Gael Monfils was hurt by plunging in his eighth final. – Ella Ling / BPI / Shutterst / SIPA

Guilhem Richaud

    • Published
    • Updated

L The image is beautiful. She also toured the world. Russian Andrey Kuznetsov winner of last night in the second round of the Australian Open, Monfils graced the audience with a spectacular dive. It has become a habit for him. While it has long been confined to his acrobatics on clay in recent years the French do not hesitate to get laid, even hard. Except that sometimes it hurts. The small waterfall Monfils could cost him dearly. He hurt his hand foirant receipt. “I have a pretty deep gash, he explained after the game. Doctors have even hesitated to put stitches. I have a nice bruise and my finger has swelled. “

So to learn to Gael Monfils to fall properly, 20 Minutes has asked a specialist. Loïc Korval, bronze medalist at the World Judo Championships in 2010 and European champion in 2014 could serve as a mentor. “We, we are taught to fall at the first training, he says. This is very important especially not to hurt. “Back from a successful tournament in Havana, Korval nothing missed Monfils exploits. “I saw her plunge, he is tired. It is customary due. That is, the jump is spectacular. But every time he picks up behind. Not only can it be wrong, but if he fell better, he could recover faster. “And so to continue exchanges and earn points that he sometimes loses. But also trivialize the fall, stay in the match and avoid loss of concentration that often arises from this situation.

Both the state immediately, regardless of the template. This is not because Monfils is tall and slender with a share that disadvantage. “Look Teddy Riner, confirms Gael Monfils. It is larger and heavier than Monfils and falls ten times better. “Okay maybe not much competition. But it seems that training multiple judo world champion does not mind at all to take a walk on the ground.

Back to the point. As Gaël must be done to get well? “The first thing is to stick his chin to his chest, warns Professor Korval. That will allow it to protect well his neck and back. He must learn to fall like a banana. “Concretely, this means that we must not be too steep, but instead make a curve with his body. “For the first part that touches the body damps the shock, continues judoka. It must fall like a leaf. She never landed flat. It curve just before touching the ground. “

Another tip, do not try to protect himself with his arms. A fatal mistake. “That’s how we are sprained, that breaks an arm or a wrist, Loïc Korval resumes. The most vulnerable areas of the body are the hands, wrists, arms and shoulders. “Not surprising therefore that Gaël Monfils is hurt hand. But all is not lost for the last tricolor list in Melbourne. “You can learn to fall at any age, provides Korval. I can give some courses Monfils if he wants. In three or four sessions, it will be controlled. “A little difficult to stall this before the quarter-final against Raonic in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. But why not arrange this before Roland Garros? We did want to see other spectacular dives

Keywords:.