Gael Monfils baseline dance leaves opponent, umpire bemused

Gael Monfils baseline dance did not go down well with his opponent John Isner and chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani

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Gael Monfils baseline dance won him fans but left his opponent and umpire bemused

Gael Monfils was forced to resort to an unconventional return stance as he faced John Isner in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Masters in Toronto.

The Frenchman did a ‘baseline dance’ to make sure that the 6’11 Isner had a moving target while unleashing one of his monster serves.

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Chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani, while entertained by Monfils’ constant shuffling on the basline, but still warned the Frenchman.

“We have played 13 times, it’s not the first time he’s seen me doing that,” Monfils told the umpire.Isner refused to be part of the conversation but looked bemused by his rival’s returning antics.

Monfils’ ploy seemed to throw off John Isner a couple of times as he pulled out of his serve motion at the last second. In the second set, Monfils got a return back and Isner sent the resultant volley into the net.

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The Frenchman was later penalized for his actions, which didn’t go down too well. Monfils was taken aback by the harsh verdict and asked to see the tournament supervisor.

“I play for pleasure. I play for the fans. I was not disrespectful,” he was heard saying, while arguing his case.

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After the dust settled, somewhat, on the episode, Monfils took a medical time-out to treat his right Achilles.

Eventually, Isner extended his winning streak to nine matches as he defeated Monfils 7-6, 6-4 on Friday evening in an entertaining encounter.

Isner fired 13 aces and saved the only break point he faced to book a place into his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final since his run to the 2019 Miami Open.

He will face top seed Daniil Medvedev for a place in the Toronto final.

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For Monfils, meanwhile, it was the best result of the season. The Frenchman has struggled to get going with a lack of crowds at most tournaments.

Having come into the Toronto event with a win-loss record of 3-10 this season, Monfils reached his first quarterfinal of the year.

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