were hanging around him. At one point, he has to make the decisions. On the court and off the court. He made his choice... We accept it, even though we're wondering what we made wrong..."
In Nottingham he saw Champion-Barbarin only during the training and was spending most of his time with Manicom (they speak creole together, which rules out any communication with Champion and Barbarin then.)
Then the withdrawal in Wimbledon made very obvious that there were serious problems between the Lagardère medical staff (they thought he was able to play) and Manicom (who was supporting his decision). His official physio was informed of his decision one hour after he had told it to the press.
Champion and Barbarin were eager to clear the situation. And after ten days of discussions and phone calls, he made his choice. Moreau: "He has some demands which were incompatible with him remaining in the Team."
It was impossible to contact Gaël yesterday, but he obviously gave Manicom the edge over Champion. Both were exclusive.
Champion: "I was expecting it a little bit, to be honest. I respect Gaël's decision and I won't comment on it. But I could feel his future was going to change. When he came back to Lagardère, he was injured, physically and mentally. One had to be patient and everybody, the medical staff too, spent a lot of time talking with him to give him a boost. I think we did a good job. When he started playing tournaments again and was not winning, we were left in peace. Only few people believed in him. But other people came on top of everything during Roland-Garros... It became harder for us then."
Champion wants to keep working in the Team Lagardère, Gaël might go back to the States. Benhabilès again? Maybe. He will probably have a lot of other propositions anyway despite of his permanent coach changes (5 times in 22 months). In the meantime, he'll go alone to Bastad, unless he decides to pull out in last minute given the circumstances.
 
#277 ·
who is this manacom exactly?:confused:

He's not a coach or even a former tennis player so why gael decided to stop his collaboration with champion/barbarin in a real structure such as lagardere team?
this sounds so weird,is this guy a kind of "gourou" or something?
Well gael is an adult ,he will face consequences of this decision.
Hopefully he wont fall again in the same slump that he was in for many months last year.
 
#278 ·
My coffee almost went down the wrong way when I saw "Monfils à confesse" on the first page of L'Equipe today!
It's not very interesting, but I'm glad he spoke at least this time because he didn't after his other changes of coach and it was so annoying to have everybody speaking for him.
Here's the interview:
MONFILS, L’AUTODEFENSE
Critiqué après son récent divorce d’avec Thierry Champion, le Français s’explique sur les raisons de son choix.
Porte d’Auteuil, 17 heures, hier. Le court Philippe-Chatrier n’est pas loin, et Gaël Monfils, demi-finaliste du dernier Roland-Garros, débarque à la brasserie « Le Murat » accompagné de son kiné, Philippe Manicom. C’est là que son nouveau chargé de communication, Dominique Cordier, a arrangé le rendez-vous voulu par le joueur. Samedi dernier, on apprenait que Monfils, vingt et un ans et trente et unième mondial, plaquait Thierry Champion et la structure Lagardère avec. Encore un changement de coach, se disait-on. De lui-même, Monfils a compris qu’une mise au point sur sa situation floue serait la bienvenue. Ouvrez les guillemets.

