A couple of veterans went head to head at the 2024 Mallorca Championships and Gael Monfils proved slightl better than Dominic Thiem.
Both of these players are years removed from their best tennis, and Thiem will retire after this year. Monfils is much older, but the French player is keen on continuing to play tennis, while Thiem realizes that he's likely never to return to his best level.
This was a fascinating matchup at a place that changed the Austrian’s career forever. It was in the Spanish city that he injured his wrist a couple of years ago, and he never recovered. The match was pretty solid for him, but as expected, the French player proved to be better.
The opening set featured some really solid and aggressive play from Monfils. Thiem wasn't bad in any way, but he wasn't quite as strong as his opponent, who blasted six aces and had 10 winners overall in a 6-3 set win. Thiem had a fair 4 winners, but that was simply not enough to really outplay the French veteran.
The second set was far more competitive, as Thiem was able to find some sort of rhythm on his serve. The French player remained largely solid on his serve, cruising through his service games easily. He wasn't able to create too much pressure on Thiem’s serve, so the set ended up in a tie-break.
The tie-break was largely dominated by Monfils, who was just too solid for Thiem. The Austrian did play better in the second set, but when it mattered the most, Monfils was able to create enough pressure to really push his opponent over the edge.
Monfils finished off the set with a 7-3 tie-break win for a solid 6-3, 7-6(3) final score. Monfils had 13 aces and 25 winners, and will play in the second round of the 2024 Mallorca Championships.
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