« POURQUOI VOUS ÊTES-VOUS séparé de Thierry Champion et du Team Lagardère ?
– En premier, j’ai arrêté avec Thierry et Rémi (Barbarin, son préparateur physique). Ensuite, comme dans la structure il n’y avait pas un coach de libre, j’ai dit à Arnaud (Lagardère) que j’avais des vues vers l’extérieur. Et naturellement, je suis parti.
– Qu’est-ce qui n’allait plus avec Champion ?
– Il y a eu des incompréhensions, un malaise s’était installé, c’était tendu. Après notre discussion à Wimbledon, j’ai compris que c’était cassé. J’ai lu que j’avais demandé des choses démesurées et incompatibles avec le fonctionnement du Team et qu’on m’avait donc mis dehors. Que je choisisse mon coach, c’est démesuré ? Que je demande à travailler avec mon kiné, c’est démesuré ?
– Justement, il semble que la présence à vos côtés, depuis Roland-Garros, du kiné et acupuncteur Philippe Manicom ait posé problème…
– Mais de quoi on parle ?
– Le Team Lagardère dispose de son propre staff médical et il ne voyait peut-être pas d’un bon oeil de vous laisser avec quelqu’un qu’il ne pouvait pas “contrôler”.
– C’est bizarre. Quand j’ai fait la demi-finale à Roland-Garros, ça ne gênait personne que Philippe soit là. Et après, bim ! On l’a traité comme un bouc émissaire. Après mon forfait à Wimbledon, ça a été scandaleux. Philippe s’est fait descendre. Il y avait un clan qui disait que je pouvais jouer et l’autre non. Comme j’ai dit “non”, on a dit que j’étais sous l’influence de Philippe. J’avais mal à l’épaule et on ne joue pas si on a mal. Personne n’a le droit de commenter ma décision, personne ! Trop de gens ont parlé pour moi. Et ça, j’ai pas aimé !
– Que vous apporte Philippe Manicom que vous n’aviez pas avant ?
– Premier point : je n’ai plus peur de me blesser depuis qu’il s’occupe de moi. Deuxième point : c’est une personne que mon père m’a présentée pour m’aiguiller. Ils sont en contact permanent et Philippe me rassure, me protège. J’ai entendu parler d’une histoire comme quoi il pourrait me charger. Jamais il ne m’a demandé de prendre des produits. Monpère ne va pas me mettre dans les mains d’un gars dangereux. Il n’est pas fou, mon père ! Mes parents ont quand même fait une contre-enquête sur Philippe et ils n’ont rien trouvé.
– Est-ce qu’en vous rapprochant de lui, vous ne vous êtes pas éloigné de Thierry Champion ?
– Je ne sais pas. Mais je veux remercier le Team et Thierry. Je ne suis pas un ingrat.
– Après Champion “première époque” , vous avez travaillé avec Pier Gauthier, puis Olivier Delaître, puis Tarik Benhabilès, puis de nouveau Champion. Tout ça en deux ans (lire par ailleurs). Et voilà que vous allez encore changer de coach. Pourquoi cette instabilité ?
– Présenté comme ça, c’est péjoratif. Ça me fait passer pour le mec capricieux qui pratique le coaching “ Kleenex ”. Et c’est faux ! Chacun de mes coaches m’a apporté un truc extraordinaire. Chaque fois que je changeais, c’était pour aller chercher plus haut. Et cette fois, c’est pareil. Je ne quitte jamais pour quitter. Je ne me suis jamais trompé et jamais je n’ai eu un seul regret. C’était toujours la bonne personne au bon moment.
– Mais comprenez-vous qu’un mois après avoir atteint les demi-finales de Roland-Garros, ce divorce puisse interpeller ?
– Oui, certains doivent se dire :“Ça y est, on l’a encore perdu”. Y en a même qui pensent que je m’en fous d’être champion ou pas. Souvent, les gens parlent pour moi, et moi je me tais. J’ai décidé qu’il fallait que ça change, et c’est pour ça qu’on est là aujourd’hui. Je veux qu’on arrête de croire que je suis une marionnette. Je sais ce que je fais. Alors, quand j’entends que je suis un gosse ingérable, que je suis un branleur qui fout en l’air sa carrière, que je suis influençable, ça me scotche. Mon but ultime, c’est d’être un très grand joueur de tennis.
– Pensez-vous que vous devrez à l’avenir vous stabiliser avec un coach pour devenir plus performant ?
– Écoutez : depuis que je suis jeune, j’ai été habitué à changer sans arrêt de coach, et ça ne m’a pas si mal réussi. J’ai commencé avec mon père puis je suis allé avec Richard Warmoes, puis à la FFT, puis avec Luigi Borfiga, puis Guillaume Marx puis Olivier Delaître. Le changement ne me fait pas peur.
– Lundi, vous avez déclaré forfait à Bastad. Quel était le problème ?
– Je me suis fait une entorse à la cheville gauche en m’entraînant, là-bas en Suède, lundi matin. En courant pour relever une amortie, mon pied s’est pris dans un trou et ça a twisté. J’espère vraiment reprendre à Toronto dans deux semaines.
– Et comment va l’épaule qui vous avait poussé à renoncer à Wimbledon…
– De mieux en mieux. Je n’ai pas encore pu servir à fond, mais je n’en suis pas loin.
– Savez-vous qui sera votre prochain entraîneur ?
– J’ai plusieurs pistes : des neuves et des anciennes. Je ne resterai pas mille ans avec la personne mais je sais que le choix que je vais faire sera le bon. Je veux être performant à Toronto, Cincinnati, l’US Open et, surtout, être au taquet aux Jeux. Ça, c’est un rêve.
– Quel serait le portrait-robot de ce coach ?
– Quelqu’un qui a la gnaque, qui croit en moi, à mes possibilités d’aller très haut. Quelqu’un qui me mène à la dure. Il me faut un meneur d’hommes. Avec un discours bien rock.
– Est-ce qu’il pourrait ne pas être français ?
– Oui, ça se peut.
– Brad Gilbert ?
– Oui, j’y ai pensé. Mais il y en a d’autres. Au moins deux autres coaches étrangers, mais je préfère ne pas donner de nom maintenant.
– Tout le monde est persuadé que vous allez retourner avec Tarik Benhabilès…
– Ce qui est bien, c’est qu’on se connaît déjà. Je l’adore mais pour l’instant, rien n’est tranché. Je réfléchis. »
FRÉDÉRIC BERNÈS
 
#279 · (Edited)
Just a summary of the first questions for now because I have to work, I'll translate the rest later:

He comes to the interview in a restaurant in Paris with Manicom. His new agent Dominique Cordier organized this interview because Gaël wanted it.
Why did you part ways with Champion and the Team Lagardère?
- First, I split with Thierry and Rémi (Champion & Barbarin). As there wasn't any free coach available anymore in the Team, I told Arnaud (Lagardère) that I had external views. And very naturally, I left.
What wasn't working anymore with Champion?
- There was an incomprehension, I was feeling uneasy, it was tense. I understood after the discussion we had in Wimbledon that something was broken. I've read I had excessive demandings which were not compatible with the way the Team is working and that I was dismissed. To choose my coach, that's excessive? To want to work with my physio, that's excessive?
That's the point, it seems that the presence of Manicom has been a problem...
- But what are we talking about here?
The Team Lagardère has its own medical staff and maybe wasn't viewing in a favourable light the fact that you were working with somebody they couldn't "control".
- That's strange. Philippe wasn't bothering anybody when I made the semi-final in Roland-Garros. And afterwards, bim! He was treated like a scapegoat. It was scandalous after my withdrawal in Wimbledon. Philippe was shot down. There was a clan saying I could play and the other clan saying I shouldn't. Since I said "I won't", people assumed I was under Philippe's control. My shoulder was hurting and one shouldn't play in pain. Nobody is allowed to comment on my decision, nobody! Too many people have spoken for me. And I didn't like that!
 
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